A group seeking to lure a Major League Baseball team to Portland announced it has agreed to relocate the historic Jantzen Beach Carousel to property adjacent to the envisioned ballpark.

Restore Oregon is planning to embark on a restoration of the 1921 carousel later this year. The nonprofit teamed up with the Portland Diamond Project after vetting multiple strong proposals to relocate the carousel, Restore Oregon Executive Director Peggy Moretti stated in a news release.

The two organizations will collaborate on the restoration and operation of the carousel, they announced.

“Locating the carousel adjacent to the ballpark supports our mission of creating an inclusive, family-friendly and accessible ballpark district,” Craig Cheek, founder and president of the baseball group, stated. “This effort is so much bigger than baseball – it is about making Portland a better place for all to live. Preserving the carousel – a wonderful civic asset – was an opportunity we simply couldn’t pass up.”

The carousel was donated to Restore Oregon in September 2017. Last year, the nonprofit published a request for expressions of interest to find a home for the North Portland icon.

Portland Diamond Project is evaluating the feasibility of a baseball stadium and mixed-use development at the Port of Portland‘s Terminal 2 property. The group unveiled architectural renderings by Populous Architects and TVA Architects for the ballpark in November 2018.

Major League Baseball officials have said Portland is a leading potential expansion market, but have not indicated when the league might add or move a team. The league’s most recent expansion was in 1998.

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Portland Diamond Project has come to an agreement with the Port of Portland to extend by up to six months a due diligence period for evaluation of a potential baseball stadium site, the booster group announced.

PDP will pay the port $37,500 per month during the extended due diligence period, the group stated in a news release Tuesday. The payments will be due on or before the first of each month.

The group has been evaluating the port’s Terminal 2 as a possible site for a Major League Baseball stadium.

“The Portland Diamond Project asked for more time for due diligence at Terminal 2 and we feel comfortable extending the timeline,” the Port of Portland stated.

After the six months are up, the group will enter the “next phase of cementing our partnership with the Port to develop this property,” according to PDP.

The group is not ruling out other sites while it continues to evaluate Terminal 2.

“We’re focused on Terminal 2, but we’ll be pursuing all options that make sense until shovels are in the ground,” PDP stated.

Major League Baseball has not announced expansion or relocation plans. The league is working with the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics to secure new stadiums in those markets.

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The possibility of Major League Baseball arriving in Portland has captured the imagination of many people in the region. Supporters were particularly excited when the group dedicated to the effort, the Portland Diamond Project, last year released conceptual renderings of a possible new stadium that could be built on the Port of Portland’s Terminal 2.

Recently, Portland Diamond Project founder Craig Cheek spoke about where the Major League Baseball lobby stands, plans for a stadium, and more. Note that questions have been paraphrased, and Cheek’s comments may not be word-perfect.

91��Ƶ: Can you give us a quick overview of where the Portland Diamond Project currently stands?

Craig Cheek: It is a big, compelling, provocative vision, and we keep making progress. We’re trying to keep that going, and we’ve kind of learned that we’re trying to control the things we can control and not worry about the things we can’t, but figuring the more compelling our story is the more things it does to create a sense of urgency for really considering Portland ready now. We’ve always said we wanted to be open to both situations, both being honored and rewarded with one of the two expanded teams – they haven’t expanded in 20 years and we know the league would love to get to 32 – but the faster route could be an existing team relocating. So we believe we’re getting more ready to be looked at. We have the land, the design, the process with the city working through all issues, the ownership group building up. So, we do believe we are really almost kind of open for business, if you will, and ready for either situation to unfold.

91��Ƶ: Is there anything fans should be looking for in the near future?

Cheek: We’ve always signed up for a marathon, not a sprint. But also, how long can a boiling pot boil? At one point my biggest fear was the fatigue that could set into the project, the investors, fans, the city. And right now it’s at a pretty high confidence level, and we want to take advantage of that. We’ve always circled the first half of ’19 as the inflection point, and I think we’re getting there. We really believe that in the next 60 days the road map will really start to crystallize. So, look for messaging coming out of the league office. Two days ago the commissioner laid out five priorities and one was expansion. So we’ll see if expansion is still a top priority. And as it has continued to be with this commissioner, you have to believe he’s going to want to be pushing a pace of progress that hopefully meets our readiness.

91��Ƶ: You mention expansion, but what other options exist?

