As the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners prepares to meet this week to discuss public financing for Moda Center renovations, the board’s influential leader threw her support behind efforts aimed at keeping the Trail Blazers in Portland.
In her first public comments on the proposal, Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in a statement that she is “committed to the county doing our part” in the complicated package that would unite the state, city and county in the shared cause.
“I am encouraged by the partnership of state, city, and county leaders working on a shared commitment to keep the Blazers in Portland — even as each government is facing budget constraints and many competing priorities,” Vega Pederson said in the statement. “The Blazers and Moda Center are crucial economic engines for our region that provide an enormous benefit to our entire community and the work of Multnomah County. I’m committed to the county doing our part.”
The board will meet in an executive session closed to the public on Thursday morning with the listed purpose of discussing “emerging negotiations for public financing and partnership opportunities for the future of the Moda Center.”
The Trail Blazers are attempting to secure $600 million in public funds for a significant remodel to what is often called the oldest, non-renovated arena in the NBA. Under a working proposal, the state would contribute $360 million toward that cause through bonding that would need to be approved in the short legislative session that started Monday, while the city and county are being asked to split the remainder.
The effort is driven by the pending sale of the Trail Blazers to a group led by Texas billionaire Tom Dundon, which agreed to buy the team for $4.25 million last summer. The absence of an arena deal would stoke concerns that Dundon could be motivated to attempt to move the team to a city with a more business-friendly environment and more sponsorship dollars.
The funding package is expected to be introduced as a bill in Salem in the coming days but, multiple sources have said, has been held up by concerns from some county officials about the extent of the county’s financial commitment.
With her statement on Wednesday, Vega Pederson joined Shannon Singleton, who earlier in the day announced her candidacy to replace Vega Pederson as chair, as commissioners who have generally expressed their support for the county’s involvement, although neither has staked their support to a specific dollar amount.
Details of the city’s funding component aren’t fully known but are expected to include money from its voter-approved clean energy fund, which collects a 1% tax on sales from large retailers.