Papa Paulson's gotta be proud.

Yeah but isn't he paying off the old PGE park makeover bill?

Now that's funny.

The City is still paying off debt from improvements to PGE Park. $28.3 million is owed, with the debt projected to be paid off in 2023.

Portland, the city that's stupid.

Now if only MLS can go bankrupt and Paul Allen move the Blazers to Seattle.

We'll be just a third-tier hockey team with the Winter Hawks! And maybe ONE minor-league NASCAR race each year.

As I understand it, under a personal contract with the City of Portland, Allen can't move the Blazers to Seattle until at least 2020-something. If something happens to him in the meantime, however, there's a real question as to whether his family would keep the team -- and where a buyer would want to take it.

In the past, the shutdown of Triple-A minor league baseball in Portland was no big deal, because a Single-A team would take over soon thereafter. This time, however, there's no longer any place to play. Pro baseball is leaving town, and probably not coming back. So enjoy your "major league" soccer.

It's usually not cool to blame a man for the sins of his father - but Henry Paulson is a minority owner here and the money bags - so let's review one aspect of our debt crisis:
The toxic/troubled assets that Henry Paulson said we had to buy off the banks' books (or else!) are still there. That's because Henry redirected the funds after he got his hands on them.
The scenario we now have is banks that still need to get healthy over the long-term and it's going to come from fees on the consumers or the same old gambling on exotic instruments.
Meanwhile we are still on the hook for these troubled assets - as I understand it - plus our small businesses, etc... have less access to loans because the banks are still leery of lending with their books so screwed up.

We socialized the losses and privatized the profits but the most irritating thing of all is we didn't FIX the problem. The result: America is now 13 trillion dollars in debt and we're basically where we started with these bad assets. It's beyond crazy.

That is what your Timbers minority owner did to America so nobody should be too shocked that we've already lost a baseball team and a baseball stadium here and we're just getting started.

regardless of whether paulson bought the team or not, do you think ANYONE would be otherwise going to those baseball games? They have crowds in the dozens!!!

On the money side of the issue, I agree with you. The City Council is getting ripped off. Again.

But I would much rather watch the MLS than Triple-A Baseball. I have been to a few Beaver games, and they are painful to sit through.

At least with Soccer you know it's going to be over in two hours. With baseball it can go on for up to four hours.

Well, good. We are down to one main tenant for PGE Park which gives Paulson some more bargaining position.

If he does well, then he can make noise about moving to get a "better" stadium or get better terms.

If it goes bad after the novelty wears off, then he can split via a loophole in the contract, shut down or get a rent reduction.

Randy vs. Paulson really strikes me as bringing a knife to a gunfight. Of course, Randy will be burning thru his two pensions (PERS and PFDR) by then and own't really care how he screwed us.

Y'know...this whole athletic team story, with the rich, well-connected young man, prominent father...it has a certain ring to it.

Oh, yeah...the Texas Rangers.

Here's another aspect to this story. The renovation of PGE Park will add close to 4,000 new seats in the new grandstand, but the Paulsons' plan also calls for cordoning off seats in the existing grandstand, so there won't be any net gain in seating capacity.

So, why add all of those new seats?

Well, MLS will get one-third of the base price for every ticket sold, and that figure is based on the price of the cheapest ticket. And according to the pro forma submitted to the city last year, with a predicted base price of $33, MLS will get $11 per ticket sold, whether the ticket sells for $33 or $60 or $90, etc.

So, it's in the Paulsons' interest to maximize the number of premium seats. But they can't justify premium prices for seats in the existing grandstand because the spectator facilities (seating dimensions, restroom facilities, etc.) are substandard.

So, even though the Paulsons and their representatives told the city during last year's task force meetings that their proposal wasn't about luxury seats, that's exactly what this plan has been all about from the very beginning, and not the need to surround the pitch with seats to make it "soccer specific." (In fact, the renovation plan will create only two rows of seats along the south side of the stadium.)

By the way, here's another interesting bit of info having to do with those pesky laws of physics. The concourse in the existing grandstand measures approximately 23,000 square feet. So, with most building codes requiring a minimum of 7 square feet per person for public assembly uses, that means there's only room for just over 3,000 people at any given time. So, what are the other people in the grandstand supposed to do when halftime comes and they want to go to the restroom or a food stand?

Keep in mind, that even though this is Portland, restrooms aren't just for sex.

Justin,
We've had professional soccer and baseball at Civic stadium for decades. This wasn't an "either or" thing.
The tactic of saying we had to make PGE Park "soccer only" or MLS would give us a pass is reminiscent of Henry Paulson's reported tactic of saying we had to pass TARP or there would be marital law in America. Yet, the reason we had to have TARP changed right after the money was given.
Along the way in soccer, there were also things like dates certain that the MLS had to have that seemed quite flexible later.
These things are negotiating strategies.

