Portland Trailblazers/Seattle Seahawks to be sold

[KevFu]

Per Paul Allen's will, his assets must be liquidated and his trust used to fund his passion projects.

Report: Jody Allen must sell Trail Blazers, sale expected within 18 months

From the moment longtime Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen died in 2018, uncertainty has loomed around Portland.

sports.yahoo.com

Click to read more...

 

[StreetHawk]

Per Paul Allen's will, his assets must be liquidated and his trust used to fund his passion projects.

Report: Jody Allen must sell Trail Blazers, sale expected within 18 months

From the moment longtime Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen died in 2018, uncertainty has loomed around Portland.

sports.yahoo.com

Would have to believe that he spoke with his sister about his decision as he had cancer so he would have made preparations for his estate.

Neither team would be relocated. Moda Center would be sold along with the Blazers. So, that should keep the team in Portland. Seahawks, have a good market and stadium in place.

Blazers would probably be somewhere around what the Timberwolves sold for in the $1.5 bill range. Add in the arena on top of that.
Seahawks, would be based off what the Denver Broncos sell for which is reported to be over $4 billion and maybe even upwards of $5 bill. So something like over $6.5 billion for the 3 properties when it's all said and done.

 

[KevFu]

Yeah, I wouldn't expect relocation to be on the table at all.

The main talking point about it in my opinion is if the new Trailblazers owner would be more interested in an NHL expansion team than Allen was.

We get Portland, we get Quebec. Then spots 35/36 are reserved for Houston and Southern Ontario, and the NHL is looking like they had some kind of "long-term plan" for two decades.

 

[StreetHawk]

Yeah, I wouldn't expect relocation to be on the table at all.

The main talking point about it in my opinion is if the new Trailblazers owner would be more interested in an NHL expansion team than Allen was.

We get Portland, we get Quebec. Then spots 35/36 are reserved for Houston and Southern Ontario, and the NHL is looking like they had some kind of "long-term plan" for two decades.

Hard to say about nhl and Portland. The city is also a consideration for MLB expansion.

Logically would make more sense for Portland to have nba and mlb who would then give the city big 4 pro sports for the entire calendar year vs overlapping nba and nhl and leave a void for 4 months in the late spring to early fall.

Won’t know til the team is sold. Be the same situation as Houston and Atlanta. All dependent on the nba ownership group’s desires.

Any future nhl expansion will probably be down behind the scenes with the groups that control the arena or ones that can come to an agreement with the arena. It was a bit embarrassing for the nhl that only LV and QC applied for the open bids in 2015. Think they nhl was hoping for more but each of Sea, Hou, Atl had valid reasons for not submitting a bid. Sea no arena, Hou the prior owner was looking to sell the rockets not add a team. Atl their deal was getting finalized at the time.

 

[PCSPounder]

I’ll repost the piece I posted in the Expansion thread. Canzano: No wiggle room -- NFL's Seahawks and NBA's Blazers must be sold

The NBA is known to be working with the trust. That alone would be reason to suspect the NHL won’t be a consideration.

But I would take a look at the prospective bidders mentioned in this piece. One’s been trying to get into the NBA for years, another is a WNBA investor, and the ex of Jeff Bezos is an interesting wildcard. Vulcan already has some staffers outspoken about bringing the WNBA back to a market that, at least up to this year, hosted the best attended women’s sports franchise in the world. I think the chances of NHL to Portland are pretty much nil unless someone else steps up.

 

[KevFu]

Hard to say about nhl and Portland. The city is also a consideration for MLB expansion.

Logically would make more sense for Portland to have nba and mlb who would then give the city big 4 pro sports for the entire calendar year vs overlapping nba and nhl and leave a void for 4 months in the late spring to early fall.

Won’t know til the team is sold. Be the same situation as Houston and Atlanta. All dependent on the nba ownership group’s desires.

Any future nhl expansion will probably be down behind the scenes with the groups that control the arena or ones that can come to an agreement with the arena. It was a bit embarrassing for the nhl that only LV and QC applied for the open bids in 2015. Think they nhl was hoping for more but each of Sea, Hou, Atl had valid reasons for not submitting a bid. Sea no arena, Hou the prior owner was looking to sell the rockets not add a team. Atl their deal was getting finalized at the time.

I agree with that logic, but the LEAGUES absolutely do not work like that. It's "facility deals" driven. Whomever gets stadium/arena deals done is going to get a team; and Portland HAS an arena really close to NHL ready (And if the owner is looking for a NEW stadium, adding an NHL team is a great way to convince a city to build you one).

Portland IS a candidate for MLB, but Montreal is a huge market compared to Portland, which is why MLB went there in 1969 as one of the first 24 teams in baseball. And Nashville is the most prepared, most serious bid of the three.


