Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The group pushing to bring a Major League Baseball team to Portland has a busy few months ahead.

The Portland Diamond Project is finalizing its first face-to-face meeting with the league commissioner since the local backers announced a stadium plan for a Northwest Portland marine cargo terminal.

They continue to meet with city officials, who will have to approve the rezoning of the site and figure out a way to get up to 32,000 fans there.

And a looming milestone arrives in May, when the group must begin paying the Port of Portland for exclusive negotiating rights to the cargo terminal site.

It's still unclear where the group will find the money to fund the stadium and acquisition of a team. The Portland Diamond Project this month disclosed its charter members, who are bankrolling the early efforts. And The Oregonian/OregonLive's John Canzano reported the group had shown Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler letters from investors pledging more than $1.3 billion.

The group, which has kept its major investors close to the vest, declined to confirm that number and it hasn’t disclosed its big-money backers for the $2.5 billion effort.

But Craig Cheek, the Diamond Project's president, sat down for a wide-ranging conversation that covered expected ticket prices, a bill that would take back the Oregon Legislature's 2003 approval of bonds for stadium construction and his pitch for a small-market team.

Excerpts from the interview have been edited for length and clarity.

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Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Q. You attended Major League Baseball’s winter meeting. What came out of that?

A. It's been fascinating. The difference from last year to this year in the visibility of our group in Portland was noticeable. I could go into any conversation there, and for Mike (Barrett, a partner in the Diamond Project) and I not having to introduce ourselves or the project gave us a tailwind.

We met with Major League Baseball communications director Patrick Courtney. He just kept reiterating that we’re doing all the right things. He was really complimentary with how we’re handling things.

Q. Did you meet with the commissioner?

A. The commissioner did not attend. He was in NYC. The Tampa situation flared up, that whole thing fell apart. (A deal to build a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays fell through.)

When he’s there, it’s his state of the union. We weren’t sure if we would get face to face time because there’s so much packed into the schedule.

But he has his punch list, and we literally have almost everything he wants to see.

Q. Do you plan to meet with him?

A. Yes. In February, or maybe the first week of March. This would be the most significant sit-down because of what we've accomplished.

Our last was a phone call post-season, around holiday time.

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Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Q. You’ve said Portland has a limited window for landing a baseball team. What’s driving that urgency?

A. In my opinion, baseball needs and wants to get to 32 teams. They haven't expanded in 20 years. If you go to an eight-team, four-division league, you wouldn't be able to expand again for a few decades because you'd need 36 teams. So 32 seems to be that magic number. If we miss this window it might be decades before it comes around again.

If we are ready, we’re part of the solution for both team relocation and expansion.

Fifteen years ago, the conversation was around one team, the (relocation of the) Montreal Expos. Today, Portland has moved right to the top of that list, among four to five different potential options.

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Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Q. Portland would be a small market for Major League Baseball, and it already has three popular major-league sports teams. Can it support baseball?

A. Portland has virtually carved out a place as the sports capital of the country by virtue of having the three largest athletic companies in Portland. (Nike has its world headquarters in Washington County, while Adidas has its North American headquarters in North Portland and Under Armour has opened a sizable office in Southwest Portland.) There are hundreds of other companies serving the athletic and outdoor business in the Portland metro area.

Employees and their families, that’s a couple hundred thousand people, easily 5 percent of the population that their business, or their household’s business, is sports.

The Blazers have sold out. The Timbers have sold every single ticket since 2011. The Thorns are the most successful professional women’s sports team in the world.

But Portland has a gap. Basketball is October to May or June. Baseball picks up in April as basketball winds down. Seventeen regular-season soccer matches each for the Timbers and Thorns are not enough entertainment to fill sports fans’ appetites during the (basketball) off season.

And I don't think it’s going to faze the Timbers and Thorns.

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Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Q. How will people get to the ballpark?

A. We're deeply into that process. We're looking out beyond opening pitch. You have to look 10, 20, 30 years down the road for that transportation thinking. But we're just starting those conversations.

It’s an active neighborhood. There’s a reason we highlighted bike tailgating in our stadium concepts. Portland has become one of the bicycling capitals of the world so why not offer multiple ways of getting to the ballpark without using a car?

Most parks have found they have too much parking. They’re now finding a large number don’t want to drive to the ballpark.

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Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Q. You’ve talked about 32,000 seats — one of the smallest parks in the league. If you build a smaller stadium, does that mean higher ticket prices?

A. Baseball's traditionally not been that way. Baseball got this DNA of grab a $10 ticket in the outfield. We'll have an elasticity of ticket prices. You'll still have expensive seats behind the catcher, but we'll have a lot of elasticity of ticket prices.

Q. Can you be more specific?

A. The average ticket price will be $42. And baseball on average has the lowest average ticket price of any league.

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Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Q. Are you concerned about the bill that would repeal approval for $150 million in state bonds you planned to tap for this project?

A. I guess I'm not clear on why they would go after that. It was created so it's good for Oregon. The $150 million bond taxes player and manager salaries, including visiting teams, and it doesn't happen unless a team comes to Portland.

All we can do is debate it and be transparent. I don’t think it will come out of the House and Senate and gain approval.

I will say this: We’re somewhat in a competition with other cities. (Major League) Baseball is going to want to see that the city and the state is supportive. So almost more meaningful is the messaging back to (Major League) Baseball.

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Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Q. You’ve talked about thousands of housing units as part of this development. Now that you’ve chosen a site, what are your non-baseball development plans?

A. Housing has always been part of it. In the next few weeks we're going to get more clarity around these opportunities, but it will be a combination of affordable, market rate and workforce housing. We want to accomplish what our city wants.

We also want to support job growth, high-paying jobs that allow people to live, work and play in this new neighborhood.

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-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com; 503-294-5034; @enjus

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