Adam Silver: Portland needs a new arena, will be a challenge for new owner

[DaVoiceMaster]

I think it's all about suites and food options. To the casual fan, I dont think they'd find much wrong with the MODA Center, other than the name.

[DusterBuster]

I think it's all about suites and food options. To the casual fan, I dont think they'd find much wrong with the MODA Center, other than the name.

True, I’ve heard it’s the player accommodations too. Apparently the Blazers home and guest locker rooms are very outdated.

[DaVoiceMaster]

I think it's all about suites and food options. To the casual fan, I dont think they'd find much wrong with the MODA Center, other than the name.

True, I’ve heard it’s the player accommodations too. Apparently the Blazers home and guest locker rooms are very outdated.

Hmm, that seems like such an easy fix during the offseason.

[ebott]

I think it's all about suites and food options. To the casual fan, I dont think they'd find much wrong with the MODA Center, other than the name.

True, I’ve heard it’s the player accommodations too. Apparently the Blazers home and guest locker rooms are very outdated.

Hmm, that seems like such an easy fix during the offseason.

I concur. It seems like the kind of thing the 50/50 split agreement is for. Stuff that's important and maybe even very expensive, but can be done one off-season at a time conceivably forever. But really in that statement Silver just wants to help the new owners have whatever leverage they need. Make it as appealing as possible. It's all a big to do about nothing until we know who the new owners are. Ideally whoever buys the team is cool with the 50/50 split idea and that goes forward without issue.

[Renegade]

But really in that statement Silver just wants to help the new owners have whatever leverage they need.

I think as far as it goes this is correct. But I am wondering if a new owner/group has already been identified and Silver is being used as a mouthpiece (of Sauron) to either coerce money out of the city and possibly the state or prepping for moving the team. If that is the case then it is reasonable to assume others are involved including current ownership.

[DusterBuster]

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/08/04/with-command-of-the-blazers-and-seahawks-jody-allen-might-be-the-most-unusual-pro-sports-owner-ever/

Good article here with some interesting nuggets.

In 2022, a partnership led by Nike founder Phil Knight made a bid for the Trail Blazers that exceeded $2 billion. Knight promised to keep the team in Portland, which is assumed to be a condition of any sale. “I would say to her, ‘Take the offer,’” Larry Miller, a former Blazers president, told The New York Post at the time. Allen didn’t take it, and she didn’t negotiate. Instead, she issued a terse statement through the club, saying that it wasn’t for sale.

Some sliver here of sunshine peeking through.

[DusterBuster]

From Quick's latest article on the new owner:

The future of the Moda Center, where the Blazers have played since 1995, is unclear. The team has signed a lease to continue playing its games in the arena through 2030, but NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has stated a new arena will likely need to be built. The source said while there are issues with the Moda Center — ranging from its small visitor’s locker room and the quality of the suites — “nothing about the arena is a deal breaker on its own. It’s lots of little things that add up.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6563404/2025/08/19/potential-trail-blazers-ownership-close-deal-march/?source=emp_shared_article

This seems to make it out to be that the arena issue may be a little overblown.

Also one of the first articles to have the interviewee flat out say something about relocation:

The estate [Allen] expressed a desire for the team to stay in Oregon, and the source told The Athletic the team will remain in Portland.

The article only calls the person Quick interviewed as a "person close to Dundon".

[JasonStern]

Just reading the tea leaves...
65% chance the Blazers remain in Portland.
20% chance they relocate to Seattle, which already has an arena in place.
10% chance they relocate to San Diego. NBA has history there. Large market, SoCal...
5% chance they relocate to Las Vegas. Sports market saturated with the Raiders, Golden Knights, and soon Aces.
Breach of contract just means a fine. But if the fine is less than revenue generated switching markets, guess what a for-profit organization is going to choose?
If the Portland market loses its sole professional sports team, they'd be likely to be able to poach/expansion an MLB or NHL team.
Other than the original Uncle Phil offer, Tom Dundon is probably the best option for the Blazers. He could have relocated the Carolina Hurricanes to a better market, but chose to keep them in Raleigh. A Tech Bruh from Seattle would have been the worst option, as you can imagine how that would likely end.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Where did you pull those numbers out of?

