Owner acquires potential gold mine

It was amusing to note that when the Portland Beavers and Timbers changed hands last week, a whole lot of people seemed to think it was a sign that there was something wrong with our minor-league franchises.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This wasn’t some sort of bargain-basement fire sale. This wasn’t a case of “Out of business – everything must go!” It was a shrewd investment paying off in a big way.

Sacramento, Calif., restaurateur Abe Alizadeh knew what he was doing when he bought the Beavers and Timbers for around $10 million a little more than a year ago. We know this, because he just happened to call his company the Portland Baseball Investment Group.

 – Excerpt from The Portland Tribune, June 1, 2007