The Portland Trail Blazers’ potential new owner used to play pick-up basketball with Mark Cuban, loves pickleball, owns a professional hockey team and has amassed a fortune through investments in sports and entertainment, financial services, real estate and other endeavors.
But perhaps more than anything, what enticed the Paul Allen estate to sell Portland’s beloved NBA team to Tom Dundon and a group of investors, is where they intend to move the franchise.
Nowhere.
The group “is passionate about basketball and intends to keep the team in Portland, where it belongs,” a source familiar with the sale proceedings told The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Three months after the Paul Allen estate announced plans to sell the franchise, it reached a tentative agreement with Dundon, the Carolina Hurricanes owner, and a group of investors, sources confirmed to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The group includes multiple local connections, including Marc Zahr, co-president of Blue Owl Capital, and Sheel Tyle, a Portland-based CEO. Dundon also is actively recruiting more local investors, sources say, including Tim Boyle, president and CEO of Columbia Sportswear.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but multiple reports suggest the sales price exceeded $4 billion. The tentative sale agreement will not become final until it is approved by the NBA’s board of governors, a drawn-out process that likely will take several months.
In a Wednesday text message to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Dundon declined to address specifics of the sale, but said he would “be happy to talk” once things are finalized. A spokesperson for the Allen estate said it would not comment until a deal was formally in place, and multiple high-ranking Blazers officials also declined comment, noting that NBA rules forbid them from discussing the matter publicly until any sale is finalized.
The NBA did not immediately respond to emails from The Oregonian/OregonLive seeking comment about the sale.
In Portland, the seismic news was widely celebrated across the business and civic community, which collectively expressed cautious optimism the sale would cement the Blazers’ future in Portland. Multiple prominent CEOs said they welcomed the opportunity to work with Dundon to keep Rip City in the Rose City, and politicians, ranging from Portland Mayor Keith Wilson to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, hailed the move.
“We are glad that they are committed to keeping the Blazers in Portland and, in return, we are committed to working with new ownership as this deal is finalized to continue to fill the Moda Center with fans, enthusiasm, and pride,” Wilson said in a release. “The Blazers’ legacy and strength have always been firmly rooted in public-private partnership, and that legacy continues today.”
Wyden’s spirits were bolstered by two phone calls this week. The first involved NBA officials on Tuesday night, when the league shared that Dundon and the Paul Allen estate were on the verge of coming to terms. The second came Wednesday morning at the Oregon Food Bank, about 15 minutes before a scheduled news conference, when Dundon called Wyden to share his vision for the Blazers.
“He sounded very excited about the team’s future being here in beautiful Portland,” Wyden said. “By the end of (Tuesday) evening I was very encouraged by the proposition that the Trail Blazers are going to stay right here where they belong, right here in Portland, Oregon. If you were outside our house in Southeast Portland last night around 9 o’clock, the hollering would have been pretty loud because we were really excited about all this.”
Blazers fans have been nervously awaiting word of their next owner since the Paul Allen estate announced on May 13 that the team was for sale, a move that came roughly seven years after owner Paul Allen died from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The announcement made no mention of the franchise’s long-term prospects in Portland, a notable omission for Blazermaniacs and local business and civic leaders who have long feared the franchise could be relocated to another city under new ownership.
Allen purchased the Blazers for $70 million in 1988 and his status as one of the world’s richest men ensured the small-market team was on solid footing. He spent lavishly on player, coach and front office salaries throughout his tenure as owner and even subsidized more than half — 59% — of the $262 million it cost to build the Blazers a new arena in 1995. But that arena has aged over the last 30 years and will either need a facelift or replacement in the near future, a reality expressed by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver last month during the NBA Board of Governors news conference in Las Vegas.
“It’s the league’s preference that that team remain in Portland,” Silver said. “We’ve had great success in Portland over the years. I’d say one of the factors there is that the city of Portland likely needs a new arena. So, that will be part of the challenge for any new ownership group coming in.”
Silver’s words carried extra weight considering Seattle, which boasts a new, state-of-the-art arena, is eager to land a new team to replace the Sonics, who controversially relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.
Fears about the Blazers’ future in Portland grew so high this summer, more than 100 prominent local leaders formed “Rip City Forever,” a coalition aimed at organizing state and local officials to keep the team in Portland. The group is led by former Blazers president Marshall Glickman, ex-Blazers player Chris Dudley and local CEO Joth Ricci, and it reiterated Wednesday that a public-private partnership is essential to advancing any arena improvements.
“Public expressions intending to keep the Blazers in Portland are just the first step,” Rip City Forever said Wednesday in a release. “Once a sale agreement is finalized, we’re ready to help put words into action. What’s needed is a public-private partnership for a new or renovated arena to ensure Portland remains Rip City Forever. Let’s seize this once-in-a generation opportunity to send a powerful and optimistic message to ourselves and the nation about the future of our city and state — at a time when it’s needed most.”
And now that public-private partnership likely includes Dundon and a group of investors. Raised in Dallas, Dundon, 53, graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and earned his first business break in 1997, when he and group of partners founded Drive Financial, a company that later became Santander Consumer USA. Today, Dundon is chairman and managing partner of Dallas-based investment firm Dundon Capital Partners and the co-founder and chairman of Southpaw Capital Partners.
His portfolio is vast. He is a majority owner of a Texas real estate firm, and has become an investor in Topgolf Callaway Brands and Pickleball Inc, among many other ventures. In 2018, he became a majority owner of the Hurricanes, then became the sole owner and proprietor of the NHL club three years later.
The Hurricanes ended a nine-year playoff drought during his first year as owner and have enjoyed success throughout his tenure, reaching the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons, which includes three trips to the Eastern Conference finals. The team plays at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, which is undergoing major renovations, including reconfigured seating and a new luxury club. Furthermore, a Dallas real estate company that Dundon holds a majority stake in recently announced a $1 billion mixed-use redevelopment plan for the district around the arena — a notable fact considering the untapped potential of the Rose Quarter and surrounding area in Portland.
Sources familiar with the sales process and the Paul Allen estate’s decision to sell to Dundon touted his “track record in sports ownership” and his “dedication to keeping a team in its home market.”
While it’s unclear how many potential ownership groups were in contention to buy the Blazers, a source with direct knowledge of the acquisition said the bidding process came together over the last month and included parties who wanted to relocate the team. Others, like RAJ Sports — the company owned by the Bhathal family that operates the Portland Thorns and Portland Fire — were known to be making a push and wanted to keep the team in Portland. In the end, however, Dundon and his group put together the winning bid.
“I don’t think there is a better buyer here than Tom and the group,” the source said, noting their intention to keep the team local. “They’re not bullsh--ing.”
In addition to Zahr and Tyle, a co-CEO at Collective Global and a past CEO of global venture capital firm Amplo, Dundon is actively recruiting more local investors, sources say. One of them is Boyle. The well-known leader of Columbia Sportswear is also part of Rip City Forever, and he said Wednesday that he’s had preliminary conversations with Dundon’s business partners in recent weeks.
Boyle called his potential investment a “tiny speck” of the multi-billion dollar pot, but added that “if it helped to keep the team here, I’d be interested.”
“It’s an incredibly important institution for the state, and especially for the city,” Boyle said. “Where the city goes, the state goes in many respects.”
--Bill Oram, Jonathan Bach and Matthew Kish contributed to this report
—Joe Freeman is a senior writer at The Oregonian/OregonLive covering the Trail Blazers and NBA. Reach him at 503-294-5183,jfreeman@oregonian.com,@BlazerFreeman or@freemanjoe.bsky.social. Our journalism needs your support.Subscribe today toOregonLive.com.
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