[DusterBuster]

Just reading the tea leaves...
65% chance the Blazers remain in Portland.
20% chance they relocate to Seattle, which already has an arena in place.
10% chance they relocate to San Diego. NBA has history there. Large market, SoCal...
5% chance they relocate to Las Vegas. Sports market saturated with the Raiders, Golden Knights, and soon Aces.
Breach of contract just means a fine. But if the fine is less than revenue generated switching markets, guess what a for-profit organization is going to choose?
If the Portland market loses its sole professional sports team, they'd be likely to be able to poach/expansion an MLB or NHL team.
Other than the original Uncle Phil offer, Tom Dundon is probably the best option for the Blazers. He could have relocated the Carolina Hurricanes to a better market, but chose to keep them in Raleigh. A Tech Bruh from Seattle would have been the worst option, as you can imagine how that would likely end.

I don't know what tea leafs you're ingesting, but I would to buy some off you cause those sound like some trippy visuals you're reading.

But for real, those numbers and scenarios are wild. All signs clearly are pointing to the Blazers staying in Portland.

I'd have that at closer to 90% right now.

5% Seattle, but that ownership group has no interest in getting a team the same way the lost the Sonics, so even 5 feels high.

0% San Diego... literally I've not heard anyone anywhere at any time on and podcast mention SD as a possible NBA spot.

5% Vegas, tho I'm not sure there's even really a group together to buy a team for Vegas ready yet as far I'm aware... but maybe they're just laying low and not broadcasting it? They also have an arena issue here too. They would have to find a way to split T-Mobile arena with the Golden Knights + national acts that come through - I'm not sure they have the space to fit all those events into that arena on the schedule unless the comedians and musical acts that book that arena out goto Allegiant - but that stadium is only for the ultra massive acts because of the size of it. They also aren't putting a team in Thomas and Mac center while they build a dedicated NBA arena - that's no different than the Blazers in Memorial in 2025. So while Vegas is a threat, it feels too soon right now.

Than saying Portland is "likely" to poach a MLB or NHL team is certainly... a take. I mean, the Diamond Project has been around for nearly a decade now? They've got next to nothing to show for it. Any new MLB or MLB relocation in the near future is likely going to SLC, they're a near lock. Portland doesn't have their ducks in a row for MLB yet and no stadium. NHL I guess would be the most likely, not sure who's around to do that, but an NHL team would probably be fine in the Moda... don't follow hockey enough to know if there are any teams on the horizon for moving or expansion.

I also got a little chuckle out of how a "Tech Bro from Seattle would have been the worst option" when literally Paul Allen was a tech bro from Seattle... I know that's not your point, but I found it amusing.

At this rate, I'm really not sweating the Blazers moving. It's clear Paul Allen put it in his will that the team remains in Portland and Jodie, to her credit, has seemingly tried to make good on that wish for her brother - which is why I think she picked Dundon. Dundon on his part has thrown absolutely ZERO hints or tea leafs that he's interested in moving the team. He's been building the ownership group out with local Portland business partners, anyone who's interviewed local media members near and around Dundon has said he has zero intention of moving the team... I believe there was even one article throughout this saga that said Dundon himself has said he has no intentions of moving the team.

So yeah, all signs are pointing as positive a direction as you can possibly hope at this part of the process. But for those not willing to get too comfortable, I'll admit, things are still early. Things can still change and evolve as this is a fluid situation and we're in the very first stages of this process even now that we know who's buying the team. Outside of some mega-billionare FROM Oregon buying the team (which I don't think existed), I don't think there was ever going to be some situation where at this stage, everyone was going to be hunky-dory with everything and have zero concerns or worries.

We won't know til we know unfortunately, but based on everything we can learn publicly that's been reported, Dundon and those around him seem to be doing nearly everything possible to calm people about the team moving.

Even the Quick article who interviewed someone close to him played down the issue of the arena. They literally said it's not a deal breaker and more just a lot of little things than anything major. That doesn't sound like a sticking point that's going for force a move yet.

