After years of uncertainty and months on the market, the Portland Trail Blazers reportedly have a new owner.
Multiple outlets including Sportico reported on Wednesday morning that the estate of the team’s late owner Paul Allen has agreed to sell the Trail Blazers to a group headed by Carolina Hurricanes CEO Tom Dundon.
Dundon, who was raised in Texas and is chairman of the Dallas-based Dundon Capital Partners, reportedly intends to keep the team in Portland—news that will come as a considerable relief to fans and elected officials alike who were concerned that a new owner might move the team out of state. The new ownership group also reportedly includes a local connection in Sheel Tyle of Collective Global. Tyle’s wife, Sejal Hathi, runs the Oregon Health Authority.
The Blazers’ future has been unclear since 2018, when Allen died from complications due to non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Allen, who also owned the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, dictated in his will that his estate sell his sports holdings and donate the proceeds to philanthropic work. HisAllen’s sister Jody, who serves as the executor of his estate, officially put the Trail Blazers up for sale in May.
That news caused a significant amount of alarm around Portland, given that no Oregon-based ownership group was expected to bid for the team.
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Several additional factors worried those who wanted to see the team remain in Portland: the Blazers’ current lease to play at the city-owned Moda Center only runs through 2030, meaning the team could conceivably have been moved in just a handful of years. Then there was the future of the Moda Center itself, which is one of the older arenas in the NBA not to have undergone significant renovations since it was opened more than three decades ago.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at a press conference in mid-July that while the league wanted the team to remain in Portland, the city would “likely need a new arena.”
By that point, however, a coalition of former Blazers, politicians, and business leaders had begun mobilizing in an effort to do whatever they could to try to keep the team in Portland.
More than 100 local leaders signed a petition by a group called “Rip City Forever” led by former Blazers president Marshall Glickman, ex-Blazers center Chris Dudley, and former Dutch Bros. CEO Joth Ricci, urging local and state leadership to do whatever necessary to keep the team in Portland.
In late July, Governor Tina Kotek and Mayor Keith Wilson joined the effort by sending a letter to Silver outlining the importance of the Blazers to the city and region and pledging to back efforts to upgrade or even fully replace the arena. “We fully support renovating the Moda Center to become a point of pride for the Blazers and for our city,” Kotek and Wilson wrote. “We are prepared to explore the public-private partnerships needed to make it happen.”
In the end, it appears that Allen’s estate wasted little time in finding the franchise’s new ownership group—just its third since the team was born in 1970.
Dundon became the majority owner of the NHL’s Hurricanes in 2018, purchasing a majority stake in the team and its Raleigh arena for $420 million. He was also an early investor in Topgolf and is the chairman of pickleball.com.
The Blazers represent a step up in terms of investment: Sportico values the team at $3.6 billion, and ESPN has reported that the sale may be in excess of $4 billion.
Dundon has enjoyed a considerable amount of success in his short time as a professional sports franchise owner. The Hurricanes have made the playoffs in each season he has been the majority owner and won three straight division titles between 2020 and 2023, and Dundon has built a reputation as an involved, ambitious owner.
Still, his purchase of the team still must be approved by the NBA’s board of governors, a process which could take several months. It’s likely, after the sale is complete, that Dundon will speak more about his plans for the team—including the future of the arena.
ESPN reported that Dundon’s group is interested in exploring a public-private partnership for an arena deal. For now, however, all early indications are positive: the Blazers appear set to stay in Portland for many years to come.
