Opinion: Keeping the ‘Blazers in Portland likely to cost taxpayers 100s of millions

Date: Sunday, August 17, 2025

in: Columns, Opinion

Lars Larson warns taxpayers could bear the costs of Moda Center renovations after the Trail Blazers sale, citing past deals that shifted obligations from owners to the public.

Lars Larson assesses the impact on taxpayers from the ownership change of the Portland Trail Blazers and the team’s arena situation

Lars Larson
The Northwest Nonsense

I’d love to see ‘Blazers stay in Portland.

Tom Dundon, who crafted the deal to buy the team, says he “plans” to do just that.

Hang onto your wallets, folks.

The average NBA arena is 16 years old. Moda Center, almost twice that.

Dundon seems almost certain to demand a facelift for the Blazers home court.

Trust fund kid (former Portland Mayor) Teddy Wheeler foolishly agreed to buy the Moda for a dollar last year, right before he slinked out of the mayor’s office.

Wheeler gave up more than a million bucks in property taxes and took on the obligation of renovation.

What’s that gonna cost? No one really knows. The Washington Wizards are watching their own renovation of Capitol One Arena right now.

Price tag? $800 million.

We’re told Dundon will pay $4 billion for the team. If he’d bought it still strapped to a run-down arena, you can bet that price tag would have been lower.

So Mayor Wheeler’s “Moda for a dollar” deal put all those costs ON the taxpayers and the savings IN the pockets of billionaires.

If you tell me major stadia must be subsidized, I’ll tell you to look at the SoFi, Metlife, Gillette and Chase stadiums

If they don’t fix it up and Dundon moves the Blazers … say to Seattle … Portland has a second white elephant right next to Memorial Coliseum without a major tenant.

If they do fix it up and keep the team, taxpayers … 75 percent of whom don’t regularly watch NBA games … get the bill.