Portland considers Rose Quarter for baseball stadium

The Rose Quarter is now in the running for a new minor league baseball stadium as the city and the Trail Blazers explore how to boost business in the underperforming eastside entertainment zone.

The area has struggled to attract people to restaurants and shops on nights when the Rose Garden doesn’t have a basketball game or concert.

The Blazers wouldn’t own the baseball stadium; the city of Portland would. But a Triple A ballpark might complement other development that the Blazers have planned to bring more people to the quarter sandwiched between the Willamette River and Interstate 5.

“The arena has been successful in terms of the number of events that it has and the attendance it has,” said J.E. Isaac, the Blazers’ senior vice president for business affairs. “But the part that didn’t happen was the development that we thought would follow.”

City officials met Monday night with Portland Beavers baseball team owner Merritt Paulson and Blazers managers to discuss the idea. The city would need a new baseball stadium if Major League Soccer awards Portland a new franchise this year.

– Excerpt from The Oregonian, February 11, 2009