State senators from both parties rallied Thursday to back an $800 million “jock tax” to help finance a prospective stadium for Major League Baseball on Portland’s South Waterfront.
“This is a moment for us to come together and unite around an idea,” said Sen. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles. Bonham, the Senate Republican leader, said baseball could help Portland rebound from a series of problems that has slowed its recovery from the pandemic.
“It will be a showcase of what is beautiful, central, core to our constituents of Portland,” Bonham said.
Senate Bill 110 passed the Senate 24-5 and now moves to the Oregon House. Gov. Tina Kotek has already signaled her support.
The bill doesn’t create a new tax for athletes. It authorizes an $800 million, 30-year bond and designates income tax revenue from major league ballplayers and team staff to pay off the debt.
Oregon will only authorize the bond if baseball awards a team to Portland, and will only collect the revenue if there are major league players in Portland to tax.
Major League Baseball says it plans to award an expansion team somewhere in the western U.S. by early 2029. The bill could position Portland to bid for the new franchise but the city will be in fierce competition with others, chiefly Salt Lake City, a fast-growing community that already has stadium funding and an ownership group in place.
The bill passed Thursday updates legislation originally passed in 2003, which allocated $150 million in income taxes generated by player salaries for stadium construction. SB 110 raises the cap to $800 million in public funding to help finance a $2 billion stadium.
Backers envision a 32,000-seat ballpark with a retractable roof along the Willamette River at the west end of the Ross Island Bridge. They hope Thursday’s lopsided, bipartisan vote will send a signal to Major League Baseball that the state is behind the project.
The legislation is designed to insulate everyday taxpayers from the stadium’s cost. Backers say it would be up to franchise owners to make up the gap between the stadium’s full price and the tax money allocated by SB 110.
If player salaries don’t generate as much tax as forecast, Portland and Oregon aren’t responsible for making up the difference.
“There’s absolutely no risk,” said Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton. “It doesn’t cost the state a dime.”
Skeptics caution that professional sports rarely deliver the economic impact that teams promise, in part because they divert spending from other local entertainment options. And some expect baseball will come back to the city or state seeking additional support, perhaps through other public funding mechanisms or for infrastructure around the stadium.
“The race to the bottom frequently leads to the bottom,” warned Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland. Golden expressed misgivings about the legislation but voted for it nonetheless.
Republican Sen. Cedric Hayden, who represents a rural district south of Salem, was one of the five senators who voted against the bill Thursday. He said it sets a bad precedent to allocate tax dollars to benefit one small group of people and not others.
People working at the Pendleton Roundup and Sisters Rodeo, Hayden said, don’t get to dictate how their taxes are spent.
“They don’t get equity here,” he said. “They don’t get to choose where their tax dollars go.”
-- Mike Rogoway covers Oregon technology and the state economy. Reach him at mrogoway@oregonian.com.
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