PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Paul Allen’s estate has struck a tentative agreement to sell the Portland Trail Blazers to a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team hadn’t yet made an official statement.
Dundon intends to keep the Trail Blazers in Portland, the person said. The group includes Sheel Tyle, the co-founder of the investment firm Collective Global.
The NBA Board of Governors must ratify any final purchase agreement. ESPN reported Wednesday that the deal was for $4 billion.
Allen’s estate, which also owns the Seattle Seahawks and a 25% stake in the Seattle Sounders, announced in May that it had begun the process of selling the Trail Blazers. In that announcement, the estate said neither the Seahawks nor the 25% stake in the Sounders would be part of the Blazers’ sale.
Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, died in 2018 at age 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Since then, his sister, Jody Allen, has served as chair of the Trail Blazers and the Seahawks and is a trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust.
Paul Allen bought the Trail Blazers in 1988 and the Seahawks in 1997.
Seattle Sports staff contributed to this post.
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