Stadium Expansion Baby Steps

The Portland City Council passed a resolution expressing formal support for the stadium expansion plans, opening the door for the rest of the things that need to fall in place as well. Three things of note, there will be a special exemption from the competitive bidding process, I assume because construction is being paid for by Peregrine Sports. The second thing, and one that has a few people grumpy, is that the 4,000 new seats would be exempt from city ticket taxes for a period of 10 years. Some see this as a government subsidy, while most reasonable people feel it’s a fair concession considering tax dollars won’t be spent on construction. The final point of interest, Peregrine’s representative would not comment on the time period required for the Timbers to recoup the investment, because the project had not been finalized yet. The section of the hearing relevant to the Timbers starts at around the 2 hour and 13 minute mark and runs for about 35 minutes. Some of the mechanics of the deal and the different ways it can be interpreted are fairly interesting.