Tom Dundon is sending the clearest signal yet that the Trail Blazers’ future is tied to Portland.
“We are working to keep the team in Portland,” Dundon told The Athletic on Friday. “That is the priority.”
For a situation that has been tense for months, that is a meaningful shift in tone. Dundon, the Blazers’ new owner, made the comment coming off a week that began with a positive step in the messy talks over Moda Center renovations and a new lease, and it followed his surprise trip to Portland a few days earlier to meet with local legislative leaders and business figures.
That group included Sen. Kate Lieber, Rep. Ben Bowman and auto magnate Jeff Swickard.
The timing matters. Dundon is expected back in Portland next week for the Blazers’ season opener against the Phoenix Suns, and the sides are supposed to meet again then.
Since taking over the team on March 31, Dundon has mostly stayed quiet publicly about the lease and renovation negotiations. He has said he has not “spent any time” on the idea of relocating the Blazers, even though that possibility remains the biggest piece of leverage in the talks.
And those talks are now pressing toward a crucial deadline.
The Blazers and local officials are trying to piece together financing for a renovation project expected to cost nearly $600 million while also locking in a 20-year lease that would keep the franchise in Portland for the long haul. The state has already committed $365 million in bonds, Multnomah County has promised up to $101.6 million and the city has approved a term sheet for $120 million.
But if the sides can’t come to terms on the lease, the state money disappears in December.
That puts real pressure on every conversation from here on out. The franchise, which has been in Portland since 1970, is still operating under a current lease that runs through 2030, but the clock on the renovation funding is much shorter than that.
Dundon has not exactly won over fans or local leaders since buying the team from the Paul Allen estate. He has overseen sweeping layoffs and cost-cutting across the organization, and until recently he had gone weeks without meaningful contact with local legislators.
The recent outreach has changed that, at least for now, and offered a fresh dose of optimism that the Blazers will remain in Portland.
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