UPDATE: John Canzano of The Oregonian/OregonLive has confirmed that former Portland Trail Blazers broadcaster Mike Barrett is part of a management group leading the charge to secure financing for a stadium and bring Major League Baseball to Portland.

Baseball America first reported that Portland has a "legitimate ownership group" in place, which makes the city an intriguing target for MLB expansion.

Here's more from Baseball America's Tracy Ringolsby:

At a news conference in Seattle in September, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Portland "would be on a list" of potential expansion cities.

In July, Manfred talked about bringing baseball back to Montreal and a group of investors already have met conditions laid out by MLB.

Ringolsby notes that in one proposal where MLB expands to 32 teams, realignment would change to four divisions based on geography, instead of the current two-league, six-division structure. In this scenario, Portland would be in the West and Montreal in the North.

Here's what the divisions would look like:

East: Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Washington.

North: Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota, Montreal, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Toronto.

Midwest: Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Colorado, Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Texas.

West: Anaheim, Arizona, Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.