I think it would provide a lot of new energy and interest around the team and I know Knight would spend to win.
OK. I just don't see Phil being all in on the Blazers. And the LA Dude, who knows. I see it as just an investment. Sports franchises are worth more than ever now. Hopefully the LA Investor would become like Paul Allen & Steve Balmer. I don't know how much they were into their respective teams before they bought them. But they turned into bonkers fans. Like Mark Cuban.
I’m hoping Phil buys the team if for no other reason than to get the Vulcans and Bert Kolde out of the picture. Those fuckers have had way too much power for far too long.
Why does he have to be a fan of the team? Most owners aren’t fans of the teams that they purchase. There are so few professional sports franchises available that the owners are just happy to get a hold of any team. I don’t think Mark Cuban or Steve Ballmer has any previous interest in the Mavs and Clippers.
The great thing about Phil buying the team is that he wants to develop the surrounding area to the arena into a thriving neighborhood with lots of accommodations and hotels, etc...the bad thing about Phil is he's 85 years old and probably won't live to see it and the team will be sold again in short order. Unless Phil has a long term contingency plan for the franchise, I'd opt for a younger billionaire ownership group.
maybe Phil Knight can buy a zoo and throw it in as a kicker? When the animals cross the rainbow bridge, Jody can put the critters in her collection.
Honestly, if Jody pays the tax and stops prioritizing $ over wins, she can be owner for however long she wants. Remains to be seen whether she will actually do that.
This might be worth reading. These are things i have wondered about quite a bit. That said, I had an interesting conversation two weeks ago with a source at Vulcan, Inc. There’s apparently another reason for Jody to slow-play the liquidation of her brother’s estate — she is collecting a management fee to be trustee. Unlike Kolde, Jody Allen won’t make a dime when the NBA team is sold. But In the state of Washington, trustees are allowed to take a reasonable annual fee. The figures vary, but I checked with a couple of estate attorneys who told me it wouldn’t be unusual to see a trustee annually collect 3-5 percent of the value of the estate to manage the trust. Let’s assume the Blazers are worth $3 billion. Jody could reasonably collect $90 million to 150 million per year on the team’s value alone. Could this help explain why she’s not in a hurry? Jody Allen may posture as though she’s heavily involved and interested in the Trail Blazers, but we all know better. Multiple ex-team executives tell me she didn’t show much interest in the NBA franchise while Paul was alive. She even sometimes chided her brother for spending so lavishly on the team. I’m told she’s far more interested in the NFL’s Seahawks, but let’s extinguish the possibility that she’s holding Portland’s NBA franchise in a chokehold because she loves it dearly. She doesn’t. These issues could be fabricated and I don't know but it sure seems plausible. Think of the money she is making just by holding onto the Seahawks and Blazers. Now multiply that by 10. Now multiply that by 20. It's just good business to make as much as she can. 3 billion for the Blazers and the Seahawks are worth almost 5 billion. that is over 300 million a year. If she holds these teams she becomes a true Billionaire in her own right very soon. I wonder if it was not set up by Paul Allen himself to be that way? In thinking of that the proceeds from the sales could go to his philanthropy and she would be taken care of many times over. This kills two birds with one stone so to speak?
Phil Knight is 85 years old. Not sure whether he'd be a great owner, and I don't know for how long. That said, I'm still for him buying the team.
Knight is old as dirt and not sure how long his dreams would take and if he would live to actually see any of them through. As another poster said, a contingency plan would need to be put in and I think there would be one; say what you want about Knight, he is a very shrewd businessman. I'm pretty ambivalent about the whole thing tbh. If Jody does not want to sell right now for whatever reason, that's her business as long as she continues to be the solid owner which I think she has been since taking over. On the flip side of that, if she does say heck with it and sells in the next couple years, that will be fine too. I cheer on the Blazers regardless of who the owner is.
Was this article a way of threatening to sick the NBA on Jody? Like, make the deal before the NBA forces it?
