Bringing baseball to Beaverton might be a bit of a squeeze play

Long before anyone from this city began believing in minor league baseball, city leaders had big-league ideas for property next to the Round at Beaverton Central.

But now, all that’s on hold as officials hope to lure the Portland Beavers Triple-A franchise to their ‘burb, if Portland policymakers are unable to find a suitable location for a stadium by Aug. 1.

Beaverton’s proactive pitch to Beavers’ owner Merritt Paulson may have pushed it to front-runner status among suburban cities. But with no list of locations, no project team, no financing plan — or even the discussion about whether to invest public money — everything remains preliminary.

“There are other communities interested in accommodating a stadium facility, so I think we’re very early in the process,” Don Mazziotti, Paulson’s development consultant, said Wednesday. “The Beaverton discussions are certainly promising.”

– Excerpt from The Oregonian, July 23, 2009