City Councilors Green and Morillo Host Webinar with National Experts on Stadium Deal Economics

Portland City Councilors Mitch Green and Angelita Morillo will host a conversation on Wednesday at 5 p.m. PST featuring renowned sports economists and professors J.C. Bradbury and Victor Mathesonfor a discussion on the history and economics of publicly financed stadium deals.

Councilor Mitch Green organized the webinar amid tense negotiations over who will fund renovations to the Moda Center. The City is currently developing a term sheet to be introduced to Council on Wednesday and is scheduled for a vote on August 12 that will outline public expectations for any future deal.

A large body of economic literature challenges claims of public benefit associated with publicly funded stadium investments as overblown and rarely penciling out for host cities.

At a Council Work Session on July 30, representatives from the Portland Trail Blazers teased results from their own economic impact study, which claims benefits from the renovation would be in the billions. However, they have not yet released key details or the methodology used to arrive at these numbers.

Councilor Green, who holds a PhD in economics, has repeatedly asked the Blazers to disclose the methodology behind these claims.

"Whether I can support a term sheet really does depend on understanding what goes into these economic analyses," Green said. "These are some large claims to benefits that are frankly outside of the literature. I look forward to receiving the data, models, methodology and any assumptions that justify their results."

Details on the planned use of hundreds of millions of public dollars also remain unclear. At the work session, Councilor Morillo pressed Blazers President of Business Operations Dewayne Hankins for specifics.

"There was an ask for $600 million, but I'm unclear on where that came from. I'm curious what that buys us as a city," Councilor Morillo asked.

"We don't have plans to show you. We have concepts," Hankins replied.

Green's webinar on Wednesday will explore the history of public financing of sports venues, the impacts of professional sports franchises on local economies, and what it means for public funds to be used for the Moda Center renovation.

"As elected officials, it's our responsibility to scrutinize these sorts of claims before we even consider public investment at this scale. Learning from experts on these sorts of deals is just part of our due diligence," said Councilor Morillo.

Councilor Green agreed, "We don't just have money lying around. If we make this investment it will come at the expense of funding core services. At a time when we're already forced to cut funding for parks, public safety, and other essential services, when classrooms in our public schools are overcrowded and overheating, we need to be diligent about where we're investing our limited resources."

Webinar registration is open to the public and will be recorded.

Register today

About the Guests

J.C. Bradbury is professor of economics at Kennesaw State University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. Bradbury serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Sports Economics and is past president of the North American Association of Sports Economists. He is the author of The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed (2007) and Hot Stove Economics: Understanding Baseball's Second Season (2010). His forthcoming book, This One Will Be Different: False Promises and Fiscal Realities of Publicly Funded Stadiums (Oxford, 2026), explores the history and economics of public stadium projects.

Victor A. Matheson is professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Matheson specializes in sports economics, with a particular focus on the economic impact of mega-sporting events on host cities, public finance, and the economics of lotteries and gambling. He has been active in the field for nearly 25 years and has published over 100 refereed journal articles and book chapters. He serves as editor of the Journal of Sports Economics and is past president of the North American Association of Sports Economists.

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