As ownership of the Portland Trail Blazers changes hands from the Paul G. Allen Trust to Texas businessman Tom Dundon this spring, one of the major items on new ownership’s “to-do list” is securing public funding for the renovation of the Moda Center, the team’s home arena. Opened in 1995, the Moda Center has not undergone major renovations in its lifetime. It has none of the modern, ownership-friendly amenities common to more recently-constructed arenas, a point of concern for a consortium sinking
billions of dollars into the enterprise.
The Blazers got a boost earlier this month when the Oregon Legislature approved diversion of tax dollars towards the arena construction project. The remaining shoes to drop involve local governments, the City of Portland and Multnomah County, who would also be on the hook for a large share of the proposed $600 million project.
In an extensive article today, Alex Zielinski of Oregon Public Broadcasting shared details of the Trail Blazers’ lobbying efforts to obtain local funding from city officials, including a discovery trip to North Carolina—where the Charlotte Hornets and Dundon’s other team, the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL, play—and several conversations, not all of which had an entirely friendly tenor.
After detailing the franchise’s predictable early efforts to frame the discussion, including the obligatory mention that small-market revenue streams are more scarce than those in large NBA cities, Zielinski relayed more direct messages, reportedly given to city officials by lobbyists:
Karl Lisle, the city’s head of the spectator venues, which includes Moda Center, said in a Jan. 23 chat message to colleagues in the mayor’s office that a Blazers lobbyist told him “100% public financing is the only solution.” Lisle said this could be “extremely challenging in the short timeline proposed by Dundon’s group and may in fact require more time.”
Months later, those lobbyists took city officials on an educational trip to Charlotte, where the city has engaged in the same process being asked of Portland, to the benefit of both sports teams there:
The city of Charlotte just finished major renovations to the Spectrum Center, home to the Charlotte Hornets. The $245 million renovation was entirely paid for by the city, and the agreement commits the team to the arena until at least 2045. Raleigh’s Lenovo Center is home to the Carolina Hurricanes, the NHL team Dundon purchased in 2018. That arena is in the process of a publicly funded $300 million renovation, negotiated by Dundon, that locks the Hurricanes into a 20-year lease and gives Dundon the rights to develop some 80 acres around the arena.
Raihana Ansary, [Portland Mayor Keith] Wilson’s deputy chief of staff, joined two other Portland employees on the city-paid trip: Donnie Oliveira, deputy city administrator for community and economic development, and Lisle.
The article goes on to explain that the Blazers have kept up the press, not shying away from intimations that the team may move without funding, and making clear that, if that happens, elected officials will be blamed.
Though Mayor Wilson is openly positive towards the funding effort, not all city officials are convinced. Zielinski quotes Councilor Steve Novick objecting to use of clean energy funds to renovate a sports arena. She also tabs Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane as being somewhat skeptical, wanting to “deliver real benefits” to the city and its people. Strikingly, Zielinski quotes unnamed councilors claiming they have received warning from lobbyists about objecting:
At least three other city councilors told OPB that they have been told by Blazers representatives that their political career would suffer if they didn’t agree to the deal. Those councilors asked not to be identified to protect their careers.
The article is well worth a read for anyone keeping up on these matters. It appears that funding for the renovation will go through, but maybe not in as clean of a fashion as one would hope?
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