Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkDaMan
*yawn*
|
I'm no baseball fan either. I remember going to about two Beavers games in the early 80's, and haven't been back since.
But I imagine there are people employed by the Beavers who live in Portland. They will either move to Escondido, or lose their jobs. Those direct jobs leave Portland, as do the economic activity spurred by those jobs. And lots of folks whose jobs were depending on the baseball fans coming to the stadium for their jobs in and around the stadium neighborhood.
This can't be good economic news for Portland's 10.5% unemployment rate to lose a direct employer, and other jobs dependent on that employers customers.
I know absolutely nothing about pro soccer. Do the baseball and soccer season overlap at all? Would keeping the Beavers in town have provided an extension of the pro sports season in Portland?
EDIT: I found a schedule on the Timbers website. MLS is apparently a bit sparse when it comes to games. The season runs roughly May through October. June is the peak with 5 home games in Portland that month, while several other months like April, September and October have just one single home game scheduled to be played in Portland. May, July and August have three or four home games played in Portland. Compare that to the Beavers schedule on their website, who have 14 Portland home games in August, and played between 14 and 18 home games per month from April onwards through summer.
I wonder how the loss of all of those Beavers games will work for that business community on Burnside and around PGE park? Surely these weren't huge Major League crowds going to the Beavers games, but it can't be good news to see even a few thousand customers all disappear for good.