The Oregon state legislature continues to kick around ideas for funding a $300 million stadium to lure the Montreal Expos to town. Last Wednesday, the state House Rules and Public Affairs Committee narrowly approved a plan to sell $150 million in bonds, to be repaid out of state income taxes paid by players and team officials. Let’s do the math: at even a generous interest rate, that’s $10 million a year for a 30-year bond. Oregon’s top tax rate is 9%. So the Portland Expos would need a payroll of at least $111 million a year to pay off the bonds – and that’s if the entire team lives in-state and forgets to deduct the income taxes they pay for road games from their state tax bill.
Portland baseball booster Maury Brown insists that the team’s payroll would grow to that level and beyond over the years – but then, we’ve heard that before. (Brown’s case isn’t helped by the fact that he’s publicly confused debt service with principal.)
Meanwhile, Florida movie mogul Craig Marquardo says he wants to buy the Expos and move them to a new stadium in Portland that he’d build entirely with private money. We’ve heard that before, too.