Holy cow
In a stunning reversal, the State Senate just passed a revised version of the baseball stadium financing bill! If the House goes along, as expected, on Monday, the law's a done deal.
It will be interesting to see what the new fine print was that got the crucial four votes to change. New restrictive language could ultimately scare the big league baseball folks away. But whatever the revised bill says, this puts the chances of having the formerly Montreal Expos here next summer at better than even.
Way. Cool.
UPDATE, 10:07 pm: According to an e-mail message just received from my state senator, Avel Gordly, a key to the passage of the revised bill was the addition of language that no "public body" can be the ultimate "guarantor" of the bonds that will be used to finance construction of the stadium. That will present some challenges.
The new language means that no governmental entity can be on the hook for the cost of the stadium if things don't work out. This should actually make the politics easier for the City of Portland, because now the mayor can tell the major leagues, "Sorry, but you'll have to take the downside risk. We can't do it." But whether the major leagues or team owners are willing to take that risk remains to be seen.
Baseball fans have reason to be optimistic nonetheless. MLB doesn't have many (or perhaps any) viable options beyond Portland. The Expos are tired of spiltting their "home" games between Montreal and San Juan, P.R., and the other two potential locations have no financing plan to offer at all. The league would like to "contract" the team out of existence, but the contract with the players' union won't permit that, at least not for now.
And don't underestimate the creativity of the guys who are running the effort to get baseball here. They have moved mountains so far, all on a grassroots, volunteer basis. I'm optimistic that they'll get this done.
| Posted at 8:46 PM | Permalink |
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