By now, you have likely heard the news – Portland Trail Blazers acting owner Jody Allen and the Allen Trust have a deal in the works to sell the team to an ownership group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon.
Dundon was born in New York but grew up in Texas. He owns an NHL franchise in North Carolina and has his business located in Texas, where he also attended college.
Why would it matter if the new owner is from Dallas? Well, guess what is just about three hours north of Dallas?
That’s right – Oklahoma City. Just looking at the geography alone, this is getting creepy.
Is this Seattle Syndrome 2.0? It sure feels like it. The only thing missing is that the team is currently owned by the CEO of a major coffee chain that started in Portland, but that’s all that is missing. If you wanted to connect the dots between the two scenarios, it would not be difficult.
Young roster, no emerging superstars?
Check.
Head coach struggling to collect wins?
Check.
Old stadium needing a massive overhaul?
Check.
Limited funding for a new stadium because the city already agreed to pay for a new baseball stadium?
Check.
Declining attendance?
Check.
Official terms of the deal have not been made public yet. Hopefully, they will include a clause about the team staying unless certain factors are met. However, they had something similar when Seattle sold the team, and it didn’t go as expected. You had an inexperienced owner in Seattle, and you have one in Portland; let’s hope to the basketball gods that Jody Allen is better at protecting her team’s interests than the Starbucks CEO was.
The statement from the new owners is that they intend to keep the team in Portland, which is honestly great of them to say, and hopefully, they mean it. But Seattle was told that same bedtime story before they awoke to a living nightmare. One of the minority owners has ties to Portland, while the business of another minority owner is tied to the East Coast.
So nothing is for sure. But it sounds good on paper.
The sticking point for the team to stay here will likely be attendance and a renovated Moda Center, and those two paths likely go hand in hand. A new owner probably won’t invest heavily in remodeling an old stadium on the off chance fans will return, but they can’t wait to see if fans do return, as this might lead to a new stadium if they help the team generate revenue now.
Something Seattle did not have when they sold their team was a living legend on the roster, as they had gutted their lineup and rebuilt with all new faces. Portland will have plenty of current fan favorites as well as one of the all-time greats in Damian Lillard. Lillard may or may not play this season depending on which reports you believe, but that doesn’t matter. He’s back in Portland and signed a three-year team-friendly deal to rehab here and work with the younger players as a mentor while he gets healthy.
A new owner seeking fan support to capitalize on a new stadium couldn’t ask for a better situation, especially with a team amid rebuilding. If this roster can build on its momentum from last season, it could become a sneaky play-in team, or even better. This would likely boost fan support, which in turn would increase public backing for a new stadium, with the city’s help if funds are available. This area will have plenty of civic projects to work on, so it’s not likely two new stadiums are in the cards yet, but you never know. Perhaps they can agree to move forward with the approved upgrades, which were paused when the team was put up for sale.
No matter what happens, the average fan and many of the most devoted Blazers fans got what they asked for – a new owner. And now we will wait and see if that new owner is a friend to this city, or if they are not.
We know what happened up north in the 2000s; let’s hope this is a better version of that and not a repeat.
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