Monday May 12, 2003
The Oregonian reports that with the Senators and Sabres getting out of bankruptcy and the pending labor problems, the talk of a team relocating to the Portland area has slowed. When asked about interest in the market, the article states that:
"Well, it's still present," said Drew Mahalic, chief executive officer of what is now the Oregon Sports Authority. "It's more dormant, but the good news is everything is in place for when a team does want to relocate."
More than dormant, it's been displaced by MLB 2 Portland.
And the NHL is a mess. That used to favor Portland.
"I'm not hearing a whole lot from other cities," Mahalic said. "There's an occasional call from a Canadian city or a Florida city, but they're not terribly frequent."
Don't expect the pace to pick up any time soon.
Portland once was the chosen solution to seemingly every problem on ice. Pittsburgh, Calgary, Ottawa, Buffalo, Tampa Bay. All rumored to be headed in this direction.
The Rose Garden was ready and waiting, and what league wouldn't want Paul Allen's involvement? But it always was a case of unrequited lust.
"There are very few sports leagues that don't have financial challenges, especially in medium-sized markets," Allen told The Oregonian last week. "We looked at the NHL a number of times, and I got semi-excited a number of times, and every time we'd run the numbers, those numbers would come out that'd you lose at least $10 million a year.
"And I've never been a hockey fan, so it just didn't make sense."
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