Please look into the last ten or so publicly funded renovation/new arena deals. Every single one of them has significant wording about relocation, public use of the arena/funds, diversity quotas in construction and hiring, and MOST have development requirements and massive investment requirements by the team ownership as part of the deal. And almost none of them are the city fully funding the renovations/construction.

The city is not asking for anything egregious and in many cases is asking for less than other deals that have happened. I get you hate city officials. I get you're in the "anyone my facebook feed tells me is bad has to be bad in every way" mindset, but team ownership has had to agree to much more, especially financially, in almost every other deal done so far.

All of the problems right now would never have happened if Jody sold the damn team to Phil Knight in 2022. If we lose the Blazers, I truly blame both Jody and Adam Silver for creating this mess in the first place.

Adam Silver started allowing private equity in 2021, and sovereign wealth funds in 2022. These decisions allowed a cheap bastard like Dundon to buy the Blazers.

Jody knew what was coming if she didn’t sell, but she was just as greedy as everyone else. Dundon is simply the result of Jody’s greed and Adam Silver’s changes to ownership.

Edit: nvm - fuck Paul Allen’s will

Per Mayor Wilson’s recent Instagram post

Holton's energy and insight is so good and he's also a former blazers player! He's an excellent example for kids growing up for a healthy attitude towards sports. What could be a more ruthless reminder that for the dunce on top now, our team's culture, history, and fan base matter not at all! This reminds me that when you care too much about winning, stuff gets less fun, and that's true even for watching sports. Duncedon's cutthroat approach made him 'win' deals with vulnerable car-loan seekers, and the rest is history with the same socially normalized mindless profit-maximizing with no limits.

Wish we could be like the Green Bay Packers and just publicly own our team so we don't have to deal with shameful bullies like Dundon. Picking up Ingrid Robeyns' book, Limitarianism that's a thought experiment about checks/balances on ridiculous concentration of wealth/power. Dundon is serving as a really hilarious example of the risks that exist without proper checks/balances. He's a genuine dunce with tunnel-vision focus on profit with no sense of other values.

Didn’t see anyone else post this so I decided I would.

I can’t lie I wasn’t a huge fan of him at first but he really grew on me the last couple seasons. I’m really gonna miss the fun Haberstats and his dynamic with KC and Lamar :(

RIP Tom Haberstroh. Anyone else think Dundon looks like a partly brain damaged Bill Simmons? Like if Bill drown a little?

Who could have seen this coming?

“Portland is an awesome NBA market. The NBA needs to not fuck this up. Do not let this guy come in here and hijack this franchise and remove it from Portland.”

Zach Lowe keeping it real with the new Tom Dundon ownership team with the Blazers.

“Their fans are better than this. They don’t deserve this.”

I can't imagine any of the players are going to say anything undiplomatic but have we ever seen it in the past?

I honestly feel compared to almost any other employee basketball players can say what they want with very little fear.

What are they going to do - cut Dame, or Deni, or DC? Worst they'll do is talk to them and ask them not to say it again

They absolutely wont let Dundon re-locate to Seattle or Las Vegas, he’d have to go somewhere else. What fans can do is from next season start boycotting games and him. Really hit him where it hurts and he may either be forced to sell the team or invest in it. I don’t know many other markets which will be worth the cost of re-location fee for him that the nba governors (owners) would approve.

I've been following the Moda Center negotiations closely, and I honestly don't think enough people realize how important this moment is.

This isn't just about basketball.

The Moda Center brings approximately 1.6 million visitors to Portland every year and generates an estimated $600 million in annual economic activity. That's restaurants, hotels, bars, parking, transit, retail, and thousands of people coming downtown for games, concerts, and events.

Portland has already watched businesses close, retailers leave downtown, office vacancy remain high, and our city's reputation take a hit. Whether you agree on why that happened or not, I think most of us can agree we can't afford to lose another major institution.

I'm not saying anyone should get a blank check.
I'm saying our elected leaders and the Trail Blazers need to find common ground before negotiations fall apart.

I've been a Blazers fan my entire life. Rip City is part of Portland's identity, and I genuinely believe losing the team would be a cultural and economic loss that would be felt across Oregon—not just within Portland city limits.

If you agree, please take two minutes to respectfully email the people involved in these negotiations.

Governor Tina Kotek
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Mayor Keith Wilson
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Multnomah County Commissioners
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Portland City Council
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Please keep it respectful. Whether you support public funding or not, I think we can all agree that finding a solution is better than watching Portland lose another cornerstone.

Hold everyone accountable. Find a deal. Keep the Blazers in Portland.

say "it's this offer or nothing" because: a) he does not have enough capital to relocate the team, b) where is he gonna move them?? lol c) he is bluffing and d) f**k this loanshark billionaire brokie

The Trailblazers have a lease thru 2030. the city / state has offered more than fair terms. just accept it, Tommy. personally i feel like he is too broke to own an NBA team. he's definitely no Steve Balmer

I’m so goddamn worried that the blazers are leaving, this is such a huge blow, not just to the city of Portland but for the whole entire northwest :( rip city is beautiful man

What do you expect him to do? He can’t really say “bend to my demands or else I’ll just stay here and deal with it!” right? The only card he has to play is the “threaten to move” so he’s playing it.

It would be hard to boycott Dundon due to the nature of how he got his money. But Panda Express is an easy target and is enabling Dundon to play hardball like this. Y'all still got power, just got to choose to use it. Bad publicity for Panda Express could very well push things in the right direction.

Second image is statement by Mult. Co Chair Vega Pederson in response.

Edit: Just for clarity sake the County had in principle committed around 88 Million, the amendments by the 2 councilors aim to decrease this amount by over a “third”. It is not yet clear what their reasoning is for this last second challenge.

No small market is powerful on its own. There’s not much a smaller city can do to stop a greedy owner from relocating to a more profitable city. But if the small markets stand together and boycott the NBA if their teams get moved, that’s a much more powerful bloc.

We need to create some way for these cities to collectively unify in solidarity. If it happens to Portland, it can happen to them.