text: Yakima Bears won't pay into Hillsboro baseball stadium -- despite offering Vancouver millions last year | OregonLive.com
  Yakima Bears won't pay into Hillsboro baseball stadium -- despite offering Vancouver millions last year
  Updated January 14, 2013 at 4:07 PM ; Posted July 12, 2012 at 10:18 PM
  View full sizeCity of HillsboroA conceptual rendering of the proposed 4,500-seat stadium at the Gordon Faber Recreational Complex, where minor league baseball could debut next summer.
  HILLSBORO -- With no upfront money from its new baseball team, Hillsboro is largely empty-handed as it moves to build a minor league stadium, despite knowing that the team's owner offered up to $6.9 million last year for a stadium in Vancouver.
  Last month, the Hillsboro City Council approved bringing the Yakima Bears Single-A baseball team to the town next season. Hillsboro plans to spend up to $15 million in bonds to build a new stadium near U.S. 26.
  Much of Hillsboro's comprehensive deal was negotiated in two months. The city and team went back and forth through five drafts -- dated between April 6 and June 5 -- of the term sheet agreement.
  Click here for a detailed summary and analysis of the negotiations between the city of Hillsboro and Short Season LLC
  At first, the city wanted the team to pitch in money to build the stadium, according to Draft 1. The request did not include a specific amount and disappeared from all subsequent drafts.
  The city said it did ask for team money and knew about a promised financial contribution from Short Season LLC, owners of the Yakima Bears, for a Vancouver stadium. However, Steve Greagor, chief negotiator and parks and recreation director, said he was not aware of the amount.
  Last spring when Short Season was negotiating for a move to Vancouver, the same owners publicly pledged to finance up to 30 percent to build that stadium. The initial stadium price tag was $23 million and although the deal eventually failed, it could have meant a $6.9 million contribution from the team for a Vancouver home.
  If Short Season offered that same amount of money to Hillsboro, the team would have covered about half of the Hillsboro stadium's cost, now estimated between $13.4 million and $15.2 million.
  Without a contribution from the team, city taxpayers will pay about $1 million a year for 20 years to repay stadium bonds.
  WE ASK: Is this a good deal or a bad deal?
  Reporter Sally Ho asks. The city's Steve Greagor answers.
  The team's general manager, K.L. Wombacher, worked on the Vancouver deal and told The Oregonian in May 2011: "Teams normally don't pledge 30 percent of the capital plus maintenance and operations. That's a big risk on our part but we want it to work here, so we're willing to sacrifice profit to fund the stadium."
  Wombacher now says that 30 percent pledge would not have been approved by the Northwest League of Professional Baseball and that the Vancouver deal itself was much more complicated, with many more pieces and players.
  In the Hillsboro negotiations, Greagor said, "They indicated to us that there was no capital contribution that they either wanted or would be able to, at that time."
  Hillsboro negotiated with the league, which represented the team, and Wombacher said he was not involved in the talks. Wombacher said the city did not directly ask the team for a financial contribution for the stadium.
  Expanded Complex
  Bob Richmond, who is president of the Northwest League and a chief negotiator for the team in Hillsboro, said: "To my knowledge, it was never proposed to kick in any money for Hillsboro to help with construction."
  Greagor declined to speak about the specific evolution of the terms, only saying there were "very standard negotiations" and "compromise" on both sides for the complete package.
  Although the city did not get a cash contribution from the team, Hillsboro did lock in the Bears for 25 percent of the costs for capital repairs and maintenance beyond $250,000 in a year, Greagor said.
  The city also maintains it wasn't just negotiating for a baseball stadium, but for an entire expansion for the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex, for which the stadium would be a catalyst. Calling it a "very good deal" for the city, Greagor said there are plans to add soccer fields in the same area that can be used to grow recreational programming.
  "The reality is this is creating an exceptional public facility that will be used by many, many people in our community and will also be of regional significance," Greagor said.
  Surcharge snag
  The negotiation drafts also show that a point of contention came on a ticket surcharge.
  Hillsboro initially wanted $2 per ticket. The term was amended in Draft 3, defining that $1 would go to the city and $1 to a city-controlled capital expenditure fund to cover the team's portion of stadium repairs and improvements. The city also wanted a third dollar for any ticket beyond the first 100,000 tickets sold in any given season.
  The third dollar was eliminated in Draft 4 and by Draft 5 -- the prevailing draft -- the surcharge was lowered to $1 and the city-controlled fund was eliminated.
  In a May 14 email rejecting Draft 4, Richmond wrote in part: "...(T)he league members were very clear they will not approve the current revenue lines with the proposed rent increases, parking lot split and ticket surcharge."
  Richmond also asked if the city would consider taking a percentage of the ticket price, instead of a flat dollar amount.
  Also, the initial term sheet stipulated that the team would pay for all preapproved, predevelopment expenses, including consulting and legal fees. An unspecified maximum amount for this appeared in Draft 2, but the term was eliminated entirely in subsequent drafts.
  The city also sought profit-sharing for the team's 38 home-game days and five non-game days, but the term was amended in Draft 3 and then eliminated by Draft 4.
  Steadfast on rent
  The city did ultimately win full control of operations and revenue for parking, despite the term being amended across drafts 1, 2, 4 and 5.
  The city was unwavering about $150,000 rent with a 3 percent annual increase, which will generate $4 million for the city by the end of the 20-year contract. That revenue is expected to cover operating expenses for the city.
  Although the league pushed back on the rate increase and said the rent guarantees were "not acceptable" in the May 14 email, the term prevailed to the final contract.
  Richmond said in a phone interview that the rent in Hillsboro will be the second highest in the league and is more than double the $70,000 that the Bears now pay in Yakima. In exchange, the team gets to be in a bigger market, which Richmond described as part of the give-and-take in the negotiations.