The Portland Winterhawks are unlikely to stay at the Memorial Coliseum after 2013 unless improvements are made, Team President Doug Piper said.
The Portland Winterhawks have been playing at the Memorial Coliseum for 34 years, but once their lease is up in 2013, they may be flying the coop.
Team President Doug Piper said the team would prefer not to leave Portland, but simply cannot stay at the Coliseum in its current state.
The Winterhawks for many years have been pushing for upgrades at the coliseum to improve attendance at its games. A nearly unusable scoreboard, an outdated food concession area and an impractical seating arrangement, Piper said, make it difficult to attract new fans.
The city of Portland has slightly less than $25 million in public money that could be used for coliseum renovations. [Mayor Sam] Adams has said he wants the coliseum to remain a spectator facility; however, he’s also holding meetings to look at other ways the building could be used, [Adams’ economic development policy adviser Skip] Newberry said. For that reason, the city is waiting on proceeding with even modest renovations.
Read more at the Daily Journal of Commerce.
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