The Forecaster 3/20/08

Basketball team deal may be in city’s hands

By Kate Bucklin (published: March 20, 2008)
PORTLAND – An agreement to bring an NBA Development League team to the city could go to the City Council as soon as next week. The council has tentatively set a workshop meeting for Monday to discuss the deal. A group of investors in January announced their intention to bring the minor league team to Portland, and earlier this month said the best place for the team to play would be the Portland Exposition Building on Park Avenue.

Former Boston Celtics executive Jon Jennings, Oxford Plains Speedway owner William Ryan Jr. and his father, TDBanknorth Chairman William Ryan, want Portland to be part of a new Eastern Division in the D-League. The league’s three divisions now have a total of 14 teams.

On Tuesday afternoon, Erie, Pa., was expected to be the first to announce an Eastern Division team. That team will be affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to published reports.

The Portland City Council Finance Committee heard from an attorney representing the Portland investors earlier this month, who told them it was important to move quickly to reach an agreement with the city for lease of the Expo. The Finance Committee set parameters for negotiating with the team, including assuring the current scholastic schedule of games at the Expo would not be disrupted. City staffers were unclear on Tuesday about exactly when a proposal from the investors would be taken up by the council.

The Finance Committee had hoped to look at the deal before sending it to the full council and members of the committee also wanted to hold a Parkside neighborhood meeting to discuss possible impact on the neighborhood from parking for the games. City Councilor James Cohen, chairman of the Finance Committee, said it was important to move the process forward, and expected it could go to the council for debate in early April. He said the document outlining a deal with the team would be made public before the council voted.

The next Finance Committee meeting is scheduled for April 14. The workshop discussion Monday would be held in executive session because it involves contract talks. City Councilor David Marshall, whose District 2 includes Parkside, said he is still hopeful a neighborhood meeting will be scheduled for the first week in April. Cohen said it was important to hold the neighborhood discussion prior to council action. The council could postpone discussing the proposed deal on Monday, Marshall said, so the other two meetings can happen first.

Kate Bucklin can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 106 or kbucklin@theforecaster.net.