Portland Votes Today on MLS: It's a Go!!
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Wednesday, 11 March 2009 13:21
UPDATE: Unless some commentators at the bottom are totally misreading the situation, it appears THE PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL HAS VOTED TO BRING MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER TO THE CITY OF ROSES. I mean, !!. (Sorry, still feel like someone is squeezing my head. It might be Amanda Fritz.) With some I's to dot and T's to cross (see the financial stuff below,) it sounds like it's going to happen. And, I'll level with you, this could have come on a better day. The sense that I'm currently residing in some kind of extra-dimensional space makes connecting with the whole thing a bit challenging. All parts of my brain not preoccupied with remaining upright are doing cartwheels I assure you; my right brain understands that, two years hence and barring a complete collapse of the capitalist system, I should be better off financially; this means I'll never have to actually embrace Sounders FC with all the recriminations that would follow. Again, all this assumes this deal doesn't feel apart between the vote and the formalities, but it appears the city I have embraced as home will enjoy a team from the league I love. Nice.

UPDATE: And...we're back from a nap and, lo and behold, we are damned close to a vote...at least that's what I'm thinking the "and the room burst into applause means." Both Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz (the two newbies on the council, not coincidentally) voted against, but Councilman Dan Saltzman appears to be willing to say "yea" provided an amendment of his is accepted. Will confirm when I'm able.

UPDATE: Merritt Paulson is now testifying and in front of the, um, less supportive members of the council. I still stand by my 3-2, though it's impossible to get sub-text out of these things unless you hear them...again, sick and now napping for a while, actually. The City Council has won this round. Will still post the result as soon as I get it. If you want to check another source, and this one will post the result of any vote the second it comes down, try this, the local Timbers' Army online forum.

UPDATE: "Not legally binding." That's the latest from the live blog. It's not as scary as it sounds, but closer to what happens when you buy a house (good analogy by Mr. White...no, Ryan White, The Oregonian's reporter/blogger). For what it's worth, and the essential truth of the house analogy and due diligence notwithstanding, the stuff they're talking (I'm thinking Janik here) reads like political CYA.

First of all, thanks to Ives Galarcep for doing what I ought to be; e.g. laying out contours of the Portland City Council vote on whether or not to back the loans to secure a stadium and, therefore, a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise for the 2011 season. For the record, I think Ives did a good job with the framing...or at least his post matches most of what I've read and seen.

This will be brief and thin, unfortunately, because there's so much snot coming out my nose and at such a velocity that salmon could spawn up my nostrils. The truly desperate can even follow the vote via a live-blog by The Oregonian's soccer guy, Ryan White, but I only plan to check in periodically. The way I see it, the vote will happen or it won't.

Two things to pass on pursuant to:

- I think this guy does well putting the hostility this bid will receive to words; to put bluntly, a "yea" vote and a new team won't bathe in universal praise. While a lot of the gripes come in the form of "this isn't the time," not with schools suffering, blah, blah, blah, a fairly prominent percentage of this city just doesn't like funding sports teams. And that's not such a weird position. (Here's more of it; by the way, The Oregonian has one of the shittiest web-interfaces for a fairly major daily; I'm finding most of this while trying to find one...damn...editorial.) The search feature is several miles south of suck.

Hold on...I think I've got to change my title...no, not yet...the vote is very close though. OK, second point:

The Oregonian's editorial board came out in favor the other day, which marked the first time since all this started when I thought Portland's MLS bid might succeed. That gives supporters an establishment bully-box if this vote goes through and that's good.

One last thing: Ives linked to The Oregonian article that best captures what will kill this thing on the council, which comes with this line:

"Commissioners Nick Fish, Amanda Fritz and Dan Saltzman all have said they have concerns about using city-backed bonds for stadium construction at a time when general funds for basic services are shrinking."

This gets back to the bully-box thing: you have two council members in support and three wavering, but those three are facing broad opposition that thinks a lot like the last sentence of that quote (does that make sense? Sorry...so punchy). If just one of those members votes for the bid, they'll need all the cover they can get because I'm guessing this will play as an issue in coming elections.

Right. Back when the vote goes up or down. What's my guess? Like I said, The Oregonian's editorial struck me as a tipping point; I think it'll pass 3-2.

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