Cheek: Keep an eye on markets that are struggling. We are keeping our tabs on a couple of those cities and we believe we’re getting to a point where we could be a viable option. It’s been public that the (Oakland) Athletics have plans, and we want to root them on. It’s a storied franchise with lots of history and they are landlocked in terms of Oakland, and with the Raiders and Warriors leaving it could be emotional. There could also be serious reasons why Oakland just is not able to get the land they need to build a ballpark. Then there is the Tampa Bay situation that has been going back and forth. Moving the ballpark to St. Petersburg is not looking favorable. Both are tenuous, but in the event we can be a problem solver for either of those, we’d love to.

91��Ƶ: Aside from a ballpark, can you describe your tentative plans for the Terminal 2 site?

Cheek: There’s a big trend toward those ballparks that were out in the middle of nowhere on a slab of concrete, and that is they’re sub-optimized because the new model now is to use these new ballparks as a catalyst for transformative economic development. The last one was in Atlanta with 65 acres in The Battery (A 1.5 million-square-foot mixed-use development featuring SunTrust Park, home of the Atlanta Braves). It was an entire mixed-use development with hotels, Coca-Cola, restaurants, housing, and that seems to be the new trend. We’ve paid attention to that and that’s why we’re being looked at so favorably. It would bring in a new neighborhood and be a transformative area for Portland and hopefully bring a tremendous vision for the city into the downtown urban corridor. For us it’s a way to grow our city in the right way and right place and bring activity to the waterfront and create public spaces for all. Throw that in with the long summer of Portland and we just think it’s a great mix. We’re playing the long game today with kind of an underused piece of downtown Portland that we think can create an economic boom, jobs, a new Northwest edge on the waterfront. And it’s just time to rethink where the city can grow, and this is just an area that seems primed for development. The port is not coming back, and the Port of Portland has figured that out.

91��Ƶ: Let’s talk about the proposed stadium design from TVA Architects. What inspired the designers?

Cheek: All stadiums are site specific in terms of what you can do, and we have, ironically, one of the lower rainfalls during the baseball season. But we all know living here that it rains in April, and October can be a beautiful Indian summer. We want to have game-certainty, so putting an iconic translucent retractable roof and making it a civic asset was important for us. You need the acreage to pull it off, so the designs were innovative. You want to take full advantage of the views into the mountains, down the river and into the west hills of the city, so part of the design of the upper part of the stadium is that we wanted it to be unique to Portland and feel like it is completely of Portland and by Portland. This could be the next greatest ballpark in the stable of great ballparks, and it steals the best ideas from Oracle Park in San Francisco. We’ve looked to every ballpark to see all the great ideas they have, and we think we can bring all that into Portland.

91��Ƶ: Why San Francisco?

Cheek: I think we looked at San Francisco because of the waterfront and the boardwalk. Hitting home runs into the Willamette would be pretty cool. And with the historic favorites, Wrigley (Field) and Fenway (Park), what’s unique about those is the downtown feel. Wrigley has people who can look right into the park, and PNC (Park) could be my favorite park – in Pittsburgh. It’s a lot like Portland; it’s smack-dab in the middle of the city on the river, and we just think that bridges go over both sides of the river, and a rite of passage could be going over the river to get to the ballpark. We also like Petco (Park) in San Diego. That was another one. It’s built in the Gaslamp district, it has public spaces in the outfield, and if you look at our design you have an accessible and open outfield area for fans. We’re trying to take some ideas from everybody and create the next great stadium.

91��Ƶ: Which design aspect seems more “Portland” than the rest?

Cheek: Bike tailgating seems very Portland. Can you imagine if you rolled into the ballpark by bike and tailgated out there? We think that could be very cool. We could do the miracle mile around the property from the Pearl to the Diamond District. You could seamlessly connect that and really open up the waterfront. Portland hasn’t taken advantage of that; we have a beautiful river that runs through the city. We see a brand new district where you work, live and play. It will have artisan and maker spaces along with the ballpark. Some visionaries years and years ago envisioned MAX and the Pearl, and now you look back and see what it’s become and realize it takes some vision and collaboration to make things work.

91��Ƶ: So, the Portland Diamond Project is demonstrating the healthy appetite for baseball in Portland. Why didn’t this happen sooner?

