So why the hostility toward Merritt Paulson?
Merritt Paulson is trying to get a ballpark. He’s trying to see if some community in this area is willing to build a real baseball stadium in a public-private partnership. You realize, perhaps, that the ONLY stadium or arena of any size that this area’s ever built with public funds is Memorial Coliseum — which was done about a half century ago.
The Rose Garden, PGE Park (Multnomah Stadium when it was built), Vaughn Street Ballpark — all were done privately. My point is, we’re kind of due, aren’t we, to do some sort of arena or ballpark?
Anyway, Paulson, who had no connections here, moved into the area when he bought the Portland Beavers and Timbers and is in love with owning pro sports franchises. He’s been villified, made fun of and derided because he’s asked the public to help fund a ballpark that IT will own.
He’s willing to pour millions of his own money into this operation. Millions. And for anyone who thinks he’s got a great chance of even earning all that money back, well, you’re nuts. I just don’t think it pencils out. The fact is, he’s a wealthy guy who loves owning and operating a sports franchise.
Just like Paul Allen.
But Paul’s taken a lot of hits over the years, too. Yet the contributions the Trail Blazers have made to this community are too many to count. Seriously, with all of our job and economic problems here, the constant rain and the idiocy of some of our politicians, it’s the only thing a lot of people find themselves feeling good about when they pick up the morning paper.
And you know what? Paul has lost tens hundreds of millions on the Trail Blazers. Can you imagine? It’s never been a profitable operation. The people of Portland owe him a standing ovation every time he walks to his seat in that arena. Has he made mistakes? Of course, and we’ve always called him out on them. But on balance, Paul Allen has been GREAT for the city of Portland.
Traditionally, we’ve not had wealthy people who live in our area step up to own franchises. The closest I can come is Harry Glickman, but he wasn’t rich enough to own the team — he just was farsighted and creative enough to put a group together that had enough financial clout to buy a team in the NBA.
I think Merritt Paulson is trying very hard to be great for the Portland area, too. Certainly, to anyone who believes he’s here to make his fortune is sadly mistaken. If they think that ballpark in Beaverton is going to benefit only Paulson, they’re seriously deluded.
That ballpark will be a gathering place and a focal point for Beaverton that the city has never had. An identity and a soul. Just wait. What really bothers me is the whole political side to this. Some people don’t like Paulson’s father, Hank, the former secretary of the treasury, so they don’t like his kid. I mean, man, the guy was a REPUBLICAN — which is pretty much always a crime around these parts. And man, he’s from the EAST COAST! How terrible.
All I’m saying is that we ought to be thankful that people like Paul Allen and Merritt Paulson have chosen Portland as the home for their teams. Nobody around here is wealthy enough or willing enough to do it.
And we’re better off for what they’ve done.
Baseball, NBA, Soccer, Stadiums, Trail Blazers, Worthwhile endeavors, basketball, small-town Portland | Dwight Jaynes | October 16, 2009
arenas, ballparks, Beaverton, Dwight Jaynes, Merritt Paulson, Paul Allen, Portland
Come on Dwight, its the Keep Portland Weird crowd vilifying him because his daddy is a target. God forbid a young educated rich white guy with ties to the more conservative side of America try to do something in the best interest in one of the more liberal municipalities in America.
I believe the problems with this deal are far deeper than “Daddy Dearest” what happens to the Beaverton taxpayer investment if MLB’s next AAA contract isn’t awarded to the Beavers in Portland/Beaverton how does the stadium then gain any revenue. Look at how many times since 1903 Portland has been without a AAA baseball team?
I get SO TIRED of the LAZY “Keep Portland Weird” Tag…
Seriously, it was a marketing campaign to keep Walmart out of the PDX city limits. Is that such a terrible thing?
Oh, and the crowd you are referring to…the “Keep Portland Wierd” crowd? Well….demographically they are young (25-44). They are educated (75%), and they are transplants from other major cities. In other words, they are from places that have ammenities and are not at all opposed to bringing them here.
