Blazers are officially for sale

[Sinobas]

I hope Elon Musk buys the team.

[DusterBuster]

Phil Knight talked to the Atlantic and confirmed he won't be bidding for the Blazers, so we can cross him off the list:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-14/nike-s-phil-knight-no-longer-interested-in-buying-trail-blazers

He listed age that the reason why:

Read on Twitter

I do find it kind of funny as though he wasn't still super old 5 years ago... Guess maybe he thought he would have at least a decade crack at it, now with half that decade gone...

[Sinobas]

Jeff Bezos has been rumored to be in the market for an NBA team. I don't know if he'd want to hold out for the expansion Sonic team, but I'd like to have an owner with deep pockets. Particularly in this market.

[Norm2953]

It'd be interesting if a former player (Drexler?) would be the front man for the new ownership group that
buys the Blazers

Sale might conclude fairly quick given how fast the recent NBA franchises have sold. I still wonder if a
foreign investor might be part of an NBA ownership group for the league now allows for a foreign group
to own as much as 20% of an NBA team. There is an ongoing Reddit discussion about perhaps the Saudi's
buying a team

[PDXKnight]

Jeff Bezos has been rumored to be in the market for an NBA team. I don't know if he'd want to hold out for the expansion Sonic team, but I'd like to have an owner with deep pockets. Particularly in this market.

Sonics would certainly be a better investment, could be a fraction of the cost as opposed to the cost of purchasing an existing team

I do hope for a wealthy owner. I get nervous about a Dallas situation occurring if we don't have an owner with deep pockets. It's probably likely the new owner will be rich given that the ultra rich seem to be big on bidding on teams these days but then again this market is bottom 10 in the NBA

Jody has been a pretty meh owner but one thing she's stated before is the desire to keep the team here. I'm hopeful if two bids are close the nba and jody would favor the group that wants to keep the team in Portland assuming the bids are close

[tester551]

Sonics would certainly be a better investment, could be a fraction of the cost as opposed to the cost of purchasing an existing team

No...
You have to buy into the league with an expansion fee. This fee is based on the sale of recent existing franchises, but will run more.
A new team also has a whole lot of 'start-up' costs that are not included -> but would be with an existing franchise... (thinks like branding, practice facility, etc).

https://ministryofsport.com/7-billion-price-tag-for-nba-expansion-clubs/

[PDXKnight]

Phil Knight talked to the Atlantic and confirmed he won't be bidding for the Blazers, so we can cross him off the list:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-14/nike-s-phil-knight-no-longer-interested-in-buying-trail-blazers

He listed age that the reason why:

Read on Twitter

I do find it kind of funny as though he wasn't still super old 5 years ago... Guess maybe he thought he would have at least a decade crack at it, now with half that decade gone...

Things have a way of changing. I suspect he'd reconsider if it looked like someone was looking to buy and move the team or perhaps if he has the right co owner lined up like he did before.

Also this could be posturing. If you say you'll buy a franchise come hell or higher water the price instantly goes up. If you act lukewarm maybe you save yourself a billion if you're phil

[PDXKnight]

Sonics would certainly be a better investment, could be a fraction of the cost as opposed to the cost of purchasing an existing team

No...
You have to buy into the league with an expansion fee. This fee is based on the sale of recent existing franchises, but will run more.
A new team also has a whole lot of 'start-up' costs that are not included -> but would be with an existing franchise... (thinks like branding, practice facility, etc).

https://ministryofsport.com/7-billion-price-tag-for-nba-expansion-clubs/

7 billion? Dang that's rich

[DusterBuster]

Phil Knight talked to the Atlantic and confirmed he won't be bidding for the Blazers, so we can cross him off the list:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-14/nike-s-phil-knight-no-longer-interested-in-buying-trail-blazers

He listed age that the reason why:

Read on Twitter

I do find it kind of funny as though he wasn't still super old 5 years ago... Guess maybe he thought he would have at least a decade crack at it, now with half that decade gone...

Things have a way of changing. I suspect he'd reconsider if it looked like someone was looking to buy and move the team or perhaps if he has the right co owner lined up like he did before.

Also this could be posturing. If you say you'll buy a franchise come hell or higher water the price instantly goes up. If you act lukewarm maybe you save yourself a billion if you're phil

Read on Twitter

This would better explain the bad blood.

[Case2012]

What stories about her?

[red_power]

If it's Phil Knight and Nike... than yeah... LFG. But if it's some no-name group with a disinterested majority owner from a VC or Hedge Fund group that is just using it to print money... then my excitement will be tempered.

Tbh, in recent years, Blazers were nothing but a cash cow for Jody Allen and a bunch of swindlers that got on the franchise board long ago. At least we can expect the ownership change to bring a more accountable approach from a strategic point of view.

[DusterBuster]

If it's Phil Knight and Nike... than yeah... LFG. But if it's some no-name group with a disinterested majority owner from a VC or Hedge Fund group that is just using it to print money... then my excitement will be tempered.