Cheek: I scratch my head about that. I retired from Nike a couple of years ago, and once I started researching it was kind of head-scratching as to why this hasn’t come together. Portland is the largest metro market with only one of big four professional sports franchises. We have basketball and everybody loves the Blazers, but Portland is actually a large market to only have one team. They last tried 15 years ago and went after one team, trying to persuade the Expos to come to Portland. And they went to Washington and they are the Nationals now. But now we have three teams (Trail Blazers, Timbers and Thorns) and expansion, so we see this as a very unique window of opportunity. We know Portland is high on the radar, and we’ve worked hard the last two years to build legitimacy and credibility with the league office. We just think it’s a matter of timing more than anything. Nobody in the past stepped into the void and led the effort. So we figured with my experience we could do it, and two years later we’re really knocking on the door. We’re doing all the right things to put Portland in a very favorable position.

91��Ƶ: Finally, what causes Portland Diamond Project leaders to pause for a second?

Cheek: I think if I take a look at what keeps me up at night it’s fatigue. The second is that the game is healthy. The TV rights are there, but attendance has dipped. The reason I make that comment is as long as there is not a work stoppage we couldn’t control, that may dampen the ability to have a franchise here. Certainly you want state and city politics to be favorable; we were not asking for a tremendous amount of public financing – that’s a difficult lift to ask taxpayers to pay for, and we are bringing in a lot of private equity. But we still need to look like they have skin in the game and that Major League Baseball is being welcomed into our city and state. Managing those relations internally is important; it’s important that Portland and Oregon show they really want this to happen. We have over 25,000 people who have signed the petition, so I think that will be an important data point for our government and our Major League Baseball commissioner to say, ‘Wow. There looks to be a very excited fan base that will support this team.’ And Portland has shown that with the Blazers through thick and thin, and the Timbers and Thorns – they all sell out. We know fans will come out. But I’d just say the devil is in the details and making sure we do have an opportunity to get a team. That’s the biggest question left to answer. We need the opportunity for somebody to say, ‘Yes, we want to go to Portland.’

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TVA Architects is working with Populous, based in Kansas City, Missouri, to design a potential Major League Baseball stadium on the west bank of the Willamette River on the Port of Portland‘s Terminal 2 property.

Shortly after Portland Diamond Project‘s announcement Thursday of pursuit of a deal for the terminal property, the 91��Ƶ spoke with TVA Architects co-founder and principal Bob Thompson about the design.

The design represents a break from the retro baseball stadiums that began with Camden Yards in Baltimore in 1992. Thompson said the ballpark design is intentionally contemporary.

“The client’s goal has been to create a very innovative, cutting-edge, leading ballpark that sets a new standard in ballpark design,” he said.

The stadium is oriented to take advantage of downtown views. Unlike at San Francisco’s AT&T Park, batters will not be able to hit home runs into the water.

“What we’re trying to do is take maximum advantage of the view to downtown Portland and looking up the river to the Fremont Bridge,” Thompson said. “It really is working very well in terms of orienting the seating bowl so it maximizes views back to downtown, the skyline.”

The site’s width from Front Avenue to the river also constrains the orientation, Thompson said.

The stadium design features a retractable roof. The roof is a fixed single shell with a structural steel frame and a translucent ETFE membrane. It would completely retract behind home plate on the north side of the stadium, Thompson said.

TVA and Populous bring different expertise to the project, Thompson said. Populous specializes in large stadiums. TVA has decades of experience in Portland, and Thompson led the design of Matthew Knight Arena – the University of Oregon basketball venue.

“We’re partnering together on this project,” Thompson said. “Populous is bringing a wealth of knowledge on aspects of ballpark design. TVA is focused on bringing the local architecture language and look and feel of the ballpark to Portland.”

The stadium will integrate with Northwest Portland, he said.

“We’re looking at the ballpark as a catalyst for a development of a whole new district in Portland, a district that focuses on sports and entertainment and that connects people to the river,” he said.

Housing remains part of the larger plan, Thompson said.

As far as the gondola evident in renderings, maybe it shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

“Let’s not talk about the gondola,” Thompson said.

Correction: Bob Thompson is co-founder and principal of TVA Architects. In an earlier version of this article, a photo caption referred to him as TVA’s president.

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Portland Diamond Project has reached an agreement in principle with the Port of Portland to potentially develop Terminal 2 into a major league ballpark, the group announced Thursday.

The 53-acre industrial site is on the west bank of the Willamette River, across from Daimler Trucks North America’s headquarters.