Montreal and Nashville also give them an absolute stellar array of alignment options (which I'm terrified they screw up). You'd have EIGHT teams in the West (Oakland or Las Vegas A's). 15 in the Eastern Time Zone. And nine in the central time zone, with Nashville being the fourth-most "Southeastern team." It works in all scenarios:

- Radical Realignment by geography (there terrible idea I think they'll try).
- Four divisions per league in AL/NL.
COL to AL West.
AL Midwest: could be CLE, DET, NASH, TB/TOR. Or AL South with TB, NASH, BAL, TEX.
NL Central adds HOU, NL East adds Montreal, with new NL South is CIN, PIT, ATL, MIA.

- A Four LEAGUES concept that perfectly solves all their problems:
Pacific League: SEA, SF, OAK/LV, LAD, LAA, SD, ARZ, COL
Southern League: HOU, TEX, KC, NASH, MIA, TB, ATL, (WAS/BAL)
Montreal joins the NL.

I have no faith in MLB to do that, but it's borderline perfect because the West gets a ton more good TV times they crave, the Central gets more Eastern TV times they crave, and the schedule looks fantastic. All four-game series (huge reduction in travel). 16 vs league (112), 1 series vs half the remaining teams (48).

You'd have Eastern teams playing at Western teams EIGHT GAMES total all season.
And Pacific teams at Eastern/Central teams 24 games instead of 35 to 53.



As for future NHL expansion, you know my take because I've been saying it for almost a decade now:
Quebec is team #34. Houston and Southern Ontario are welcome anytime they have things sorted out (owner willing plus arena/MLSE deal). They won't add Quebec without a 17th Western team. So they used all the rumors from the 2012-13 lockout and Coyotes lease vote to try and make a city pounce. They got Seattle and Vegas, they need one more.

I'm waiting on rumors of "NHL in San Diego?" to start.

 

[KevFu]

I’ll repost the piece I posted in the Expansion thread. Canzano: No wiggle room -- NFL's Seahawks and NBA's Blazers must be sold

The NBA is known to be working with the trust. That alone would be reason to suspect the NHL won’t be a consideration.

But I would take a look at the prospective bidders mentioned in this piece. One’s been trying to get into the NBA for years, another is a WNBA investor, and the ex of Jeff Bezos is an interesting wildcard. Vulcan already has some staffers outspoken about bringing the WNBA back to a market that, at least up to this year, hosted the best attended women’s sports franchise in the world. I think the chances of NHL to Portland are pretty much nil unless someone else steps up.

Well, the WNBA is a league that needs to expand like, yesterday. I was looking at articles for like "Who's a realistic possibility if the WNBA expands?" and among the various articles I viewed, after tossing out the not very serious options (like Greenville, SC) there were still THIRTEEN different cities mentioned.

That league's got way more players than playing time and roster spots. 1st round draft picks can't make their teams.

 

[KevFu]

Would help if I actually talked about hockey in responding to your post...

It's interesting that Ellison has chased NFL/NBA but not NHL (he used to live in the Silicon Valley, and his NBA goals at one point was to move the Sacramento Kings or Memphis Grizzlies to San Jose... Not an option with an NHL team when the Sharks exist. But he's since moved to Hawaii, so chances are he doesn't care where a team he owns is located).

I think an NHL team could be useful for whomever owns the Blazers because the Moda Center is approaching 30 years old (2025) which is when everyone starts talking new arena. "I can bring you another team if you build us the arena" is a good carrot. One that has been attempted before (Houston, Atlanta).

These corporate empire guys like using sports teams to offset another business for tax purposes. Essentially in the US, you can say your gains on one company offset your losses on another, and you pay no tax as an encouragement for rich people to start new businesses. Sports teams are perfect because you can just sign a $5 million free agent and lose $1 million instead of make $4 million, and that $1 million loss can offset the gains you earned on, say AMAZON'S BILLIONS. And the sports franchise value isn't going to go DOWN, just up. So why wouldn't someone want to have TWO sports teams to offset TWO businesses?

 

[HisIceness]

Once again, the NHL is not going to Portland. Portland is not big enough to support the NBA and NHL (plus MLS). I truly don't understand why Portland is a popular "fantasy" pick for an NHL franchise on this board.

 

[StreetHawk]

Once again, the NHL is not going to Portland. Portland is not big enough to support the NBA and NHL (plus MLS). I truly don't understand why Portland is a popular "fantasy" pick for an NHL franchise on this board.

Had the winter Hawks for decades. When seattle just renovated the Seattle center into Key Arena that ended the NHL’s chances of going to Seattle for the foreseeable future. Attention then turned to Portland who had an nhl arena done at the same time the renovations to Key were done. But Allen never seemed interested in the nhl. Passed on applying for an expansion team in the late 90’s. But there is a difference between the 2 markets in Seattle and Portland. With Seattle in place I don’t see them that interested in Portland.