The true opposition is not the “Keep Portland Wierd” crowd…the true opposition is the “Keep Portland SMALL” crowd! These are long time PDX’ers. Typically REPUBLICAN. Typically are fed their thoughts through the likes of LARS LARSON…and do not want change…do not want new taxation…and certainly do not want all of these whipper snappers with new fangled ideas, college degrees, and a stray tattoo or pearcing in a place other than the ear to infiltrate their city!
Wake up…
why in the hell did you even bring up his political leanings? who cares if he’s a repub or democrat? you’re the first person who’s even brought that up and i’ve read numerous articles on this whole thing.
many people just don’t BELIEVE him. all the #’s don’t add up. no one is doubting that the ball park would be nice, it’s how he’s going about it. different #’s every month and the people who he’s hired have a past that don’t add up either. people do have memories dwight.
Right on. Dwight is just stirring the pot. Nobody cares about Merritt’s family. The simple fact is that property owners don’t think they should be responsible for funding something that is truly frivolous and of limited use to a very small segment of the population. If the users want to pay for it, be my guest. Making the property owners pay without even letting them vote on it is revolting (quite possibly in the real sense).
And this ridiculous idea that some stadium will provide Beaverton an “identity and a soul” is complete BS. That’s the standard line cities trot out to provide some type of civic responsibility hook to try to get people to shell out money to them. And who gives rip if Beaverton has an identity or soul anyway? Seriously? If Beaverton wants every property owner to shell out between $1500-$3000 over the next 25 years so their city can have some warm and fuzzy “identity” they can get bent.
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but people are kind of pissed off with the state of the economy. A wealthy guy asking for money from a public that has seen better days fiscally is going to run into opposition regardless of the nature of the project or his political leanings.
That’s funny I have read several articles that point out that his Dad is a minority owner, and that should be a reason to oppose this deal.
Which articles?
Spot on. What many don’t realize is that PA is probably the only reason that PDX still has the Trail Blazers given their continued money losing financial operations….there just isn’t the amount of true wealth and corporate wealth here to support a independent finacially viable operation in this city….
My issue with him is that the status of his deals change week to week.
When people question him, it’s always a “I’ll take my toys and go home” approach. He did that with the RQ option, he did that with Lents, and now he’s doing it with Beaverton.
If he’d learn to shut the hell up and let processes play out, he’d have a much better public image (Allen got the same treatment when he “sold” the Rose Garden a couple years ago).
Paulson needs to realize that people are VERY sensitive about where their money goes… especially those who or un(der)employed, have children, etc etc. I don’t think people are necessarily against using money to pay for ballparks, but it will NEVER be the #1 priority… and having Paulson storming around dropping deadlines and trying to strong-arm it through isn’t going to help… especially in a smaller community like Beaverton.
Using his MLS team as leverage won’t work either, “If there’s no deal with baseball, there’s no deal with Portland” because (especially in Beaverton) NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE MLS TEAM!
He needs to present his proposal(s) and let the community decide for themselves if and how they wish to pursue them. He seems to think he can get people to write him a check for tens of millions of dollars in a matter of weeks, and it just doesn’t (shouldn’t)work that way.
Paulson is learning the hard way not to assume that he can make things work without the proper backing in the first place.
Dwight:
Paulson’s problem has nothing to do with his dad, or his political affiliation. It is his approach. He looks like the quintessential billionairre brat who blows into town and tries to charm the political class into his schemes without doing the necessary work to build public support for his vision.
You would think he would learn, after high profile failures in the Rose Quarter, Lents, then Beaverton. He keeps making the same mistake!
It doesn’t help to have Vera Katz being his PR tool. She is the backroom dealer poster child! NO WONDEr he is approaching it this way!
Paulson is getting HORRIBLE advice from Vera Katz. Whatever he is paying her is way too much. He could have headed this whole thing off with a different approach, but unless he changes course, he is just going to fail and be perceived as the brat billionairre boy.
I guess we will see what he is really made of. If he is like you describe, he will get rid of Vera, start being a real person, and stop trying to do the short cut back room deal shove-it-down-our-throat style of business.
