Canzano: Portland’s Major League Baseball ballpark site sits ready... are you?

There’s a six-foot cyclone fence surrounding the waterfront parcel located at 3556 NW Front Ave. in Portland. On top of that fence, three strands of barbed wire stretch the length of the property, keeping people like me out.

Still, I couldn’t help myself.

I drove to Terminal Two on Thursday, pressed my nose against the fence, and looked through it at the 53-acre site now controlled by the Portland Diamond Project.

I saw large, wide-open paved lots. And two of dockside ship-to-shore container cranes. And four storage warehouses. And not a single person anywhere. But rising above it all I saw the vision for a 32,000-seat Major League Baseball ballpark that could change this city forever by making this spot a destination.

I saw families, hurrying along the walkway. I heard the roar of the crowd. I imagined restaurants and 8,000 apartments. And a new bridge spanning from the train station, and water taxis, too, delivering people to it all.

Can you see it?

I can.

But on Thursday, the managing partners of the MLB to PDX project weren’t basking in the glow of the release of their charter investors names. They weren’t celebrating the fact that they already have more than $1.3 billion in commitments for the project.

Founder Craig Cheek and his team were on their way to a meeting with one of the local Native American tribes -- an entity that has expressed interested in joining the effort.

There’s still work to do, see?

The total cost of building a stadium in Portland and landing a MLB expansion team could be north of $2.5 billion. Industry insiders expect the group will soon announce a financial partner, who would add $400 million or more to the pool. Also, there will be opportunities for charter investors such as Ciara and Russell Wilson to expand their initial stake and take a majority ownership stake.

The Dodgers, Angels and Padres all have lucrative sponsorship agreements with Native American tribes. Casino money is absolutely on the table, and that’s different from the failed effort in 2003 to bring the Expos to Portland. Which is only to say that so much has changed in the 15 years since then that makes what we’re seeing now possible.

  • MLB has shifted to smaller ballparks.
  • Commissioner Rob Manfred has expressed interest in adding two expansion teams.
  • Portland has grown exponentially and would rank as the No. 10 market in growth among the current MLB cities. 

Also, the ownership model for professional sports franchises has shifted. Except in rare circumstances, gone are the days when a single person who resides in the city of a given sports franchise steps up to purchase the thing. Instead, syndicates have become the norm.

The Milwaukee Bucks ownership group, for example, has 21 investors. The majority co-owner, Wes Edens, lives in New York. He’s a hedge-fund investor who graduated from Oregon State.

Cheek’s group is humble, well-organized, and it has responded to the minor setbacks along the way by maintaining focus. I liked that it didn’t hold a news conference on Thursday, touting the charter investors and trying to drum up more public support. It just sent out a news release, and got about trying to seal what could be a lucrative partnership.

Still, I couldn’t help myself.

I have three daughters. They’re not ballplayers, but our family loves sports. And even as Thursday’s weather was cloudy and 45 degrees, I could see the vision.

I could see the span of the Fremont Bridge on the horizon, and the edge of the river in front of that, and in between, all kinds of opportunity.

I could see my family there, on a sunny afternoon, doing what families in MLB cities do on sunny days.

There’s still the matter of City Hall and continued public support for infrastructure needed. There’s still more financial work to be done by the Portland Diamond Project. They’ll need $2.5 billion total. That’s a heavy lift. Also, MLB commissioner Manfred needs to find a way to tell Portland that it’s OK to dream.

He has a city thirsty to welcome a franchise.

If Manfred cares to visit, I’ll drive him to that fence and show him myself.

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