Blazers are for Sale

I’ve never been a “the sky is falling” kind of person when it comes to the Blazers leaving, but that answer wasn’t reassuring at all

 

well u did call it when that weak extension was signed by the city and the arena

 

I'm sure it's not out of nowhere. Silver doesn't just throw out comments like a podcaster. It's probably came up with negotiations on the sale that buyers all want a new arena or such.

 

Oh agreed.

But that's the reality we are in most pro sports arenas are subsidized by tax dollars.

Good news with more wealthy owners recent decade we've seen where the bulk of new arenas are paid by owners. But a large portion is still tax dollars.

 

unless....he already has a good idea who the new owner will be and the new owner has talked to him about the age of the Moda Center and the 'weird' lease agreement the city has with the Blazers

I guess it's possible Silver just says random shit. But he sure does seem like a calculating CEO who has his fingers on the pulse of things

I don't think what Silver said about this was random talk

 

philosophy...get some while it's hot!

now, back in the real world, the state of Oregon and cities in this state have been banding over backwards (and sometimes forward) for decades offering millions and billions in incentives, tax breaks, and essentially free land to corporations to locate their operations in the state, and cities. They've been doing this because other states and other cities have been doing the same things

now, obviously, the city of Portland can say enough already! They can demand that the new owner just accept the Moda Center as the home for the Blazers; and if the new owner wants a new arena then by god he can foot the bill himself. That would be sticking to their guns and bucking the trend. And very likely....Bye Bye Blazers

or they can play ball and work with a new owner to build a new arena because it may be that renovation won't be enough

 

I think the timing is suspicious. First we get the article from the NYT saying that there is a contingent of owners who don’t want to expand because they don’t want to add two more slices to the pie.

Now we get Silver saying that they’re going to assess expansion but pretty much kicked the can down the road.

Meanwhile he says it’s their preference that Portland keeps the Blazers but we need a new arena.

People bitched about Jody but at least the Vulcans kept investing in the team and the city.

 

first thing: Jody and the Vulcans didn't have much of a choice, The Trust owned the Blazers and I'd be pretty certain the trust instructed the Vulcans on maintenance of the franchise. I'd need to see a listing of what they actually paid for that was voluntary, and then need to know what the tax ramifications were

Portland is a one horse town and the horse hasn't been sold in 37 years. The world is a lot different then it was in 1988. And the NBA is a lot different then when PA bought the Blazers for 70M and Sam Bowie was the highest paid Blazer at 1M. Kiki made 960K and Clyde made 350K

new owners want new arenas. Just ask Steve Ballmer

like you, I think Las Vegas is a real threat here. Now, they don't really have an NBA arena but is there any doubt that Vegas would foot the bill to build a brand spanking new arena? How much doubt will there be about the City of Portland doing the same? I don't think Silver was just throwing out a random thought. It was calculated

 

It’s because the NBA wants to tap into the Vegas market imo, and Silver only sees dollar signs and knows a team in Vegas would make money.

I said from the start I’m worried about Silver and I don’t trust him one bit, I got backlash for worrying about the Blazers potentially moving and here we are now

 

So the Blazers are moving to Vegas huh?

Would the NBA really not want any PNW teams?

 

Let's just hope they don't allow Seattle to get an expansion team and allow the new Portland owners to move to Vegas.
Yes, I know those odds are low, but it is possible.

Bottom line is no more talk about tanking for several more years. Portland needs to get excited about the Blazers again.

 

Maybe the person who recently bought Big Pink will move the team there. Rooftop games would be dope!

 

Mark Davis owns the Aces, I wonder if he would put together an investment group for the Blazers.

I don’t see the Blazers moving to Seattle to become the Sonics, that’s too weird.

 

We need local ownership. Mr. Knight is not interested at his age, but I wonder if he would be open to being a minority owner since none of the others with Portland ties have enough money by themselves.

 

I think getting a group together to buy the team and move to Vegas is a lot easier than even getting a group for Seattle. The NBA seems to consider Portland to be the Siberia of sports.

This whole thing just kinda reminds me of when people were SURE that LMA wasn't going to leave, even though there was smoke. Or when people were SURE that Dame wasn't going to ask out, even though there was smoke.

Something just feels mighty fishy about this.

 

Demolish the MC, put the max underground with a station/elevator going up to the new arena. #Waterfront

 

Would you guys root for the Blazers under a new name in a new city if you knew basketball wasn’t coming back to Portland for the next 20 years?