Digging into the Portland Trail Blazers sale

Axios

17 hours ago

The NBA ownership carousel kept spinning on Tuesday, with private equity billionaire Tom Dundon agreeing to buy the Portland Trail Blazers for just over $4 billion from Paul Allen's estate.
The league also approved Bill Chisholm's purchase of the Boston Celtics, which was announced back in March.
Here are four things to know about the Blazers deal, based on conversations with sources familiar:
1. Dundon doesn't yet have all the money.
He does have several partners officially in the door, including Blue Owl co-president Mark Zahr and Portland-based venture capitalist Sheel Tyle.
But he's also trying to fill out the syndicate, which could include private equity participation. This isn't unusual — Chisholm needed to do the same after agreeing to buy the Celtics — and is unlikely to become an obstacle, particularly given that it was said to be a "highly competitive" bidding process.
One thing to watch will be if there's any involvement by Blue Owl, whose Dyal unit has minority stakes in several other clubs, or if its role will be limited to Zahr as an individual. Also unclear if Zahr's day job would impact his potential ability to serve as an alternate governor for the Blazers.
2. There's no real estate involved, just as there wasn't for the Celtics or Lakers deals. So when calculating future team sales, these might be viewed as discounted comps.
The Blazers last year sold their arena and underlying property to the city of Portland for just $7 million, and extended their lease through 2030.
The goal was to enable renovation, particularly with a new WNBA club to begin play in Portland next year.
But NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said that "Portland likely needs a new arena," which obviously has some locals worried about losing their team to Las Vegas or some other city. There are other available locations, such as an old shopping mall site called Lloyd Center — although the availability of public financing is much more questionable.
3. Dallas-based Dundon is saying the right things about keeping the team in Portland.
When Dundon bought the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes in 2018, he kept the club in Raleigh (where he's also been trying to lure a Major League Baseball team). He also spent big to renovate the team's arena and surrounding area.
That said, Dundon could come under relocation pressures in Portland if the city doesn't cough up cash — and the relatively short-term lease will give him leverage.
4. Game over.
No other NBA teams are actively seeking to sell control stakes, after a two-year flurry that's included Portland, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, Minnesota, Phoenix, and Charlotte.
That said, the Lakers sale was on a proprietary basis between the Buss family and Mark Walter, so it's possible that sort of deal could be quietly in the works. Or that the high price Portland just fetched will induce a reticent owner to solicit bids.