The campaign to keep the Portland Trail Blazers in Portland kicked off in earnest last week as legislators unveiled a broad outline for financing a $600 million renovation of the team’s home arena. With the Trail Blazers’ new owner set to take over in a matter of weeks, the pressure is on for Oregon’s elected leaders to get the framework for a deal in place.
Yet it’s far from a sure thing as three different governments with crushing budget shortfalls and different constituencies must create a conceptual plan in a short period of time. Adding to the level of difficulty, a public skeptical of billionaire sports-team owners and Portland’s slow post-pandemic economic recovery make it exceedingly difficult to raise other revenue.
Yet losing the Trail Blazers to another city willing to pony up a better package of perks would deal a devastating blow economically, culturally and reputationally to a city and state poorly equipped to absorb more hits.
It’s no wonder so many elected officials’ testimony about Senate Bill 1501 carried notes of desperation.
The bill introduced last week proposes that Oregon take part ownership in the city-owned Moda Center and issue general-obligation bonds tied to the income taxes paid by players, employees and others associated with the arena. City leaders are also working on a package of about $120 million for the renovation with $14 million annually for ongoing operations, while the county leaders envision chipping in $88 million. While there are many details to nail down, the outline offers a reasonable approach that shows broad buy-in from all levels of government to keep the team.
For good reason.
The team’s storied history, 1977 championship title and beloved greats including Clyde Drexler, Bill Walton and the Blazer who came back, Damian Lillard, are a foundational part of Oregon’s civic and cultural identity. But this is about more than sports. As several elected officials noted in their testimony, the Moda Center is Oregon’s arena, not just the Trail Blazers’ home. It hosts concerts, monster truck shows and NCAA basketball tournaments that draw Oregonians from throughout the state and tourists from around the globe. The 30-year-old arena is a city-owned asset that will need renovations regardless of whether the Trail Blazers are here or not. And the arena not only employs or supports 4,500 jobs, but plays an essential role in encouraging development of the historically Black neighborhood around it.
But even those who don’t care about sports or the arena should recognize the bleak consequences if Portland were to suffer such a high-profile loss. Sen. President Rob Wagner, the bill’s chief sponsor, recalled living in Washington D.C. when the city’s NFL team moved, leaving behind the Robert F. Kennedy stadium. The area entered what a publication referred to as its “ghost town phase,” Wagner said, with local bars and restaurants struggling as a result of the lost business.
House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, D-Tigard, pointed to Seattle’s loss of the SuperSonics in 2008 to Oklahoma City, warning that other cities will be lining up to woo the Trail Blazers if the state falls down on this opportunity. “Investing in an institution like this is not about nostalgia, it’s about foresight,” he said.
Certainly, many Oregonians question the wisdom of using public dollars to renovate a basketball arena when the new owner is a billionaire. They point to budget cuts and federal changes that will take away health care and food assistance where those public dollars are needed.
But losing an economic engine like the Trail Blazers would extend beyond the immediate loss of jobs, events and money from ticket sales and parking fees — revenue streams that have helped finance renovations at Providence Park and Memorial Coliseum. It would reverberate beyond this one team or one year.
A loss would signal to the country that Portland still hasn’t bottomed out, even five-plus years since the pandemic and riots hollowed out parts of downtown and generated negative images of the city around the country.
A city on the decline doesn’t attract the outside investors who can bankroll new housing, or the employers who can help grow the state’s income tax receipts. It doesn’t bring in tourists to pay the lodging taxes and car rental fees that support local governments or draw the families whose children can help reverse the enrollment declines in Oregon’s public schools. Oregon’s fortunes ride with the ups and downs of its largest city. The state cannot beat a path to prosperity on the growth of much smaller metro areas.
Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber put it well when she told her colleagues that the easiest way to economic development is to keep what you have. While state and local governments cannot bankrupt themselves for the Trail Blazers’ benefit, they also cannot afford to be cavalier about just how much the “Portland” in front of “Trail Blazers” means.
-The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board