The letter of intent will kick off a process with the city and port to create a ballpark and community destination, the baseball group said. Now all it needs is a franchise – something that can be granted only by Major League Baseball.

“We’re committed to building a sustainable, equitable and accessible ballpark that reflects what makes Portland such a special place to live,” Craig Cheek, founder and president of Portland Diamond Project, stated in an announcement.

The group shifted its focus to Terminal 2 after efforts to acquire two other sites fell through. Portland Diamond Project withdrew an offer made to Portland Public Schools for its 10.5-acre headquarters property north of the Rose Quarter, the group announced in early November. Portland Diamond Project representatives said they were deferring to Albina Vision, a community group that seeks to rebuild a neighborhood in the area.

Previously, in August, the Portland Diamond Project pursued the 22.45-acre Esco Corp. industrial site in Northwest Portland. But it was purchased for $33 million by a group of mostly local investors. The baseball group stated its timeline didn’t match up with the seller’s.

“For the past year, we’ve been highly focused on securing the best possible property for development of a ballpark and have deeply analyzed multiple sites,” Cheek stated Thursday. “Although additional options continue to present themselves, we are excited to announce that Terminal 2 is our preferred location and want to thank the Port of Portland for being such a great partner in this vision.”

Mayor Ted Wheeler quickly backed the project with a tweet.

“Baseball has a rich tradition in Portland,” he wrote. “A ballpark along the (Northwest) bank of the Willamette River would have a positive impact on our economy while shaping the next great (Portland) neighborhood.”

The Portland Diamond Project is working with Populous, a design firm based in Kansas City, Missouri, that has designed stadiums for clients such as the 2012 London Olympics, Texas A&M University and English soccer club Tottenham Hotspur. TVA Architects of Portland, led by founder Bob Thompson, also is working on the design.

Terminal 2 was operated by Willamette Iron & Steel Co. before the Port of Portland acquired the property in 1953. During the 1960s, it had dedicated space for auto imports including Volkswagen and Datsun, Port of Portland spokeswoman Melanie Mesaros stated in an email.

Terminal 2 was renovated in 1988 and a Post Panamax crane was added. The terminal has mostly industrial neighbors, including Ager Tank and Equipment and Viking Automatic Sprinkler Co.

The extent of MLB‘s interest in Portland, or expanding or relocating a team to any market, is unclear. Commissioner Rob Manfred, in a July TV appearance, listed Portland along with Las Vegas, Charlotte, Nashville; Montreal and Vancouver, Canada, and Mexico as potential expansion markets.

MLB has 30 teams, and expanding to 32 could allow for a divisional realignment. MLB last expanded in 1998, when it added teams in Phoenix and Tampa Bay.

The last team to relocate was the Montreal Expos, which moved to Washington, D.C., for the 2005 season, and the club became the Washington Nationals.

On Wednesday, the Oakland A’s, one of the clubs thought to be a potential relocation candidate, unveiled new designs for a stadium at Howard Terminal. The team is negotiating with the Port of Oakland to lease or buy the property, with an April deadline to come to an agreement or lose a deposit, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Portland Diamond Project has been on a months-long marketing campaign to generate interest locally and catch MLB’s attention. The group has rolled out a list of celebrity investors, including the power couple of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and singer Ciara, and retired baseball players Dale Murphy and Darwin Barney.

Cheek, a former Nike executive, is the founder and president of the Portland Diamond Project, and former Trail Blazers broadcaster Mike Barrett is managing director. The group has not revealed the extent of its financial backing. Professional sports teams are often owned by individuals or groups with billions of dollars in assets, such as the late Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen, or the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group that includes billionaire investment manager Mark Walter, basketball legend Magic Johnson and others.

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The has formally rescinded its offer to purchase the Portland Public Schools headquarters to build a baseball stadium.

Portland Diamond Project officials said Wednesday they would instead make way for the , a plan by civic boosters to reconnect the Rose Quarter to the street grid and reintroduce housing to the neighborhood.

The project team had in April offered $80 million to purchase the 10.5-acre property that houses school district offices and the Blanchard Education Service Center.

“Although we were initially drawn to this property for its close-in location, access to transportation and its potential to be transformative to the east bank of the Willamette, it became apparent to us that the Albina Vision Trust’s board of directors has a long-range plan for the building and the immediate area that will serve the overall community in a very meaningful way,” Portland Diamond Project CEO Craig Cheek stated in a news release. “Albina Vision’s focus on diversity and social equity is aligned with our mission, and we are putting our full support behind it.”

