May 14, 2004

Portland makes new Expos pitch

Doug Pappas is on the ball again, noting that Portland has put together a new $340 million stadium financing plan cobbling together $125 million in player income taxes, $75 million from a 10% ticket tax, $25 million from an 8% stadium sales tax (Oregon has no state sales tax), $75 million from a "stadium district" (presumably TIFs of some sort), and $40 million in "miscellaneous," including charter seat licenses and more TIFs.

We covered the questionable projections behind the player income-tax figure previously; Pappas further notes that since the team owner would be on the hook for any shortfall in tax revenues, or overruns in construction costs, "those are potentially huge contingent liabilities which are likely to worry prospective owners, and MLB, more than if Portland had simply requested the owner pay $X toward the cost of the ballpark." Add in that ticket and concessions taxes, as well as charter seat licenses, would essentially come out of the revenue streams MLB is counting on to boost the team's profits, and this doesn't sound like a plan likely to warm the cockles of Bud Selig's heart, assuming it has cockles.