With the value of NBA teams measured in billions of dollars, ownership groups are the norm when teams change hands. The Blazers sale will be no different, according to breaking reports Wednesday about a tentative agreement being reached to buy the franchise.
Tom Dundon is getting the headlines as the eventual new owner, and he’ll surely be the face of the ownership group that was revealed Wednesday. Full details of all members of the ownership group may not yet be known, but Sportico’s initial report also mentioned Marc Zahr and Sheel Tyle.
Below, you’ll find details about the three key players mentioned so far in the group.
Dundon, 53, is best known to sports fans as the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, which he initially bought control of in January 2018 for $420 million. By June 2018, he had purchased all remaining minority shares, making him the sole owner of the franchise. The Hurricanes are estimated to be worth $1.2 billion today. Dave Deckard has written about what Dundon’s experience with the Hurricanes might mean for the Blazers. Outside of his NHL involvement, Dundon was also involved with the Alliance of American Football, a football league that folded in 2019, and is a significant investor in Callaway Golf.
In 2015, Dundon started Dundon Capital Partners in Dallas. His company has invested in healthcare, auto financing, and real estate. Dundon Capital Partners has also made investments in pickleball, owning the Pro Pickleball Association, among its pickleball interests. The company is also an investor in Topgolf.
Marc Zahr is best known as a co-president of Blue Owl Capital Inc., an asset management company with $273 billion in assets under control. Blue Owl, headquartered in New York City, has three business units. One of those units, GP Strategic Capital, provides financing to hedge funds and private equity firms, receiving minority interests in those companies in the process. Most of the firms that GP Strategic Capital has an interest in are private equity firms, but in 2021 the firm acquired 5% stakes in the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings. It also has minority stakes in the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Atlanta Hawks. Blue Owl’s real estate business unit is based in Chicago and focuses on sale-leasebacks, buying property that it then leases back to the previous owners. The unit does not currently own any stadiums. GP Strategic Capital’s third business unit is providing credit to the likes of the State of South Carolina and Brown University.
Sheel Tyle has reportedly settled in Portland after his wife, Sejal Hathi, became the director of the Oregon Health Authority in 2024. Tyle is the founder and co-CEO of Collective Global Management, and the founder and managing partner of Amplo. Collective Global Management is an asset management company headquartered in New York City with over $1 billion in assets. Amplo, headquartered in Spring, Texas, invests in entrepreneurs who are creating companies worldwide.
While we don’t know all of the details, the initially reported ownership group is certainly well-heeled and well-connected. Net worth figures are not publicly available for the three ownership group members, but various sources online estimate Dundon’s net worth to be anywhere between $1.2 and $2.6 billion. With all three men involved with companies used to making large investments, the ownership group should have no problems obtaining the amount of money required to purchase the Blazers.