The businessmen behind an effort to bring a Major League Baseball team to Portland have spent at least $30,000 lobbying City Hall officials, newly released records show.

Portland Diamond Project, the company set up by the would-be pro ball management group, spent that amount to hire lobbyists Gary Oxley and Evyan Andries, who each held in-person meetings with Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Nick Fish in January, according to an initial filing of the company's first quarter lobbying statement. The filing, which is a public record, is not yet posted on the city website, and Portland Diamond Project has until April 25 to amend it.

As The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported, retired Nike vice president Craig Cheek formed Portland Diamond Project last July -- though his name wasn't on the incorporation paperwork. Cheek was listed as the company's director on paperwork filed with federal Securities and Exchange Commission showing it sought to raise $6 million and had sold $500,000 of equity to two unnamed investors. It was previously known that former Trail Blazers announcer Mike Barrett was also part of the MLB-to-Portland effort.

Since then, Portland Diamond Project has disclosed that former state senator Jason Atkinson is also a managing partner. Atkinson signed the lobbying disclosure paperwork, dated April 13.

Portland Diamond Project announced Tuesday that it had placed offers on two close-in Portland properties, hoping to buy one for construction of a 32,000-seat ballpark and 8,000 units of housing. One site is the location of the Portland Public Schools headquarters, just north of the Moda Center. The other is the site of a shut-down foundry owned by manufacturing company Esco in Northwest Portland, the same property as the former Vaughn Street Stadium.

When trying to lure a professional sports team to town, city officials are often asked to provide taxpayer funding to underwrite construction of a new stadium or other costs. But Portland Diamond officials have said they won't seek new taxpayer underwriting. City officials could offer other perks in the form of zoning changes, funding from urban renewal districts, or Portland Diamond Project could tap a $150 million bond fund the Legislature set aside for ballpark construction. Wheeler said he has not been asked for public incentives from Portland Diamond Project, nor would he entertain such a request.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

503-221-8209