Sport Oregon participated and played a leadership role in a sport-focused coalition that included the Hillsboro Hops and the Eugene Emeralds- both required to meet new MLB facility requirements in order to remain part of the MLB minor league structure. Even with focused opposition towards some of the requests, our coalition was able to prevail by delivering public testimony at every level of government as well as securing letters of support from local community leaders, key associations and organizations throughout the state. While Sport Oregon’s Youth Sports Grant Fund, (Senate Bill 1539) proposed by Senator Lieber was not funded, the most critical components of the coalition’s efforts were fully funded. A big win for sports in Oregon and the coalition. A total of $43 million was secured from the legislature.

• $15 million for the Hillsboro Hops seeking to build a new ballpark.

• $7.5 million for the Eugene Emeralds who like the Hops seeking to build a new stadium.

• $10 million for Oregon State University for athletic scholarships.

• $5 million for the Eugene Civic Alliance to build a new soccer facility.

• $3 million for Willamette University for artificial turf and lights at Roy S. ‘Spec’ Keene Stadium at Bush Park to support Salem youth baseball and softball.

• $3 million for Round-Up City Development Corporation to support the construction of the Pendleton Regional Sports Complex.

It should be noted that Eugene voters rejected a $15 million bond in the May 2024 primary, that was needed to fund a new minor-league baseball stadium at the Lane County Fairgrounds. As a consequence, the Eugene Emeralds will need to leave, since no location in the Eugene area meets MLB’s new minor-league facility requirements.

Subsequent to meetings with all Multnomah County Commissioners, Sport Oregon will be receiving financial support from Multnomah County on an ongoing basis, enhancing the current support of Metro and the City of Portland. Thanks to the leadership of Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards, an economic development budget amendment related to spectator events was proposed and passed unanimously.

In July of this year, Portland Mayor Wheeler put bureau control under the direction of the Interim City Administrator, Michael Jordan and his Deputies, who oversee the day-to-day operation of the bureaus. This is in anticipation of the city charter changes to begin January 2025. Sport Oregon has actively engaged with Mr. Jordan as well as key deputies who oversee bureaus having impact on Sport Oregon member needs. These relationships, to date are proving fruitful and will be nurtured moving forward.

Sport Oregon submitted its Annual Report to the City of Portland for the period July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. The report highlights the successes and recovery/impact to Portland that has resulted in a remarkable year of success at multiple levels. The report cites the use of all its resources, relationships, knowledge, and expertise with stakeholder community partners including Travel Portland, Oregon Business and Industry, Prosper Portland, Portland Metro Chamber, Travel Oregon, Oregon Convention Center, Metro, Portland Trail Blazers, Portland Timbers, Portland Thorns, Greater Portland Inc., and others to effectively drive and contribute to the economic recovery efforts in Portland through sports tourism.

The future of Portland’s political landscape began to materialize in early 2024. Partners and leaders throughout Portland formed a coalition with Sport Oregon’s participation called United for Portland (UFP). Its goal is to ensure elected officials remain focused to solve today’s challenges, most importantly improving the livability and economy of our city and region. UFP and its partners consistently educated elected officials, candidates, civic leaders, and the community on the priorities voters want to have addressed and potential solutions to these top tier problems facing the community. Sport Oregon held one of four education sessions on the importance and value of sports tourism and events. Over 75 candidates for office attended the session.

As the elections grew near Sport Oregon focused its attention on the key races that have the greatest impact on its mission and strategy. Endorsements by UFP were made in the County Commissioner races as well as the new 12-member city council. The County Commissioner race has resulted in a slight shift to a more moderate composition. In the Portland City Council races, conducted under the new proportional ranked choice method of voting, The UFP endorsed candidates won half the seats. Of the remaining 6, it is believed that 1-2 can be moved to support some of interests that are key to promoting economic development and tourism.

No endorsements were made in the Mayor’s race, however Mayor-Elect Keith Wilson, a member of the Portland Metro Chamber of Commerce has indicated his desire to work with the business community.

Jim, Matt and Nathan have remained very engaged in the efforts to redevelop the Portland Expo Center into a sports-focused facility. Sport Oregon has provided consistent context and insights as to how the Expo site could fill the void for the lack of sports facilities in the Pacific Northwest. Their participation on the Executive Advisory Committee, the Sports & Facilities Committee, the Scenario Refinement Committee and the Future Funding Task Force have yielded several scenarios that have been proposed and discussed at length.

Commissioners from METRO and MERC met on December 10 to hear proposed next steps moving forward with Expo as a sports-focused facility while still keeping its current clients. Final recommendations presented directs staff to propose a package of short-term, interim investments and funding sources in Metro’s FY25-26 budget.

The goal is to better prepare Expo Center to host more sporting events and tournaments to meet needs for local use and to attract regional or larger competitions. In addition, staff was directed to continue to identify and to secure financial resources and possible partnerships, including public-private partnerships, that will support the realization of the sports scenario presented to Council and MERC. Also, staff was directed to continue to make every effort to pursue the sports event market within the current venue constraints, including offering first priority booking to sporting events as specified in the Portland Expo Center Booking and Scheduling Policies and Procedures. 

Sport Oregon (SO) has launched an effort to quantify the contributions of sports tourism and sporting events in Oregon. While no one disputes the value of sport tourism, hard data has never been accumulated from throughout the state.

A collaborative effort between SO, University of Portland (UP), and ECONorthwest (ECO) has been established and is proceeding rapidly. With the support of Oregon Business and Industry (OBI), who sees the sports tourism and the recreation economy as a pivotal component of Oregon’s economic development in the coming years. This effort can have a considerable impact on policy and economic development deliberations in the future.

Sports tourism, like other forms of tourism, bolsters economic activity by generating direct spending on goods and services, which supports businesses across the hospitality, food, and entertainment sectors. The influx of tourist dollars creates employment opportunities not only in tourism-specific roles but also in ancillary positions in the supply chain to tourism industries. Sports tourism is driven by the events themselves and the organizations that plan, host, and support events and programs across Oregon.

In quantifying the contributions of sports tourism and events in Oregon, the primary audience consists of economic development agencies, state legislators, and policymakers, but it is envisioned that this research could serve as a broad-based communications tool for a variety of audiences. Our immediate goal is to issue a report in the spring of 2025 with the goal of having it shared with Oregon legislators and presented to a host of influential audiences.