I believe Merritt thought he could squeeze out baseball and force us to build him another park. Just as Daddy felt he could get billions of dollars from the taxpayers to ease the pain for Goldman Sachs.
It bodes poorly for Merritt's managerial skill that his strategy failed. No park. No team. And it probably didn't have to happen. PGE Park is now going to spend many more nights shut down than before. This is reminiscent of several downtown schemes that tried to do something big and ended up falling way short. With the PGE Park thing, it's even more ironic since we're still paying for the last remodeling failure.

You know what would be classic? If the Paulson family pulled a TARP move here and said, "Now that we have a soccer-only venue we've decided to play polo there instead. And if you don't let us play polo there, we'll have martial law in Portland."

This is Portland...
There are NO useable public toilets!

Bill, totally agree with you. The City Council could have made it work for both baseball and soccer, if they just stuck to their guns. Count me among the folks that hate Hank Paulson and by association his son Merritt as well.

I just think we're overselling the Beavers. Triple-A baseball is not fun to watch. It's boring. There, I said it.

Baseball is not everybody's cup of tea but the fact that people had a choice was important. We're losing that diversity.

Monoculture is never a healthy idea - in sports, in agriculture or in business.

But never fear. Soon you'll be able to cry into your high-priced beer at "Jumptown."

I'll just drop a couple of facts in and let you resume the regularly scheduled griping:

1. Paulson(s) put about $9 million into the deal in the form of pre-paid rent. I shouldn't have to explain that pre-paid rent is not the same as free rent. Pre-paid rent does reduce the cost of rent, as fronting money often does.

2. I don't know where the idea that capacity isn't increasing comes from. They're adding about 4,000ish seats in the new east side grandstand.

Roger,
You were right about Thierry Henry coming to America and he scored a nice redirect goal last night 25 minutes in with some of my family in attendance. We are huge soccer fans.

But I'm a bigger fan of America, and if you can watch what Henry Paulson and his ilk did to this country and not gripe a little, then you've got your Timbers scarf on too tight. It's cutting off the oxygen to your brain.

There was an international soccer match played at Fenway Park on Wednesday night, and Fenway's layout is virtually identical to PGE Park.

So, who needs a soccer-specific stadium with seats surrounding the pitch?

There's a complete story, including photos, posted on Yahoo Sports.

Roger, remember that Paulson also got a no-bid contract to do the construction work on the stadium, so you can bet that $9M is padded into there so any notion of him fronting money is smoke and mirrors.

Roger,
I'd like to hear how you arrived at your opinion that Sam and Randy are sharp enough to protect us from prime examples of what Matt Taibbi calls the vampire squid?

As far as I am concerned that vampire squid is too close for comfort.

Remember the trip Leonard took to NY in 2008!

http://wweek.com/editorial/3503/11892/

What disappointments me is the willingness of the Timber Army to overlook a fundamental assault on the economic viability of America - all because it's fun going to the games.
Merritt Paulson should hire Roger. Nobody has stood up for the Timbers more on this blog. I picture Roger cheering in city hall personally as the vote for soccer came down, and he should be happy - his side has won every step of the way. Well, not on the pitch although they beat Vancouver...finally.
But what I don't like is the blind allegiance to the Paulson family. That's the part where the sell-out occurs. You get the feeling that - if the Timbers were owned by that nitwit executive from British Petroleum - Roger and the gang would be right there saying, "What's a little oil spill between friends?"

Bil, Bill, Bill!

Ya just gotta give us ordinary mortals room to quip as good as you do!

We need a best of McDonald thread here, so that we can get an overall view of what we are up against!

Bill McDonald: But I'm a bigger fan of America, . .

Thank you Bill. Too bad not more people are as focused on this as you are.

What happened to our America?
Wall Street and the like - no allegiance to America. Greed trumps.
The people - many are more interested in entertainment and sports than in our America.

Seems like the kind of concern of taking care of our America has been reduced down to somewhat as old fashioned and has gone done in history like an old Norman Rockwell painting.

The prepaid rent is nothing more than a construction loan by Paulson to the city. He gets it all back (with interest, no doubt) during the rent-free period. He's just hiding the ball, as is usual with crooks like his father.

"At least with Soccer you know it's going to be over in two hours. With baseball it can go on for up to four hours."

You must be kidding. That is worth spending $35M (8 yrs back) and another $12M now?

Doncha just love capitalists who don't make money the old fashioned way by working for it?

"At least with Soccer you know it's going to be over in two hours." It still feels like 4 hours.

What disappointments me is the willingness of the Timber Army to overlook a fundamental assault on the economic viability of America

Agreed. The Timber Army should really use their immense power to fix the US economy rather than supporting a soccer team.