Great points, I had no idea Vera Katz was involved with this. Katz and Sam Adams what a team!
Of course, Dwight, one of the biggest Paulson bashers here in town is bojack, who likes to refer to “Little Lord Paulson” and such.
And I suspect that dislike for his father isn’t so much because Hank Pauslon is a Republican–many of us simply think he’s a crook (there are plenty of crooks, of course, in both major parties). However, that’s the sins of the father; Merritt hasn’t been involved (to my knowledge) in any of the Wall Street shennanigans that brought this country to the brink.
The son hasn’t been involved directly in any of the crookef financial stuff the Bush administration dumped on us, sure. However, all the money he is using for the MLS expansion fee, the private contribution to the PGE Park renovations, and the private contribution to the Beaverton baseball stadium are coming from the dad. Considering that the dad also owns 20% of the Beavers and Timbers, it appears that the son is just a figure-head. I am sure the son enjoys his role just I would enjoy playing with my dad’s millions.
Dwight,
Henry Paulson is a minority owner of the Timbers and if the reports I read are true, the money behind Merritt. Plus Goldman Sachs was mentioned in relation to the funding here. You are aware of their record lately?
To suggest Henry’s not in play here or that this has no connection to the disastrous financial downturn America is going through, contrasts vividly with your love of the depressing, ugly truth.
Well said Dwight;
Dwight, I know you like to report the truth. Your statement that the Rose Garden was built “privately” is false.
The taxpayers of Portland contributed over $42 Million to the project and also provided the land of over 8 acres, plus they provided all the parking structures. The land itself was worth over $20 Million sitting right next to the Memorial Coliseum, I-5, and Lloyd Center.
It certainly wasn’t a solely private endeavor. And it happened during the reign of Mayor Katz with Sam Adams assistance-an interesting sidelight to what is happening again and before with PGE Park (another Katz/Adams endeavor) and now Beaverton.
Taxpayers only contributed 16 percent of the 262 million to build the Rose Garden.
City of Portland also get a percentage of the revenue for events and all the revenue for the 3 parking structures.
Financing
The financing of the Rose Garden construction was widely hailed at the time as a good example of public-private partnership; most of the costs were borne by Allen and/or Allen-owned companies, rather than by taxpayers.[32] The bulk of the $262 million[4] construction costs were funded by a $155 million loan from a consortium of lenders led by pension fund TIAA-CREF. As Allen was unwilling to guarantee the loan with his personal finances, the lenders demanded an interest rate of 8.99%, with no opportunity for prepayment.[33] Other major creditors included Prudential Insurance, and Farmers Insurance.[34]
The remainder of funds came from the City of Portland ($34.5 million), Allen himself ($46 million), with the final $10 million coming from a bond backed by box office and parking revenues.[35] In addition, the City transferred to Allen the underlying land. The City maintains ownership of the Memorial Coliseum and the adjacent parking garages, but the right to manage these was also transferred to Allen. In exchange, Allen signed an exclusive site agreement with the city requiring the Trail Blazers to play all home games in Portland for thirty years[27] The City of Portland hoped that the building of the arena would lead to other renovation or development in the Rose Quarter district, but as of 2008 this has yet to materialize.[36]
The above excerpt was from Wikipedia;
How dare you bring facts into this argument!
I’m with Bill McDonald, on this one.
Amen, Dwight! Paulson gave the city an unbelievably great deal w/mls2pdx…it’s not like paulson is going to make much [any?!!] money on the timbers/beavers….any other owner would’ve understandably told pdx to go climb a tree, to put it nicely…pdx is so so so naive when it comes to pro sports…i love pdx, but it embarrassed me when colin cowherd on espn radio mentioned every major league-sized city has an nfl or big league baseball team…except guess who, our pacific nw metropolis, which is a larger tv market than san diego, yet desperately wants to act like it’s laramie, wyoming….sigh.
Since we still don’t know where the taxpayer’s money has gone in the biggest bailout scam in American history, there is no way I’m going to give any Paulson family member a break.