School district officials had indicated they were in no rush to sell the property. The district in May issued a request for proposals for a commercial real estate broker.

The Portland Diamond Project was likewise unable to scoop up the ESCO Corp. property, which was sold to a group of real estate investors. The 22.45-acre, Northwest Portland industrial site was purchased for $33 million.

The Portland Diamond Project’s statement said the group would announce property options for a ballpark within Portland city limits “in a few weeks.” Speculation has centered on riverfront sites including Zidell Yards and the Port of Portland‘s Terminal 2 area.

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A group of local developers and investors has emerged as the winning bidder for the 22.45-acre ESCO Corp. site in Northwest Portland.

The purchase price for the industrial property was $33 million. The owners have no immediate development plans for the property, but are weighing potential uses.

“It came out really fast, so everyone had to know the lay of the land and how things work around here to get comfortable in the time allowed,” developer Noel Johnson said.

Johnson, who is also a principal at Cairn Pacific, is part of the investment group along with construction executive Bob Walsh, Roger and Greg Burpee, Robert Ames, Warren Rosenfeld, developer Al Solheim, Scott Tillman and an anonymous member who is not a resident in the Portland area.

Colliers represented the seller.

The property is composed of 16 different parcels with various zoning. Much of the property is zoned for general employment use, but one parcel is zoned for residential use and could be a fit for approximately 100 residential units, Johnson said.

ESCO Corp. was purchased in April by Weir, a Scottish company. The local manufacturer uses three buildings on the former foundry site and has more office space elsewhere in Northwest Portland. ESCO has a lease-back arrangement for the three buildings that are part of the sold property. The ESCO site also has a legacy tenant in place, Reed Electric Co.

The new ownership group is unlikely to undergo a master plan process through the city of Portland, Johnson said. That doesn’t mean there won’t be a well-thought-out plan for adding to a rapidly developing area of the city, he added.

“We’ll be a generally patient group and thoughtful,” he said.

The Portland Diamond Project also pursued the property. The baseball group released a statement Friday saying: “Our negotiations with ESCO regarding acquisition of its Northwest Portland industrial property did not comply with our ballpark development timelines. However, we look forward to working with the new owners to explore future opportunities. We will soon be sharing details pertaining to other Portland-area sites under consideration for ballpark district development.”

The Portland Diamond Project has also made an offer on a Portland Public Schools property north of the Rose Quarter.

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Portland Public Schools has issued a request for proposals for a commercial broker to handle interest in the district’s North Portland headquarters office.

The broker would advise district officials on real estate strategy, including disposition of land and buildings.

The RFP comes as the 47,000-student district evaluates an $80 million offer from the Portland Diamond Project to purchase the 10.5-acre property north of the Rose Quarter that is home to the Blanchard Education Service Center.

The property at 501 N. Dixon St. is one of two Portland Diamond Project has offered to buy as a potential site for a Major League Baseball stadium. The baseball boosters made their offer for the Dixon Street property in an April 11 letter. The baseball group also offered the district the Banfield Pet Hospital property, at 8000 N.E. Tillamook St., to serve as the district’s next headquarters.

Portland Diamond Project’s other offer went to ESCO Corp. for an industrial site in Northwest Portland. Discussions with ESCO are under way, said John McIsaac, a spokesman for the baseball group.

“We’re working with ESCO right now,” he said. “As far as PPS, we are hopeful that we can be a good partner to them – we plan to be.”

ESCO did not respond to an email message requesting comment.

Portland Public Schools officials have indicated that the district is in no rush to sell the Dixon Street property.

“We consider this to be an extremely valuable asset for the district,” spokesman Harry Esteve said. “We’re going to treat that very carefully and very deliberately and not put ourselves under any deadlines at all.”

The Portland Diamond Project requested a response from the district by April 27. Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero responded in a letter that day, writing that the district would proceed with a “nonexclusive process.”

The district, Guerrero wrote, is “developing a comprehensive process for any potential sale of this property and a timeline that will allow interested parties to participate.”

Proposals in response to Portland Public Schools’ RFP are due May 17. The district intends to award the contract May 28.

The school district “seeks written proposals from qualified vendors able to provide professional, real estate advisory services related to real estate strategic planning, capital investments, and real estate acquisitions and dispositions of its real estate portfolio, including the potential disposition of the Blanchard (Education) Service Center,” according to the RFP.