Tbh, in recent years, Blazers were nothing but a cash cow for Jody Allen and a bunch of swindlers that got on the franchise board long ago. At least we can expect the ownership change to bring a more accountable approach from a strategic point of view.

There's two ways to look at it, one is they just wanted to enrich themselves by waiting for the most return for the team. Two is they were respecting Paul's wishes who wanted the majority of the proceeds of the sale to go to his philanthropic ventures he had through his life. They have money people watching markets and treating a franchise like a stock, if they knew this stock was going to only go up if they waited a couple extra years, then it would be malpractice and disrespecting Paul's wishes to sell the team too soon and have less to provide for his philanthropy.

I get that's not what us fans want, but thinking on it from a human + family standpoint, there is also less nefarious reasons here to consider than just "money money money money" *mr crabs voice*

[zzaj]

If it's Phil Knight and Nike... than yeah... LFG. But if it's some no-name group with a disinterested majority owner from a VC or Hedge Fund group that is just using it to print money... then my excitement will be tempered.

Tbh, in recent years, Blazers were nothing but a cash cow for Jody Allen and a bunch of swindlers that got on the franchise board long ago. At least we can expect the ownership change to bring a more accountable approach from a strategic point of view.

There's two ways to look at it, one is they just wanted to enrich themselves by waiting for the most return for the team. Two is they were respecting Paul's wishes who wanted the majority of the proceeds of the sale to go to his philanthropic ventures he had through his life. They have money people watching markets and treating a franchise like a stock, if they knew this stock was going to only go up if they waited a couple extra years, then it would be malpractice and disrespecting Paul's wishes to sell the team too soon and have less to provide for his philanthropy.

I get that's not what us fans want, but thinking on it from a human + family standpoint, there is also less nefarious reasons here to consider than just "money money money money" *mr crabs voice*

Yeah, I tend to agree with this. While I certainly don't think it hurt Jody Allen's pocketbook to keep interim ownership for as long as she did, she did invest money into the team and ofc she'll never have to worry about money again...I doubt that her making extra change was what kept her from selling the Blazers.

More likely the interference of the Covid market, and waiting for the new TV deal to be in place were the primary factors...and I would bet that guidance came from a team of financial advisors, not some kind of sense of greed.

I think people forget that she makes basically zero money from the sale of the team.

[Sinobas]

I heard someone bring up the idea that Mark Cuban might be upset at the Donic trade, divest his ownership in the Mavs and buy the Blazers. Pure speculation though. He has publically stated that he wouldn't have made that deal but hasn't gone further than that.

I would like him as an owner because he's rich, experienced, and really cares about winning. He'd fit in with the city politically too.

[DusterBuster]

I heard someone bring up the idea that Mark Cuban might be upset at the Donic trade, divest his ownership in the Mavs and buy the Blazers. Pure speculation though. He has publically stated that he wouldn't have made that deal but hasn't gone further than that.

I would like him as an owner because he's rich, experienced, and really cares about winning. He'd fit in with the city politically too.

Cuban would be a blast, but no, it's not happening. It was just an idea the afternoon show was throwing out there when they were spitballing names of new owners they would like.

There is no chance Cuban moves on from the Mavericks, he's loyal to that team (even if he has issues with the people running it).

[The Sebastian Express]

We should not in any way at all want Bezos to buy the team. At all.

I completely get that most wealthy people are not by any means historically good people these days. But there's a difference between 'being greedy' and 'fundamentally helping us try to eliminate free speech and journalism'. Like whatever side of the political spectrum you fall on, that should be a giant flashing warning sign.

Cuban would be interesting, but like Duster I doubt that happens.

[DusterBuster]

We should not in any way at all want Bezos to buy the team. At all.

I completely get that most wealthy people are not by any means historically good people these days. But there's a difference between 'being greedy' and 'fundamentally helping us try to eliminate free speech and journalism'. Like whatever side of the political spectrum you fall on, that should be a giant flashing warning sign.

Cuban would be interesting, but like Duster I doubt that happens.

I don’t think Bezos is likely either. Probably someone we don’t know or “famous”, will be from outside of the Portland and maybe PNW market, and it will likely be a big group, not a Balmer or Bezos type who can buy a team on their own.

[Norm2953]

I really would like for the new ownership group to bring back a former player to be the face of the new
ownership group. I'd love that guy to be Clyde but imagine if eventually it was Dame who bought a small
piece of the team and became the face of the new ownership.

[The Sebastian Express]

Why in the world would we want Clyde? He identifies himself as a Rocket for the most part. There's so many other players that love Portland and embrace Portland.

[Shem]

We should not in any way at all want Bezos to buy the team. At all.

I completely get that most wealthy people are not by any means historically good people these days. But there's a difference between 'being greedy' and 'fundamentally helping us try to eliminate free speech and journalism'. Like whatever side of the political spectrum you fall on, that should be a giant flashing warning sign.

Cuban would be interesting, but like Duster I doubt that happens.

Thank goodness others are thinking the same thing as I am. What he has done to the Washington Post is evil!!!