And as others have pointed out rather well here, this is not a person that has shown a real love for Portland. Seems more like somebody who thinks we are easy pickings for being fleeced.
And yes I love Paul Allen, but not like he has proved to be the best business man in the world. What venture has he made any money on?
Um… Seriously? Paul Allen is one of the richest men in America and had a little hand in a company called Microsoft. I think he’s done OK as a businessman. As pointed out, most pro sports owners lose money. They are in it for different reasons than the bottom line.
Great article Dwight
People in this state constantly bitch and moan while other cities find a way to get it done. Hell even when we build light rail we shortcut it by not providing parking so you can use it.
We are a small time thinking state and probably always will be
We have a guy willing to spend millions to bring something good to the metro area and he gets spit on. The media only covers the negative henpeckers but ya notice they never do a story on how this enhances the community
small time
Nicely said Panama. Irregardless of where Merritt is getting his backing, he is putting an investment in the future of sports in our community and his new home. So far he has been given the “carpetbagger” label!
Irregardless is not a word and “we don’t think big enough” is often the argument of the reckless. Funny how some of the crowd here, including Dwight, refer to the liberals in PDX as being irrational obstructionists, yet it’s this act of financial conservatism of these liberals that’s pissing them off. Most “conservatives” want them to be highly financially conservative with health and safety services, but not public sports ventures or bailouts for the rich. That pretty much defines the view of modern conservatism these days, which is why people like the Paulsons are viewed with such disdain in these parts and aren’t trusted.
“Irregardless
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Troy says:
October 17, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Irregardless is not a word
What do you mean irregardless isn’t a word? See below;
irregardless in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Irregardless is a term meaning in spite of or anyway, that has caused controversy since it first appeared in the early twentieth century. It is generally listed in dictionaries as “incorrect” or “nonstandard”.
from Webster’s:
usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.
Just as an aside – just because Merritt’s father has one political leaning – doesn’t mean he has the same political leaning. I don’t lean the same way my father did, do you?
Merritt has been given a bum wrap, I believe that he is sincere in his efforts and genuinely wants the best for everyone.
I, also, think that Beaverton is crazy if they pass on this kind of opportunity. How often does a city council really get the chance to make this kind of positive long standing change to a cityscape.
So the choices are – leave Beaverton the way it is – a town that only residents have any reason to visit, that has no big draw that can bring in visitor $$$
OR
build a stadium that will bring diverse groups of people into Beaverton, for not only baseball, but concerts, various athletic events, children’s programs and countless other events. A stadium that will be part of the city for a very long time and will give the children of the area the opportunity to see minor AND major league players in their backyard. A stadium that will be there long after Merritt Paulson is gone, long after I’m gone, but will be there for generations to come.
Thanks, Dwight, for being a positive influence in what has become a very negative debate at times.
The first thing Merritt did on his stadium dream was get up and say in the paper that the bonds on the previous wasteful PGE Park rehab were “almost paid off.” Which was grossly untrue. Which means he’s either incompetent or a liar. And everything he’s done since has been equally boneheaded and/or disingenuous.
Here he is in a serious recession asking the taxpayers to put up $60 million for sports stadiums, when he has a perfectly good one to work in now. That isn’t going to fly — or if it does, it isn’t going to be easy.
He should have kept his NBA job.
And his father, who’s fronted all the money for the attempted fleecing of Portland and who will share in any profit from the deals, is indeed a major crook who should be in jail.
You’re so narrow and shortsighted. I don’t know why you don’t just move if you hate it here so much. Stick to complaining about streetcars.
Last person in the world I trust is a lawyer.
Yes, because high finance businessmen have been so much more trust worthy in this country.
I don’t know if the stadium issue is a good idea or not plus I’m not a resident of either Portland or Beaverton. However, I do know that the only thing Jack Bogdanski and his greek chorus of wingnuts on his website are good at is calling people names like a bunch of third-graders. No, we can’t freeze time to 1976 when you arrived professor. We either move forward or backwards.