McIsaac said the Portland Diamond Project has also considered suburban stadium sites, but he declined to provide details. The baseball group is led by former Nike executive Craig Cheek, former Trail Blazers announcer Mike Barrett and former state Sen. Jason Atkinson.

Last month, the Portland Diamond Project announced plans to secure a site for a 32,000-seat Major League Baseball stadium. Many hurdles remain, most notably attracting an MLB team via either a move from a troubled market such as Oakland or Tampa Bay, or expansion.

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A bid to bring Major League Baseball to Portland has gotten very serious, very quickly.

The Portland Diamond Project, a group led by former Nike executive Craig Cheek, has submitted formal offers on two large properties in Portland.

One is a Portland Public Schools property north of the Rose Quarter that includes the Blanchard Education Service Center, at 501 N. Dixon St. The property is zoned IG-1 for general industrial uses.

The other is an industrial site in Northwest Portland. While not identified by the Portland Diamond Project, the site matches the description of the former ESCO Corp. foundry that closed in 2016.

Earlier attempts to lure a major league team to Portland foundered because of difficulties finding a suitable site. Portland Diamond Project aims to fill that space in the lineup first.

Besides Cheek, the Portland Diamond Project includes former Trail Blazers announcer Mike Barrett and former state Sen. Jason Atkinson, according to a news release from the group.

The group has retained Kansas City’s Populous Architects, which has designed more than 20 MLB stadiums. TVA Architects is serving as a local design partner. The Portland firm did not return a message seeking comment. A New York-based attorney, Irwin Raij of O’Melveny & Myers, is serving as legal adviser.

The baseball boosters said they want to build multifamily units along with a ballpark. Both sites have “ample room for multifamily development, which can help alleviate Portland’s housing crisis,” Cheek stated in the news release. “We’re planning to pave the way for 8,000 new workforce and market-rate apartments to create a vibrant, walkable community around the facility, wherever it ultimately lands.”

The group is not seeking “new programs” to fund the ballpark, according to the release. Public funding for ballparks has become controversial after several deals across the nation left local taxpayers holding long-term debt.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, in a prepared statement, said he is focused on housing and homelessness.

“It’s my belief that city resources should be directed to these priorities,” he stated. “We will continue to watch the Portland Diamond Project proposal as it develops.”

Portland Public Schools was due to discuss the offer during a closed-door executive session Wednesday.

“The district is not really actively pursuing anything – more in listening mode,” PPS spokesman Dave Northfield said.

The PPS property has the advantage of proximity to existing sports venues – the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The area is also targeted in the Albina Vision, a loosely drawn plan for a large-scale redevelopment of underutilized properties. The historically African-American neighborhood was disrupted to make way for redevelopment in the 1960s. Albina Vision proponents did not return messages seeking comment Wednesday.

The ESCO property is close to Interstate 405 and the fast-growing Slabtown area. City leaders have discussed extending Portland Streetcar tracks to that area. The area is likely to become more integrated into surrounding neighborhoods, said Tom DiChiara, principal at Cairn Pacific, a major developer in Slabtown.

“I like the idea of the area north of Highway 30 there becoming more a part of Northwest Portland, more a part of a mixed-use neighborhood long term,” DiChiara said. He noted there are many obstacles to a baseball stadium in Northwest Portland, including zoning, transportation capacity and infrastructure.

Portland hasn’t had professional baseball since the minor-league Portland Beavers were sold in 2010 to make way for the Timbers soccer franchise.

The Hillsboro Hops began playing in 2013. Its 3,500-seat stadium is about 14 miles outside of Portland. Portland also has the Pickles, a summer league team that is mainly for college players.

A 32,000-seat baseball stadium would dwarf any other sports arena in the Portland area.

MLB has two teams that have made noise about moving to new stadiums. The Oakland Athletics just celebrated 50 years in the Bay Area, but their aging stadium has drawn few fans in recent years and generated embarrassing headlines for issues such as sewage problems. The team’s efforts to build elsewhere in Oakland have so far been stymied.

Similarly, the Tampa Bay Rays play in an older stadium and consistently rank among teams with low attendance.

MLB could also opt to expand. The league’s two newest teams, the Rays and the Diamondbacks, began playing in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Phoenix, respectively, in 1998.

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