Largest Markets Without NBA Teams Rank City Total Homes (2021) 1 Seattle-Tacoma 2,098,800 2 Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota) 2,035,250 3 St. Louis 1,239,210 4 Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville) 1,237,230 5 Pittsburgh 1,166,130 6 San Diego 1,132,300 7 Baltimore 1,129,830 8 Nashville 1,102,340 9 Hartford & New Haven 1,002,710 10 Columbus 999,300 The Sonics left because Key Arena fell into decay. Seattle just spent $900 million to renovate it. Show me something around the Rose Quarter the city has gotten right. Do we really need to be gifting billionaires free arena upgrades when that money could be better spent making the area around the Rose Quarter better?
i sold an old truck with a blown head gasket for 1 dollar. Did Portland just purchase a billion dollar sports arena for 1 dollar? Hmmm... the stadium must need a new engine.
And all of those markets, outside of Seattle, are smaller than Portland, and don't have Phil Knight wanting to buy the team and keep it here. Paranoia less
Have you been to a Blazer game or concert lately? I can't say this enough, the Moda has been very well maintained and improved over the years. It does not look and feel its age. This new deal takes away from that incremental maintenance and improvements. Instead it puts it on the city to maintain and improve the Moda. We don't need an MC part deux.
Also land is cheap and so are building permits with fewer building obstacles. I don't necessarily think that this means the Blazers are leaving. But to me it shows a lack of commitment to the product by Jody Allen.
I'd wonder if a sale that takes ownership of the Blazers from a trust to an individual owner abrogates the lease deal
I wonder if a new perspective owner would rather not have the Moda, because they want to build a new arena.
They are today. I have said that multiple times, including just a few days ago in the season holders ticket thread. But this deal changes that. It turns things over to the city and the taxpayers. It gives the Blazers leverage to threaten to leave if they don't get what they want. It gives a new owner the ability to put his thumb on the scale in how the Blazers are financially run. This is from the City of Portland's website, do you know what they've done with the revenue from the RQ parking garages? Improve the area? Upgrade the MC? No, they spent it on a street car no one rides. https://www.portlandoregon.gov/cbo/article/18178
The people who bought the Sonics were from OKC. Until the team is sold to someone who is from another city (that isn't already pretty much earmarked for an expansion team) quit being paranoid.
Sounds like the team will still be spending money to fix up the Moda. BuT tHeY wIlL mOvE tHe TeAm!!! Herp-de-derp
