Eugene politicians want to keep the town’s baseball team.
Eugene, Oregon and Medford, Oregon are trying to put together stadium plans with one objective. Build a stadium in Eugene which would keep Minor League Baseball’s Eugene Emeralds franchise in town while Medford wants to land a minor league baseball franchise. That franchise would be Eugene’s baseball team. The estimated cost of Eugene’s potential downtown stadium project has increased by nearly $40 million over the past couple of years. Meanwhile in Medford, voters said yes to a development plan, which includes a stadium, in November, 2025. There has been some preliminary work done in trying to figure out how much a stadium could cost and how much money taxpayers may have to contribute to pay down the stadium debt. Medford’s minor league ballpark could cost somewhere between $86 million and $117 million, with a price tag of $500,000 to $1 million for a preliminary design. A variety of tax schemes could be created to pay for the stadium.
The Eugene Emeralds baseball team is a High-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants organization. The partnership began in 2021. That year, 2021, Major League Baseball reorganized the minor leagues. MLB created an entity called the Professional Development League and cut the number of minor league teams affiliated with MLB to 120. MLB also created a new set of rules for working conditions and team facilities and gave local owners and municipalities four years to either renovate or build new stadiums in that time frame or have a deal in place for a new or renovated facility. The Emeralds ownership and Eugene politicians came up with a plan for a new facility and sent the proposal out for a vote. Eugene residents in May 2024 said no to allocating $15 million in public funding to help pay for the stadium. For the Emeralds owners, it’s Medford, Eugene or bust.