No town needs something, anything, like Beaverton. I think this has a chance to do that. Let the people vote and see how it goes. Merritt Paulson has already done more to expand our sporting choices than anyone else in quite a while.
I have attended baseball at what is now PGE Park for over 30 years. We have enjoyed numerous teams, especially this latest, and to me, best version of small ball. The current AAA Portland Beavers the Minor League affilite for San Diego Padres, came to us only after a $30+Million taxpayer investment in our stadium, although as I recall the renovations were an attempt to gain a Major League Franchise. But Portland has also suffered through numerous seasons/years when we had no Minor League Baseball association and the stadium existed for High School Sports and whatever else could be “hustled-up” to help pay the stadium bills. To now throw away these taxpayer investments in baseball and the stadium and allow the Beavers to move from PGE Park is, I believe, disgraceful and should NOT be supported. I believe had the current owner done their homework prior to going after the MLS Franchise and involved the community in determining the best sports venues and locatiosn for Portland we would not be in the position that we are now in with the mess for both MLS and MLB and the political pratfalls we see daily. What happens to the citizens of Beaverton and all the tax money invested if the Owner and Major League Baseball aren’t happy with the new location (or the next AAA contract goes elsewhere) and the decision is made to move the franchise, as has happened in Portland more than once? Be very careful what you invest in.
How many AAA games have you been outside of PGE Park? I’ve been to about 20 outside of PGE. PGE is by far and away the worst minor league ballpark I’ve been too. The game is not intimate in the least. That’s probably the reason it is in the biggest AAA city in the US with one of the poorest attendances in the PCL.
To be honest with you…without the move to MLS the Timbers likely would have folded in the next year or two. If you have any idea about the turmoil going on in the USL, which the Timbers play in now, you would get the idea that the league isn’t going to be around for long in it’s current form and the Timbers being the sole remaining team in the West won’t help. If they folded Paulson could move the Beavers to any number of cities with an already built AAA stadium who are just looking for a tenant. The PGE would sit there empty without a renter. Then they’d be back to “hustlin” again to find someone to pay the bills.
Thanks but your ideas are terrible. And why are you bringing Major League Baseball into this? Not.going.to.happen.
I have been to a number of other small ball venues but gosh, 20 wow that is impressive. Any statement about the “worst” and “not intimate” are subjective or we would all be driving the same make/model automobile, I see nothing at all negative about PGE Park, I enjoy the stadium as it is very much and so do allot of other folks that attend the games. I also enjoyed it before 2001 when we spent $38.5 million of our tax dollars (not yet paid off) for the renovation. Anyone can come up with reasons for poor attendance, the early spring rains, the poor job of marketing the team, the lack of publicity our local newspaper television and radio stations give the team, the fact our team is a farm team for the far-away Padres instead of the Seattle Mariners (AAA affiliate in Tacoma) I believe that Portland could easily increase attendance with a little effective marketing and for allot less money than another $30-60 million dollars as that seems to be the range of numbers for this latest wild dream.
My only mention of Major League Baseball, was in regards to the effort prior to the 2001 renovations to gain support for the $38.5 million expenditure and also in regards to the fact that the Portland Beavers are in Portland because Major League Baseball has farm teams that are in cities approved and awarded contracts by MLB these locations are not permanent nor are they guaranteed, Portland could easily lose our affiliation because of all the nonsense that is ongoing currently. Nothing said whatsoever about wanting Major League Baseball in Portland?
As for turmoil, look at what is going on in MLS with the ownership “squabbles” the MLS owner is in another in a long series of disagreements about operations with the team owners at present, the current arrangements are definitely changing how sure is anyone that any soccer organization in the USA is permanent?
Read what was written, please.
Those ownership “squabbles” are NOT in MLS, they are in the USL First Division. The current league of the Timbers until 2011. MLS is one of the most stable leagues according to FIFA officials who are trying to encourage other top leagues around the world to emulate their financial structure. MLS is certainly no NASL.
Thanks for info regarding the publicity regarding ownership “squabbles” being in the USL.
