The Beaverton Beavers?
Mayor Doyle thinks Triple-A baseball is ‘an ideal fit’ for Washington County city
Is the solution to Merritt Paulson’s Beavers dilemma all in a name?
Beaverton Mayor Dennis Doyle said Tuesday that he had begun discussions – in the form of a letter to Paulson – to move the Triple-A Portland Beavers baseball team to Beaverton.
Finding a home for the team has been a point of public contention for Paulson, the owner, as the team will be forced out of its current home at PGE Park by a Major League Soccer franchise in 2011.
In a letter dated July 13, Doyle wrote to Paulson inquiring and encouraging the idea of moving the baseball team to Beaverton. He championed the public transportation options available in the city and wrote that the people of Beaverton would be “an ideal fit” for the team.
In a response letter, Paulson agreed, calling the city a “tremendous fit” for his organization. He added that he looked forward to future discussions with both the mayor and the Beaverton City Council.
“If Portland is unable to find a suitable location for the team, we’d like to be considered as a potential regional solution to not only keep the Beavers in Oregon but in the immediate Portland metropolitan area,” Doyle said. “We’re open to listening and exploring the opportunity to build a mixed-use facility here in Beaverton that could serve a number of public uses.”
While it is too early in the process for any concrete locations of a new stadium, whatever space is chosen would likely be near the MAX light-rail line. Some speculation has put a potential site in the space where the Westgate Theater used to reside, near The Round at Beaverton Central development in downtown.
Similarly, the funding model for a new development is uncertain, but based on Paulson’s past negotiations with the city of Portland around the Beavers, it’s almost certain that it would be paid for with a mixture of private and public funds. The city would also likely incur costs related to transportation improvement if the stadium went through.
Doug Menke, general manager of the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District, said that based on the information he had available, the agency supported Doyle’s idea for a stadium.
“Bringing a professional sports team to town would build a stronger community by providing additional clean, healthy entertainment and recreational opportunities for families and individuals in Beaverton,” he said. “It would elevate the city’s identity in the region.”
City civic leaders, such as Lorraine Clarno, president of the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce, and Ruthie Reinert, president of the Washington County Visitors Association, voiced cautious optimism about the idea.
“Well, I think it’s an exciting opportunity to be looked at and considered,” Clarno said. “Beaverton and its community are certainly very sports-oriented.”
Clarno said discussions about moving the team to Beaverton have been floating around for a couple of months and that several sites were being looked at, though it was too early to publicly discuss them. She added that having a team in the city might stimulate economic growth, especially in the hospitality industry.
“I think the citizens will certainly give input and weigh in,” Clarno said. “Hopefully, folks will be supportive of at least a discussion.”
Gerard Mildner, an associate professor at Portland State University and a Beaverton resident who has studied the economic impact of professional sports stadiums, is unequivocal about the benefits of this new development: There’s almost none.
“In terms of metropolitan areas, sports teams have next to no impact on economic development,” he said.
Mildner said that spending on professional sports doesn’t boost the economy because it doesn’t represent new dollars, but rather a new avenue for already in-place entertainment consumption. In other words, if a consumer buys a baseball ticket but skips the movie, they’re still spending the same amount, so the net economic effect is minor.
He said stadiums sometimes positively impact the immediate neighborhood by increasing the demand for businesses such as restaurants and bars, but he added that any new jobs would be of negligible benefit. Since tax dollars would be used to pay for at least part of the stadium, Mildner said that a careful consideration of costs and benefits should guide the city’s decision making.
“It’s hard to evaluate, but if you don’t have an economic impact on the metropolitan area, it’s hard to justify taxes,” Mildner said.
Read the letters:
• Click here to read Mayor Doyle’s letter.
• Click here to read Merritt Paulson’s response.