What's Happening in Portland, OR…

The effort to acquire a Major League Baseball team for Portland has been ongoing since 2017 and now the Oregon Senate has passed a funding bill to support the building of an MLB ballpark.

With a vote of 24 to 5, Senate Bill 110 passed, clearing a way for the Portland Diamond Project to have access to state bonds up to $800m to build a ballpark on Portland’s South Waterfront. The bill now moves on to the Oregon House. If it passes the house it will go before the governor to be signed, and Governor Tina Kotek has already made known during a late-March press conference that she supports the project.

Professional sports teams make ample use of printing services, and local businesses frequently lobby for tie-in promotions with these teams.

The dream of having an MLB team in Portland predates the formation of the Portland Diamond Project. The state passed a law in 2003 to permit up to $150m in bonds for the construction of a baseball stadium. This latest bill, raising up to $800m to cover the latest costs of a new stadium, is to be repaid over the next three decades by a “jock tax.” The tax would be levied on the playing and non-playing staff of both the hosting and visiting teams.

The proposed 32,000-seat stadium would be located on the Zidell Yards property on the Willamette River’s western bank, and will feature a retractable roof.