Portland is a tier down in the NHL’s list. They would ideally prefer Houston and Atlanta first.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

The Seahawks could strengthen their claim on the Portland market if the NFL launches a formal minor league where all 32 teams have an affiliate, mostly in smaller markets in close proximity to the parent club. The Seahawks would place their farm team in Portland, playing in Providence Park, the home of the Timbers.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

The Seahawks could strengthen their claim on the Portland market if the NFL launches a formal minor league where all 32 teams have an affiliate, mostly in smaller markets in close proximity to the parent club. The Seahawks would place their farm team in Portland, playing in Providence Park, the home of the Timbers.

What the f*** are you talking about?

 

[No Fun Shogun]

That has about as much chance of happening as me becoming an NFL owner.

And I do think that Portland would be on the NHL’s hit list if they had the one thing they’re missing, a willing owner. Even when Allen was alive, his interest was milquetoast at best and entirely reliant on an insane bargain that the NHL never would’ve tolerated even prior to the inflation of franchise values over the past decade.

If some billionaire buys the Blazers and Moda and decides they want to burn another huge chunk of cash with the NHL, Bettman will have them on speed dial.

There can be viability questions about a small market hosting two teams with near identical schedules in the NHL and NBA, but all it takes is one rich dude to turn that from an impossibility to a reality. I’m not expecting it, though.

 

[PCSPounder]

It’s hard for many of you to believe that Portland has been growing, but it’s been growing. The real tension here is that the “Portlandia Generation,” the people who were attracted to town when California and back east values kept inflating, have been priced out by values shooting up because of their presence.

Yet I’m not really going to refute HisIceness. I’d argue that the growth has changed the equation. But Vulcan doesn’t believe that. And the NBA is pretty much going to play it safe and not test that unless a more insane investor shows up at auction.

The screwy part here is that the Timbers are just one more mistake away from going full FUBAR. They’re in process of slaughtering the golden goose they had because the ownership and front office do not understand Portland (though the pandemic hasn’t helped) and seem to want to make all the old JailBlazers mistakes. If anything, that’s a fan base begging one of the female ownership candidates to buy out the Paulsons.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Is Amazon still in Seattle? Jeff Bezos was interested in buying a team.

And also.

 

[StreetHawk]

Is Amazon still in Seattle? Jeff Bezos was interested in buying a team.

And also.

See if that $2 bill includes the Moda Center which they should purchase in addition to the team. Or the Moda Center number will be mentioned later.

Interesting potential owners.

 

[KevFu]

Once again, the NHL is not going to Portland. Portland is not big enough to support the NBA and NHL (plus MLS). I truly don't understand why Portland is a popular "fantasy" pick for an NHL franchise on this board.

Well, the short answer to your second sentence is "Because we want the Nordiques back." If Portland wants in, Portland/Quebec as 33 and 34 totally works for the BOG.

I dispute the "not big enough" stuff. The amount of "average fan" support a Big Four/Five franchise actually needs to be a healthy team is low. If businesses buy suites, a TV deal is made to put games on cable, the League Split of central revenues is totally enough for any team to survive off of.

The Coyotes have been a BOH whipping boy for how long now? People act like you HAVE to have 18,000 every single night or you're DOOOOOOOOOOOMED. when no one has been doomed since our TVs got a 13th channel.

The Portland market NOW has 2.5 million people and NBA/MLS.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul market has 3.6 million people and they have all five. But they became a Big Four market in the early 1990s with 2,595,799 people.

 

[LadyStanley]

Phil Knight makes offer for Blazers, but team not for sale

Nike founder Phil Knight and Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky have submitted an offer of more than $2 billion to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers, according to multiple reports.

theathletic.com

Paywall. Athletic story on Blazers offer

 

[MMC]

 

[KevFu]

Nike made hockey gear once! Just Do It, Phil.

 

[PCSPounder]

Uncle Phil’s lowballing by trying to negotiate before the auction is ready.

Thing is, he spent a long time telling Portland that team ownership wasn’t his gig, that he got burned with his stake in the Diamondbacks, that this wasn’t going to happen. So you could practically hear the written gasps out here.

I do believe one of the articles mentions that he’s 84, which isn’t exactly ideal, hence the partner involved.

There’s a political angle to this… eh, no need for now.

If PK is serious, he’ll present his bid at auction. I do believe it’ll go that far.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

NOTHING will change regarding either Blazers or Seahawks ownership wise, nor are there discussions forthcoming if either team or as a tandem will be sold....

it may be until 2032 or 2042 TO determine where these franchises lie with the Allen trust or elsewhere

 

[PCSPounder]

NOTHING will change regarding either Blazers or Seahawks ownership wise, nor are there discussions forthcoming if either team or as a tandem will be sold....

it may be until 2032 or 2042 TO determine where these franchises lie with the Allen trust or elsewhere

The trust will lose value if they wait that long. I argue they know this.

There’s already been a sell off of players. Frankly, Vulcan has done things to make the teams saleable sooner rather than later.

The hidden message of that statement is “bid higher.”