The Moda Center on Oct. 22, 2025, in Portland, Ore.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Lease negotiations between Portland and its beloved NBA team are off to a rocky start.
Both city officials and representatives for the Trail Blazers have issues with the city’s initial draft of a term sheet – a document outlining the starting terms of the Moda Center renovation deal that will be hashed out over the next several months. City leaders will hold a closed-door meeting Wednesday to discuss the deal further.
The attempt to extend this public-private partnership, which the Blazers say should rely solely on $600 million in public dollars, is expected to only grow thornier.
But Portland’s elected officials won’t be leading the talks.
With deadlines fast approaching, the city has tapped three contractors with experience in major arena deals to represent their interests at the negotiating table.
Portland City Council is expected to vote on a final term sheet – officially kicking off negotiations on Aug. 12. The city hopes to ink a final deal with the Blazers by the end of the year.
Here’s what you need to know about the contractors the city tapped to lead these talks.
Carl Hirsh
Carl Hirsh is a managing partner at Stafford Sports, a New Jersey-based consulting firm that specializes in sports arena negotiations.
Most notably, Stafford Sports worked with Seattle on a Hail-Mary attempt to keep the Super Sonics from leaving the city in 2008. It’s not clear if Hirsch was involved in those talks.
In 2012, Hirsch was hired by Seattle to help advise on a possible new arena project to lure an NBA or NHL franchise. That project never panned out. But he did continue to advise the city in getting more than $600 million in private investor financing to renovate what would eventually be renamed Climate Pledge Arena, the home of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken.
Hirsch worked closely with San Antonio’s Bexar County government in the 1990s to secure a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs. The $193 million AT&T Center, which opened in 2002, was funded largely with public money. County voters approved a hotel and rental tax to raise $175 million, with the Spurs making up the remaining costs.
The firm is also involved in San Antonio’s latest project to build a new NBA arena in the city’s downtown. In that 2025 deal, voters approved a plan to use nearly $1 billion in city and county dollars on arena construction – with the Spurs expecting to put in $500 million.
Denis Braham
Denis Braham is an attorney with the Houston firm Greenberg Traurig, specializing in sports law. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig in 2022, Braham held a similar position at business law firm Winstead PC.
Over his career, Braham has overseen a number of sports real estate deals, including representing Charlotte during the construction of a new training and practice arena for the Charlotte Hornets.
The firm was the lead counsel to Erie County, New York, in negotiations over a new $1.5 billion Buffalo Bills arena in 2022. That facility was built with more than $850 million in state and county dollars – the largest taxpayer contribution for an NFL facility.
While at Winstead, Braham worked directly for NFL franchises, like the Dallas Cowboys (and their 2001 stadium deal) and the Houston Texans (Winstead was hired by a Texas businessman to help Houston land the Texans as an expansion team in the late 1990s).
Damien Hall
Damien Hall is a real estate and land use attorney for Portland-based firm Dunn Carney LLP.
At Dunn Carney, Hall helped the city negotiate its current short-term lease agreement with the Blazers, which was a 5-year extension of the original 30-year Moda Center lease.
Hall is familiar with tense City Council discussions.
In 2024, Hall represented Portland construction firms Colas Development Group and Beam Development when a music nonprofit appealed a land use decision allowing construction to start on the city’s future Live Nation music venue. Hall spoke on the developers’ behalf at an hourslong council meeting. City Council ultimately rejected the appeal.
Hall currently sits on the board of the healthcare nonprofit CareOregon and the low-income housing nonprofit Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives. He’s also on the Home Forward board of commissioners, a body that’s been in the spotlight as the public housing authority’s CEO resigned after scrutiny over taxpayer-funded trips.
Others at the table?
Portland will take a lead role in negotiations, but they won’t be the only government at the table.
The state and Multnomah County will also play a role.
Under the state bill that pledged $365 million toward Moda Center renovations, the state is required to “retain a professional with expertise in arena negotiations” to review the project. According to the state, this hire hasn’t happened yet.
Multnomah County leadership has pledged around $100 million. According to Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, the county is currently “in the process of hiring an outside contractor” to lead its negotiations.
Portland, on the other hand, has been meeting with its chosen negotiators since the spring.
They’ve fielded concerns and requests from elected city officials, work that culminated in the draft term sheet released last week. But their work is far from over. It’s clear that both city councilors and the Blazers aren’t happy with the initial document, setting the course for more work in the weeks to come.