THE DEAL to bring Major League Soccer to Portland is back off
life support for the time being, after the city last week nixed the
plan to use urban renewal money to plug a $15 million hole in the cost
of renovations to PGE Park for Major League Soccer.
Timbers owner Merritt Paulson will plug the gap [“Finding $15
Million,” News, July 2] with an $8 million cash contribution and a
prepayment of $11.1 million in rent and ticket taxes. He will also
slightly scale back plans for the renovation to lower its overall cost.
Meanwhile, the city will borrow $11.2 million from its special
“spectator fund,” which is funded by a tax on ticket sales. If the cost
of the construction overruns, the city will absorb up to $1 million in
costs, but Paulson will pay for all overruns beyond the initial $1
million. The city will also pay a $700,000 “soft cost” by waiving
certain development fees for the arena.
Removing urban renewal money—which is supposed to be used to
regenerate “blighted areas”—removes a major barrier in gaining
public support for the $31 million renovation. Multnomah County Chair
Ted Wheeler has been an outspoken opponent of using urban renewal money
for soccer since the prospect of a deal was first raised in council
back in March.
“Clearly this is a much better deal for taxpayers,” said City
Commissioner Amanda Fritz at a council hearing on the deal last
Thursday, July 9. Both Fritz and Commissioner Nick Fish say they need
two weeks to look at the details of the plan before expressing support,
but at this point it is possible that the financing could proceed with
a unanimous vote.
The city waived its usual competitive bidding process to go forward
with the deal, but Commissioner Randy Leonard said that was okay
because “we have a private sector partner with a lot of skin in the
game.”
Fish asked Paulson about potentially bringing in a Major League
Soccer women’s team—Fish’s daughter is a keen soccer player.
“It’s on my radar,” Paulson said.