The standoff over spending $235 million in city and county money on Portland Trail Blazers arena upgrades to go along with $365 million in already-approved state money — and $0 from Blazers’ billionaire owner Tom Dundon — continues, with Portland Mayor Keith Wilson issuing a public letter declaring it a “transformational civic project” while city and county legislators wonder aloud what exactly the city and Multnomah County would get for their tax dollars:
County Commissioner Meghan Moyer slammed the proposed use of tax proceeds because the money could be spent on other public services. She said the county is expecting a $78 million deficit in its general fund over the next four years.
“What these funds could provide are services to our most vulnerable,” she said. “They are seniors, they are people with disabilities, they are people who cannot access health care. They are children.”
“Please, Tom Dundon,” Moyer added, “strike a fair balance.”
“If the owners put up just 25% of the $600 million price tag [which would be funded by the city, county, and state] on this renovation and agree to pay rent equivalent to what the Hurricanes pay in Raleigh, that alone would cover the upfront costs being asked of the city and the county,” said Councilor Angelita Morillo.
Portland area government leaders, meanwhile, sat down with Dundon in the arena at the Portland Metro Chamber of commerce’s annual meeting yesterday to talk up the Blazers’ renovation plan, only to have it turn into a forum for more questions about why, exactly, the public should be paying for this:
As the meeting was taking place, protestors made their voices heard, yelling “hands off PCEF,” the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund.
Protestors also gathered around the Moda Center, yelling “no bailouts for billionaires.”…
Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards said, “I mean, very fundamentally, what is it that the almost $600 million in public investment is going to be buying? And we didn’t get that answered this morning. So we’re going to need that answer. There’s a lot of work that’s going to need to happen between now and the time that the county commission votes on anything.”
Mayor Wilson’s letter didn’t do much to answer what kind of return the city and county should expect on their $235 million, beyond warning that Portland could “put the brakes on the project if we don’t take our role seriously” and saying that “good process means sitting down, figuring out the math, and keeping the public informed and empowered every step of the way, not duking it out in the media or on Instagram.” No actual math was included, and posting an open letter on your website arguably counts as “duking it out in the media,” but Wilson has left it off his Instagram feed for now, so there!
Dundon, meanwhile, said that it’s totally fair for him to put nothing into a $600 million arena renovation for which he’ll receive all the proceeds, because he pays taxes, what do you want from him, blood?
“There’s lots of places that don’t have taxes at the same rate,” Dundon told the crowd. “So if you charge people taxes and invest it back into the thing that helps generate the money relative to the market, other places … it’s a huge investment. … I just know it feels like we’re making a pretty big investment by staying here and paying these tax rates and agreeing to these fees for dollars that go back into the building.”
It’s like an isoceles triangle! And what is geometry if not a form of math?
The city council has a vote on the arena term sheet scheduled for August 12, but the city and county have until the end of 2026 to vote on the arena renovation plan, so expect even more of this over the coming months. City Councilors Mitch Green and Steve Novick have proposed a November public ballot measure on the arena plan; that would have to be approved by the council by July 22 in order to happen.
Tom Dundon understands from his experience running a franchise in another one-horse sports town that those types of places are the easiest to push over and bend to his will for the type of stadium-related subsidies that he (and the leagues) are seeking.
And especially in the small markets, which almost all of these one-horse towns are, the first thing said by the Tom Dundon’s of the world when their teams’ host cities agree to prop up their profits to the tune of nine or ten figures is either some variation of “my heart was always in this city” or “my intention was to always keep the team here” (which is pretty much always a lie)… or the more blunt but more honest take of, “don’t forget that I’m doing your city a favor by keeping MY team here.”
The Blazers will absolutely stay in Portland, for no other reason than it’s been basically 30 years since a “major” franchise last left a single-team market. It’s really just a matter of how much it’s ultimately going to cost the city and the state to keep them there, and how long they’ll end up paying for it.
I left out the part where the mayor asked, “are we willing to let Portland slide into flyover status,” apparently under the impression that all the people flocking there in recent decades were really just coming to see the Blazers get bounced in the first round of the playoffs.
What “taxes” is he talking about?
Does Dundon really hold all the cards here? If he were to move the Blazers, it would probably be to city like Seattle, where the NBA owners are planning to collect 7 to 10 billion dollars in expansion fees. So either he takes a generous Portland deal, or he has to buy off the owners looking for a share of expansion fee.
It is unclear if the NBA really wants to expand. Their TV deal is so huge now that the other owners would only be willing to dilute their share if the expansion fee is massive. Who is going to be such a fee to own a team in Las Vegas?
The more likely relocation candidates are New Orleans ane Memphis.
The same people who own the Kracken say they want to own the Sonics 2.0, but I don’t think they’ve agreed on a price.
The expansion “talks” around the NBA do have an air of non-threat threats, where the commissioner keeps floating the same two cities around just to get them into the existing markets’ conscience. “We would like to add two teams there through expansion, but…”
I still think it’s more likely to actually happen in the NBA than MLB, but I’ll believe it’s happening when I see it.
No doubt they want an expansion fee that large, but who is or can be willing to pay that? I think these leagues are being way too unrealistic about what they are actually worth, the professional sports era of being a major part of society is coming to a close.
Franchises are worth whatever somebody will pay, but as the prices get higher, the pool or potential owners gets smaller. And if they pick the market before they’ve found the owner, they’re limiting their options.
And the endless growth they are pursuing will eventually end. Somebody will be left holding the bag.
NBA screwed up when it approved the sale of the Blazers to this jerk.
I’d expect nothing less from a sub-prime lending vampire like him.
He’s shaking down Portland for hundreds of millions of dollars. That is exactly what the other owners wanted when they approved the sale.
We haven’t heard much about how the other NBA owners feel about him, but my (cynical) guess is that they secretly like the measures he’s implemented, even outside of the “shake the home market down for arena subsidies.”
To name one example, I’ll guarantee that they’re looking to see how much success their new coach leads them to under a contract that pretty much everybody has criticized. If the coach looks good or even excellent in his new role, other owners might feel more emboldened to make that their template when time comes for them to change coaches.
The arena was owned by the team. It was sold/gifted to the city by Paul Allen’s estate to maximize the sale of the team. The city owning the arena gives the team/dundon all the leverage here.
That being said there’s nowhere for them to move…unless Dundon sabotages the upcoming Vegas/Seattle expansion vote