Hey Rip City! Important news to share here... We have formed a community group to buy an ownership share of the Blazers! Most importantly, a large percentage of annual team earnings will go back to the community to fund nonprofits, aid those in need, further education, create jobs, and more! There is also a traditional ROI for investors, plus potential perks, such as tickets, suites at games, etc. We have already received over $750,000 in optional pledges! Can you please amplify this message and/or BuyTheBlazers.com to your circles? Time is of the essence. We need volumes of people to sign up to show general interest (pledges are optional). Whether you want to support the community, help others, capitalize on an alternative investment or just like the Blazers - all involvement is welcomed! We can do so much good for so many in our region! To show interest people can simply fill out the form at the bottom of BuyTheBlazers.com. Of course, sharing this widely is great and there is more information on the site about the effort. Thoughts, questions, and connections are welcomed. Thanks so much! Jon (Founder of BuyTheBlazers.com) #BuyTheBlazers
Thanks for the question! In theory; yes, somewhat. The Packers are indeed a public company "owned" by the community (they really only have voting rights). But, the structure of this may well not be via buying shares (like an IPO). That said, the Packers have done pretty darn well over the years and the regional support for them is beyond reproach. In that way, we could definitely be like them... except this would also give annual earnings back to our community! Please do feel free to sign up on the site - it can really help. Thanks - Jon (Founder of BuyTheBlazers.com)
Hi and thanks. First off, and most importantly, we are aiming to help people. That was how/why this whole thing started. Secondly, even signing up (no pledge required) to show support/interest is very helpful and a big goal presently! Thanks - Jon (Founder of BuyTheBlazers.com)
Considering that this little message board is affiliated with the Trail Blazers organization and you are using the pinwheel etc on your website without the NBA/Trail Blazers permission (I assume), it's probably not the best idea to bring attention to yourself here. But good luck to you!
Isaac and Suke are talking about this right now on their show I might have texted them about it earlier.
I find it odd someone of you think there is no chance the Blazers leave here because Portland is a valuable franchise. Can’t the same be said for Seattle and look what happened? Silver is all about making money he doesn’t care about fans if you ask me. Making money is his first priority. He wants a team in Vegas badly and a team in Vegas will be a HUGE money maker for the NBA imo. The first domino to fall will be who buys the team of-course and I’m pray we don’t move but I’m not so certain we’re definitely not moving as some think in here.
The Sonics were sold for 285 million. That wouldn't even be able to buy 1/10th of the Blazers today. That is what I meant by valuable. It's much easier to move something that doesn't cost four and a half billion dollars to buy in addition to the moving fees, plus settling with the city of portland, plus dealing with the removal of a franchise that has been in Portland for over 55 years, in addition to dealing with the reputation that would create with the league in alienating an entire region of the country. That's a lot of money to spend to piss off about 6 to 7 million people. The reason why I'm including Seattle's population in this is because if they move the team to Las vegas, that means they aren't doing an expansion team. And if there was a team that was going to be moved, it would not be Portland it would be something like New Orleans which is a significantly weaker and worse off franchise and situation than in portland. They'd be the 4th team there, in a metro area that is smaller than Portland, and also is very fickle economy (they're taking a big hit right now due to a significant drop in tourism). So the NBA, who admitted they fucked up the Sonics thing, is going to allow the Northwest to have zero teens, because if the Blazers are moving in Las Vegas it's not in relation to an expansion team to Seattle, just so they can be the fourth team in a unsteady market, where they don't actually make as much money because if they have an expansion team there they will have the expansion fee, and won't alienate more of the northwest, which has a significantly larger population base than Vegas does, just to put a team there? It makes zero business sense for the NBA to alienate the market of Portland, just to move a team to vegas. There's a reason why there hasn't been a teen moved since the sonics, because they realize how unstable that makes the league look.
Good counter points. But some things I will say, the NBA doesn't care about pissing off 6 to 7 million people IMO. Also back when Seattle relocated, the NBA wasn't eager to add more franchises like they are now. Silver has been pushing for expansions, and if owners are pushing back on that, well the other way to get teams there is to relocate teams. I think he would view as a loss for the NBA to lose a team in the NW, but also a huge gain for them to have a team in Vegas. Silver is not afraid to make changes to get his way, he added the play ins, the cup games, etc. Let me add, the NFL just removed the Oakland Raiders, which was a staple well known team in the NFL. Why was that? The Oakland Raiders relocated to Las Vegas primarily due to the lack of a suitable stadium in Oakland and the inability to reach an agreement on a new one. Specifically, the Oakland Coliseum was aging and considered inadequate by the NFL, and the Raiders struggled to find a viable path to a new stadium in the Bay Area. Sounds familiar to me. Now I'm not knowledgeable on the ability of Portland being able to build a new arena if they wanted too. From what I have read, seems like it would be a massive hurdle to build a new arena in Portland. But if they can't, you think the chances of them staying in Portland is still high? I think the owners would vote for the move to happen as well, because it comes down to money and the owners are pushing back on expansions because that means all current 30 teams will now have to split the pie over 32 teams instead.
