By Luke Adams | at July 22, 2026 4:47 pm
The Trail Blazers are making major changes to their broadcasting staff, according to Maury Brown of Forbes, who reports that TV analyst Michael Holton, TV hosts Neil Everett and Jamie Hudson, and statistician Tom Haberstroh are among those who have been let go by the club. “Deep pay cuts” are anticipated for some positions on the broadcast team, Brown adds, while the TV production crew has also been reduced.
As Jason Quick of The Athletic, the layoffs represent the latest cost-cutting measure instigated by new team owner Tom Dundon, who made similar changes when he took over the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. In that instance, Dundon let go of the radio broadcast team – including longtime announcer Chuck Kaiton, who declined a steep pay cut – and aired a simulcast of the TV broadcast audio over the radio. That isn’t the plan for the Blazers, the team said in a statement to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian (Twitter thread).
“We are deeply grateful to all the hard-working individuals who have contributed to our award-winning broadcasts over the years,” said a Blazers spokesperson. “I can’t comment on individual personnel decisions, but I can confirm that we are making changes for the upcoming season as we continue to evolve with the changes in the broadcast industry and look to become more efficient in our business operations. While plans are still being finalized, play-by-play radio broadcasts will continue in the 2026-27 season, and will not be television simulcasts.”
Still, the Blazers’ broadcasts will sound quite a bit different in the fall. Radio play-by-play announcer Travis Demers isn’t being retained after his contract expired, though a return in a lesser role remains a possibility, a source tells Quick. Kevin Calabro, the veteran play-by-play man on the Blazers’ TV broadcasts, also won’t return, having declined a contract offer that he referred to as “subprime,” according to Freeman (Twitter links). Calabro will be looking for work elsewhere rather than retiring.
“It was an easy decision: not worth my time,” Calabro told Quick, referring to the offer he received from the Blazers. “Which is sad, because the roster and the people there are great.”
We have more on the Blazers, who are making plenty of non-basketball headlines as of late:
Following up on a report from The Athletic that detailed the gap between the Trail Blazers and the city of Portland in their increasingly contentious negotiations over $120MM in funding for a Moda Center renovation project, Bill Oram of The Oregonian spoke to a top Blazers official who suggested the team is willing to consider relocation if the city of Portland doesn’t “want us.” That official stressed that relocation isn’t the team’s preference, but he also didn’t rule it out, even though it would require the team to pay a substantial penalty to the NBA. “It’s not like we lose money moving the team,” the team official told Oram. “We might spend money, but we don’t lose money. It might be OK to spend a billion dollars on a relocation fee if the valuation of the team doubles. Of course you would do that.”
In another story for The Athletic, Quick explores why the Trail Blazers and the city of Portland have reached an apparent impasse in their negotiations and what the next steps are. Portland’s city council is currently scheduled to vote on August 12 on a 20-year term sheet and $120MM in funding for the Blazers. If the city doesn’t move forward with that plan, it could jeopardize $365MM in funding toward arena renovations from the state, since that deal will expire in December and is contingent on the team also receiving funds from the city and county.
Complicating matters further is the fact that a pair of Multnomah County commissioners are seeking changes to the $88MM that the county previously committed toward the Blazers’ arena renovations. Shane Dixon Kavanaugh of The Oregonian (subscriber link) and KATU ABC 2 in Portland have the details.
NBA reporter Yaron Weitzman (Twitter link) outlines why “ownership-level sources” that he has spoken to are skeptical about the idea of the Blazers relocating to a new city, even with their Moda Center renovation funding seemingly in danger. As Weitzman notes, the league wants to expand – not relocate – to Seattle and Las Vegas and no other markets appear immediately NBA-ready.
View Comments (1)