Merritt Paulson should hire Roger. Nobody has stood up for the Timbers more on this blog.

To be honest, some of us have tried, but our comments are Extraordinarily Rendered.

That glorious Manchester City game was a sneak preview of what will happen in the next couple of years. Get ready for Portland to be a regular stop on the summer tour schedule of top EPL, Serie A and La Liga teams. Get ready for superstars (granted, in the twilight of their careers) like Henry and Beckham to play at PGE as part of the MLS season.

Soccer basically has learned from baseball and football that specific sport based stadiums are needed. The Mariners and Seahawks used to play in the same stadium and it was awful. They build two separate stadiums for each sport. Likewise in Cleveland, Baltimore, DC, Minnesota. The key learning? Baseball is best when played in baseball specific stadiums. Real grass and seats aligned properly with the diamond. PGE Park has neither and was an awful place to watch a baseball game.

An interesting note in the current issue of Baseball America magazine. Apparently, Minor League Baseball does "an in-depth vetting process" before the sale of a team to a new owner. "Paulson's desire to own a Major League Soccer (team) was not unveiled during that process," according to the article.
According to Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Conner, "I was not aware of any plans of his to do what has been done. I'm very disappointed in the way this has worked out, or how it appears to be working out. But I will reserve final comments until everything is done."
Gee, you mean Mr. Paulson isn't trustworthy? What a shock.

"Get ready for superstars (granted, in the twilight of their careers) like Henry and Beckham to play"

I'd like to see Beckham play - NOT in a wheelchair.

Get ready for Paulson to move the team if it does well or to fold it if it doesn't.

Get ready for Paulson to cry poverty if he doesn't make a billion dollars off daddy's money.

Get ready for CoP to spend another $20M when it is discovered that PGE Park just isn't quite good enough for real top league soccer gosh darn it.

Get ready for shorter school years, higher water/sewer rates and more sewer overflows even though we can always find money for MLS stadiums.

Re: "And what great deal-making by the City Council."

It's just going to continue like this until the five-member commission form of governance is replaced by a form more appropriate to a city of this size and complexity. The current vestige of the robber baron era can only imaginatively be described as democratic. The Paulsons, père et fils, have been quick and determined to capitalize upon this flaw in the body politic.

And, speaking of Henry Merritt "Hank" Paulson, Jr., the Goldman Sachs operative turned Bushleague Treasury Secretary's role in stripping the Northwest of a solvent WaMu may receive a public airing in the DE bankruptcy court where, three days ago, the judge granted the motion by the US Trustee, among others, for an Examiner, opining: "Quite frankly I've found that the litigation process is not adequate in this case."

The US Trustee is part of the Department of Justice (DOJ); any wrongdoing uncovered in the investigation of the takedown of WaMu must be reported to DOJ prosecutors.

Gardiner, the DOJ lost its integrity long ago. Whatever they do serves some political interest. Hell, even in the 60s the DOJ was serving political interests while violating the rights of Americans who disagreed with a certain war. They've only gotten worse. Who they choose to prosecute and why is political. Since the Paulsons seem to have enough grease on every skid, don't look for anything meaningful to be done by the DOJ (I just mistyped DOG at first but I don't want to insult my canine friends).

This is neither here nor there, but I was fascinated to see a 1970s photograph of Henry Paulson on the deck of a sailboat in Vanity Fair and to speculate that Merritt might be cloned. I kid you not. When Henry had hair, he looked exactly like his son.

"The people - many are more interested in entertainment and sports than in our America."

Rome/USA is burning folks and soccer players have replaced gladiators....

LucsAdvo, the DOJ was employed for political purposes before the '60s. Recall the McCarthy era, for instance. Indeed, it is doubtful the DOJ was ever not politicized, with occasional performances that seemed to approach an unbiased ideal. Nevertheless, the DOJ is the only DOJ we have. Whether Mr Holder can separate himself from his Wall Street bankster buds remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the US Trustee today named "Joshua Hochberg, a former top official in a U.S. Department of Justice criminal fraud unit," as the Examiner for WaMu:
http://www.kccllc.net/documents/0812229/0812229100726000000000007.pdf

Of course, J. Mary Walrath must approve the choice. Common shareholders, who remember Henry Merritt "Hank" Paulson, Jr's role in the takedown of WaMu and the subsequent removal of substantial wealth from the Northwest, seem to have been buoyed by the selection of an experienced Examiner.

Justin:On the money side of the issue, I agree with you. The City Council is getting ripped off. Again.

The City Council is not getting ripped off. We are getting ripped off by our City Council whether through ignorance or malfeasance. Ultimately, we get to pay. They are loading debt and we pay.