I understand that as the MLS continues to grow and slowly move toward being profitable (perhaps in next couple years) the league is changing, the league push continues for soccer specific stadiums, this is mostly a league economic issue so no revenue sharing with multiple stadium owners is required, that is why Portland must have a soccer stadium not a baseball and soccer stadium.
All the news that comes from the MLS is very positive, but I believe if you look to the foreign soccer news you see reports of the MLS owners and MLS players struggling with the changes especially team owners rights and the players and salary issues (all are basically money issues that hinge on the success of the league). Of course that is to be expected as the MLS attempts grow and improve and continues to build a fan base, hopefully we will see the MLS succeed, but should the taxpayers of Portland and Beaverton be going into that soccer lottery with an investment of another $30-60 million dollars after the 2001 expenditure of $38.5 million that hasn’t yet been realized?
Soccer fans, baseball fans, taxpayers we all need open honest information so the best decisions for all of us can be made, when will that start?
How secure is the current AAA arrangement with Portland/Beaverton what conditions could allow the Padres to move the Beavers?
Do you remember what PGE Park was like before the $38.5 million dollar renovation? It was in worst shape than the current Memorial Coliseum and needed to be upgraded and made safer.
Yes I used to enjoy mid-summer games from the leftfield bleachers, remember that is were the Jantzen Lady used to be.
It was definately in need of the renovation, and I really thought the renovations and the $38.5 million expenditure were well thought out (read the PGE Park website blurb about the renovation) but if this was only for 8 or 9 years then it was a huge waste of our tax money.
We all believed this was an investment in the future of baseball/sports for Portland.
And the future of baseball/sports in Portland was a failure. Had people at the time realized they were just being used as pawns by MLB to make D.C. kick in a better stadium maybe the remodel would have never happened.
The simple fact is PGE Park is a 20,000 seat AAA stadium. It can’t even be used at that capacity because there aren’t enough bathrooms, concessions, and the concourses are too small. Those are all issues that are going to be addressed with the move to MLS. There is exactly 2 ways PGE will ever fill for baseball and that’s if a MLB team comes to play the Beavers or a special event like the AAA all-star game. For an excellent AAA experience travel to Salt Lake and go see a game at Franklin-Covey. No way would you “enjoy” PGE as much as you do. Even Safeco up in Seattle feels more intimate than PGE and there are 20K+ more seats.
Considering much of the money spent in the 2001 remodel was for seismic upgrades I don’t see that remodel as being worthless. It would have had to be done. Actually if it hadn’t been done I can pretty much guarantee there would be 2 or 3 condos in that location.
It’s funny you ask if I look at foreign soccer news. I do, quite a bit actually. I follow 4 teams in separate leagues. I don’t see these types of articles you talk about being written in abundance.
I don’t know that this remodel is even a gamble. At the very least PGE will be the type of stadium that PSU needs to move up to Division 1 in football like they want to. MLS is praised in foreign markets because they have control of their payroll. MLS is actually already profitable. The value of the franchise is where the money is made. The Blazers are not profitable but Paul Allen has made money due to the value of the team increasing. Just ask how much was made off the Beckham kits sold.
I think the majority of comments regarding this article prove why Portland is a third rate sports town. Small minds form small ideas. Every once in awhile, it’s necessary to take a risk. When the MC was built in the late ’50s, there was a risk to the tax payer as well. However, 40 years later, it seems to have worked out alright. Look, if you just don’t think Portland should have any sports franchises or venues, fine. But hand wringing ad infinitum over a minor league ball park is mind boggling. If the stress of using some tax dollars to help finance a stadium the PUBLIC will own is just too much, by all means, please move to Dufur.
By the way, Dwight, given the majority of responses to this piece, I think you should file it under “small town Portland.”
Would the Beaverton nay sayers be offended if the Spirit Mountain or Chinook Winds funded the entire ballpark costs for the rights of building a casino in downtown Beaverton if it were possible?
Just a thought, the Portland Tram cost $57 million, so a $59 million ballpark is a better bargain…