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Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 5:47 PM
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urbanlife urbanlife is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Milwaukie, Oregon
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Friday, February 12, 2010

Report: Beavers could spend year in Tucson
Portland Business Journal


A Tucson, Ariz., newspaper reported this week that the Portland Beavers are seeking a temporary home there for the 2011 season.

The Beavers could move back to Portland after a year in Tucson or another city.

The Arizona Daily Star reported that the team is researching potential markets if the team decides to move for at least a year. Chris Metz, the Beavers vice president of baseball operations and communications, declined to identify other markets for the Star.

The conversations took place with the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority.

Beavers owner Merritt Paulson acknowledged he’s been approached by cities outsid eof Portland offering “potential contingency plans.”

“My goal remains to keep the Beavers in Portland or the Portland-area, and in the past year we’ve advanced three good, but unsuccessful, stadium financing plans to do just that,” Paulson said in a statement. “We continue to seek support from area government partners who recognize the economic opportunities and community benefits that an intimate new stadium would provide for Triple-A baseball and beyond.”

Paulson called the overturnes “not our preferred option but one that we have no choice to consider, given the timelines involved.”

The Beavers will be displaced from PGE Park in 2011 once the Portland Timbers begin Major League Soccer play. The baseball team actively sought other Portland-area stadium sites but was unable to reach deals to build a new stadium in Southeast Portland, in the Rose Quarter and in Beaverton.

Drew Mahalic, CEO of the Oregon Sports Authority, said the idea makes sense.

“They know they do need to do research on a temporary solution before we find a permanent solution here,” he said. “It’s pretty understandable they’ll be talking to people in different areas. We’re still operating under the premise that what they’d do would be temporary.”

The preliminary discussions broached the use of either Tucson Electric Park and Hi Corbett Field, both in Tucson, for the Beavers. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies currently train at the parks.

Those teams will move to Scottsdale, Ariz., next year.
Well say good bye to the Beavers, I figure they will move to Tucson for a year for their temporary solution, then move to another city that will build them a new ballpark...I highly doubt the Beavers will be moving back. Plus playing a year in Tucson will be enough time away for them to easily look for other places without having to worry about people here getting upset about losing a team because they are calling Tucson "temporary."

So the next move for the city should be looking at trying to find a new minor league team and a site that would be right for a major league ballpark someday and start preparing to attract the MLB eventually.
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