Several years ago with Major League Baseball posturing as though it might bring the Montreal Expos to Portland, I met with Mayor Tom Potter to feel out the city’s interest.
I brought two baseball gloves. The plan was to play catch in one of the parks near City Hall, but Potter suggested we just throw the ball around the office hallways. He stood at one end of a long hallway. I stood at the other.
What ensued told me all I needed to know. Potter bounced his throws off the carpet, off walls, snapping at my return tosses as if he were catching flies at a picnic.
Two throws and I realized Portland wasn’t getting baseball. The Mayor, a nice enough guy, looked like he’d never played catch.
There was new action at City Hall this week where Mayor Charlie Hales departed from normal Portland policy and agreed to spend $1.9 million on the World Indoor Track and Field Championships. The event will be held in 2016 in the heart of the city in a 7,000-seat stadium erected inside the Oregon Convention Center. Hales sees the world sports stage as an opportunity to boost tourism and other new opportunities.
This isn’t just a departure of Hales’ policy, but a shift within city leadership over decades. Potter’s predecessor, Vera Katz, talked a lot about wanting to attract major league sports teams, but used none of her clout to get it done. Potter wasn’t interested in what boosting Portland’s sports profile could do for the city. And nobody was surprised when no city money was spent marketing the recent MLS All-Star Game.
In 1964, even with the support of Governor Mark Hatfield and Mayor Terry Schrunk taxpayers couldn’t see past a $25 million bond that would have resulted in bringing an NFL team to the Delta Dome. Maybe an Olympics, too. And so by the time Hales announced he’d like to piggyback on the world championships by spending $500,000 on events at Pioneer Courthouse Square and another $300,000 earmarked for a broadcast marketing that would brand Portland to tourists in 160 countries, something felt new here.
Portland has long been a city big on ideas but short on follow through, particularly if there’s a hint of sport attached to it. The vocal minority has more clout in a place such as this than in less innovative American cities that simply happen to dream smaller but follow through. Nowhere else in the country would a city have two basketball arenas standing on the same footprint (Moda Center and Memorial Coliseum) but not enough hotel rooms to make either a player for a national event.
Our issue is one of culture. An anti-sports culture. And that must stop.
The twisting, tired saga that is the Convention Center Hotel project looks like it will finally happen. This was a no-brainer project that should have long ago made Portland a major player for larger NCAA Tournament draws, All-Star Games and other sporting events. Only in Portland could that be stalled so effectively, and only because the perception was that this was a sports expenditure.
It’s time Portland thought of itself as a bigger sports city. It’s time leadership more closely embraced the tangible tourism and business opportunities derived from an event such as this. This isn’t a Olympic trials. This isn’t a U.S. indoor championship. this is a WORLD event, Vin Lannana’s brainchild, that places Portland in the bullseye.
It’s time for Portland to start acting like it wants to matter. And I’m encouraged that Hales sees the value of spending on more than just increased security and more traffic patrols.
There’s a vote planned Wednesday for on Hales’ overall spending plan, including the $1.9 million he wants to spend on the world championships. Final approval will be June 18. But
Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Steve Novick expressed concern about the expenditures after the Mayor’s announcement. Naturally, they’re fine with spending on security but don’t see the value of potential gains Portland might make in actually marketing itself to the world.
It feels a lot like 1964 thinking.