[Norm2953]

Canzano in his last post on substack (he apparently has 48K subscribers) has some questions with one
of his investors, who is a CEO with Carvana

Most likely this will go through and we'll see what real estate plan they come up with.

[DusterBuster]

Canzano in his last post on substack (he apparently has 48K subscribers) has some questions with one
of his investors, who is a CEO with Carvana

Most likely this will go through and we'll see what real estate plan they come up with.

Was there anything else of note mentioned in his article?

[Norm2953]

Canzano in his last post on substack (he apparently has 48K subscribers) has some questions with one
of his investors, who is a CEO with Carvana

Most likely this will go through and we'll see what real estate plan they come up with.

Was there anything else of note mentioned in his article?

The bulk of the article was more focused on the Pac 12 and college football but the investor being mentioned
is Ernest Garcia who was convicted of criminal fraud in the Charles Keating scandal. Apparently they are looking
around for more investors in case the NBA rejects Garcia

[Wizenheimer]

I'd think the NBA might actually reject Dundon's offer if Garcia is involved. Pretty toxic name

[Tim Lehrbach]

Wow, yeah, stay far away from that SOB. Surely Dundon can summon plenty of other investors, though, especially if the City/State are keen to hand over grift... I mean, gifts... I mean, "public-private partnership."

[ebott]

The thing to worry about now isn't the team moving. Dundon just isn't that guy. The thing to worry about is that this ownership group doesn't have enough money to keep up with the joneses and we are one of those teams that always loses our good players to free agency.

Or, if you live in Portland, how many billions of your tax dollars are going to go toward building a new stadium.

[oldfishermen]

Many open questions remain regarding the change in Blazers ownership.

The check valve I return to is Jody. Her clear agenda is to sell the team to the highest bidder.

Part of Jody's due diligence would be to verify the buyers ability to deliver the funds in the timely manner agreed to.

Does Jody care where the funds come from? I have no idea. The league might.

Also, I doubt Jody has any intetest in a new arena, or, remodel. Not sure she would help beyond making a few introductions to the right people.

[DusterBuster]

The thing to worry about now isn't the team moving. Dundon just isn't that guy. The thing to worry about is that this ownership group doesn't have enough money to keep up with the joneses and we are one of those teams that always loses our good players to free agency.

Or, if you live in Portland, how many billions of your tax dollars are going to go toward building a new stadium.

For what it's worth, Locked on Blazers pod with Mike Richman did a deep dive on Dundon the business man, warts and all:

Watch on YouTube

Pretty level headed takes and questions on the business side. Sounds like there's been open questions among people around him if his reported net-worth is actually accurate, or just what he wants out in the public. And he says this in the positive, not the negative - meaning Dundon may actually have more money than he claims in reports and he's downplaying his actual worth in the public due to the lawsuit he's currently in over that football league thing.

Also, having the "deepest pockets in sports" is a little overrated of a thing. For decades, PA was that guy for the NBA and got absolutely zero championships to show for it. Clay Bennett is one of the POOREST owners in sports. Dundon is worth 4x that of Bennett, who's publicly estimated worth is a little south of 600mil (big reason why many expect he's gonna sell the Thunder).

So to put it simply, I don't think anyone believes the Blazers are going to be a team that would always lose good players in FA under Dundon. If he believes a player is worth keeping, he'll do what he needs to do to keep them according to all sources and reports we have so far.

[mojomarc]

Also, having the "deepest pockets in sports" is a little overrated of a thing. For decades, PA was that guy for the NBA and got absolutely zero championships to show for it.

To be fair, he did get to two Finals and should have been in the Finals in 2000 as well. Three finals in a decade would have been a pretty decent record given the lack of a true transcendental superstar on both teams.

[DusterBuster]

Also, having the "deepest pockets in sports" is a little overrated of a thing. For decades, PA was that guy for the NBA and got absolutely zero championships to show for it.

To be fair, he did get to two Finals and should have been in the Finals in 2000 as well. Three finals in a decade would have been a pretty decent record given the lack of a true transcendental superstar on both teams.

I wasn't trying to say he was unsuccessful as an owner, just that having the deepest pockets in sports does not = rings.