While NFL owners bicker behind the scenes about when Jody Allen will sell the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, the family’s NBA team is set to change hands soon too. And one local columnist is already concerned that when Tom Dundon closes on his purchase of the Portland Trail Blazers from Allen, the franchise will leave the Rose City.
Bill Oram, the sports columnist at the Oregonian, wrote a dire piece on Monday predicting Dundon will relocate the team, citing political arguments about the future of the Moda Center and the new owner’s “indifference” about keeping the team in the city.
“The only person who benefits from all of the hiccups in this Moda Center boondoggle is the overleveraged incoming owner who knows his new team’s greatest value lies in his ability to move it,” wrote Oram.
“The NBA would never let another Seattle happen?
“Look around. It’s already happening.”
Allen inherited both the Trail Blazers and Seahawks from her brother, Paul Allen, the late Microsoft co-founder. When he passed away in 2018, the rules of his will were designed for Jody to eventually sell both teams and donate the proceeds. Dundon agreed to buy the Trail Blazers last August, initially stating he would keep the team in Portland. Local political issues may have shifted the tides.
Oram reported that Trail Blazers icon Damian Lillard is expected to appear before the state legislature to encourage the passage of a bill designed to help fund a new arena.
But, according to Oram, the bill currently feels like a longshot to cut through the jurisdictional disagreements, climate and labor policies, and general disdain in the city for giving rich guys money.
“Dundon is turning the screws and will continue to until he gets his way or our collective pressure point becomes an eject button,” Oram wrote. “I hope elected officials are treating this like the emergency it is.”
While Oram insisted that he hopes to be wrong, the story calls the team “as good as gone.” Catchy headlines aside, Oram’s piece reads like a plea to everyone in the city to do their part to save the team.
The Supersonics leaving Seattle left a major blemish on the culture of the city and left a major market without an NBA team for a generation. The same can be said about Los Angeles losing the NFL, Oakland losing baseball, and many more such stories across American history. Political debates and economic calculations feel like nonsense until suddenly they are not.
Dundon’s purchase is expected to go through next month. The Trail Blazers are slated to make the NBA’s play-in games currently.
While Oram does not set any hard dates on the potential departure of the Trail Blazers, it certainly sounds as if the upcoming legislative session could turn this from a local story to a national story in a hurry.