A week after news broke of a tentative deal to sell the Portland Trail Blazers, fans are still waiting for answers.
They’ll probably need to keep waiting.
The would-be buyers aren’t talking publicly. Texas business executive Tom Dundon, who owns the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, leads the group that’s angling for the team. Other known investors in Dundon’s group include Marc Zahr, co-president of Blue Owl Capital, and Sheel Tyle, Portland-based CEO of Collective Global Management.
All have declined to comment, citing NBA restrictions.
The seller is the estate of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who died in 2018. The public face of the estate, Allen’s younger sister Jody, has said little.
The agreed-upon purchase price is $4.25 billion, according to a sourcewho has knowledge of the deal but is not authorized to discuss it publicly. How the buyers group plans to assemble that mountain of cash remains a mystery.
Here’s what we know.
Do the buyers have the money?
The source said financing isn’t a hurdle — if it were just a matter of cash, the source said, the sale could close tomorrow.
That’s backed up by the financial savvy at the disposal of the Paul Allen estate, which owns the team and surely has closely scrutinized the bidders’ assets before making a tentative sale agreement.
Under NBA rules, the controlling owner of a team must hold at least 15%. That means Dundon needs to come up with around $640 million.
Dundon agreed during a court case this year that his net worth is $2 billion. Much of that could be attributed to his ownership of the Hurricanes, which Forbes valued at $1.25 billion.
A spokesperson for Dundon declined to make him available for an interview, saying league regulations prohibit him from commenting on the potential sale. The spokesperson also did not answer a written question about Dundon’s net worth.
Finances aside, Dundon’s sports background could help him sell the deal to the NBA team owners who will ultimately decide whether to approve it.
A source acquainted with Dundon described him as “a great operator as a majority investor” who has “built a winner.”
The Hurricanes have improved on the ice and at the box office in his seven years as owner, although his ownership of the Alliance of American Football ended in a messy, ongoing bankruptcy.
“He’s been there. He’s done things,” said Bill Sutton a retired NBA executive and consultant. “People have a comfort level with him because of his performance.”
What do two major shareholders in Carvana have to do with this?
Maybe a lot — maybe nothing at all.
Sportswriter John Canzano, a former columnist for The Oregonian/OregonLive, reported Tuesday on the possibility Arizona car magnate Ernest Garcia II, or his son, Ernest Garcia III, or both, are helping fund the deal.
Almost as soon as Dundon’s bid was first reported, speculation to that effect was passed among multiple high-level local observers. One source told The Oregonian/OregonLive that they believed Garcia III was a “significant player” in the group.
The Oregonian/OregonLive was unable to confirm those claims. The source familiar with the deal said the Garcias are not involved.
Dundon’s group declined to comment, as did the Allen estate — both in keeping with their responses to other questions.
Garcia II has a net worth of $21.7 billion, according to Forbes. He’s the biggest shareholder in Carvana, which was founded by his son. Garcia III, Carvana’s CEO, is worth $10.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Efforts to reach the Garcia family through associated phone numbers were unsuccessful. Messages to Carvana were not returned.
Will private equity get a piece?
Private equity firms could be part-owners of the Blazers, but there are limits.
In recent years, private equity firms ramped up their investments in professional sports teams, but the NBA caps individual firms at 20% of a team, and no more than the controlling owner. Combined, so-called institutional investors, including private equity firms, can own up to 30% of a team.
Zahr’s Blue Owl is one of the private equity firms allowed to invest in NBA teams. It has stakes in the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves, said Lauren Anderson, director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business.
Blue Owl could invest in the Blazers, but Zahr is participating in the deal as an individual investor, according to multiple sources, including one with direct knowledge of the deal.
If Dundon’s group wants to bring in private equity, it won’t have trouble finding it, said multiple sports business experts.
“These teams can now bring in so much money from the outside in venture capital,” said Jim Kahler, director of the Sport and Entertainment Management program at Cleveland State University. “It’s not too hard to find minority investors for professional sports teams.”
Does Dundon need to own the biggest slice of the team?
Dundon is expected to become the largest shareholder and the controlling owner, according to the source with knowledge of the deal.
But controlling owners, or “governors” in NBA parlance, don’t have to own the biggest stake, they just need the authority to make business and basketball decisions.
Zahr and Tyle are expected to become the team’s alternate governors, according to the person close to the deal.
It’s not uncommon in professional sports for the controlling owner to have a minority stake, said Andy Campion, who owns minority — but not controlling — stakes in the Utah Royals and Real Salt Lake professional soccer teams.
Campion, who previously served as Nike’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer, is director of the Sports Leadership and Management program at the University of California, Los Angeles.
He said the deals for sports teams are increasing in financial complexity and less reliant on a single deep-pocketed investor.
“The new generation of owners in sports often come from a financial background and are increasingly leveraging other capital to consummate these deals,” Campion said. “The league’s approval process is designed to ensure that the financial structure does not put the franchise at too much risk.”
Or as another industry source put it, owners who are not cash rich try “to syndicate the hell out of these things.”
What about local investors?
Dundon’s group reached out to local investors.
But the goal behind that effort seems to be less to close a funding gap and more to build a roster of allies who will support a bid for a new Portland arena, or significant renovations to the Moda Center, and public dollars to support either project.
Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle confirmed last week he was one of the people approached, saying he’s interested in purchasing a “tiny speck” of the team in hopes of keeping it in Portland.
The NBA allows for up to 25 participants, or investors, in a deal. Each must own at least 0.5% of the team, which means each would need to come up with more than $20 million.
Each investor is counted individually; pooled investments generally aren’t allowed.
What’s the timeline for closing the deal?
Dundon’s group has an exclusivity agreement with the Allen estate, according to the source close to the deal, which The Athletic also reported on Wednesday.
That means the Allen estate isn’t talking with other bidders. Dundon’s group hopes to finalize a formal purchase agreement by September.
Once there’s a signed deal, it will go to the NBA, which will conduct its own due diligence, including background checks and financial checks.
A committee of team owners will then review the deal and recommend to the full group of owners whether to approve it. The league’s 30 owners will then vote. It needs to be approved by 75% of owners to pass.
The process will take several months. The Celtics were put up for sale last summer. A deal was announced in March. The NBA approved the sale last week. It closed this week.
Dundon’s group hopes to close the deal by March 31, 2026, according to the source close to the deal.
Could the deal fall apart?
Of course. It’s a tentative deal. But as this point, the parties know each other and are likely motivated to get it done.
“There’s been so much vetting,” said the University of Oregon’s Anderson.
If the deal hits turbulence, it’s more likely it’ll just take longer to close, she said, likening it to what happened with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, which took more than four years to get across the finish line. The teams ultimately ended up in the hands of an ownership group that includes former baseball superstar Alex Rodriquez, which started out as the most likely buyer.
“They started with A-Rod, and they ended with him,” Anderson said.
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