Blazers' New Strategy

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Perhaps the most telling sign of the Portland Trail Blazers' newfound optimism is that team executives no longer repeat their accountant-speak mantra "broken economic model."

Instead, the NBA franchise is building momentum with a fan-friendlier phrase: No. 1 pick.

Winning the right to make the first selection in this month's NBA draft won't solve the Blazers' financial woes overnight. The team still expects to lose tens of millions of dollars this year, just as it did prior to its lucky draw.

But things have been going the Blazers' way lately. First-year player Brandon Roy won the league's Rookie of the Year honors. The Blazers successfully raised the price of some ticket packages. They've even nearly sold out new super-premium seating priced at $66,000 a seat per season.

And now, the prospect of adding either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant is breathing new life into the Blazers' business and financial health.

"Obviously our world is a little different than it was (the morning of the lottery)," Executive Vice President Mike Golub said. "The flood gates burst open."

Optimism is a pretty novel emotion for the team that one year ago was up for sale and had just ended the season with the second-worst record in franchise history. Team owner Paul Allen and his Vulcan Inc. investment firm were projecting $100 million in losses over the next three years. And Allen found little sympathy from the public regarding his complaints that the team could not be profitable as a separately-owned entity from the Rose Garden arena -- which he had given up rather than pay his lenders.

But in the weeks that followed, Allen had a change of heart, deciding to keep the team after all. Then Kevin Pritchard, the team's assistant general manager at the time, masterminded a series of picks and trades in the 2006 draft, netting the team several players including Roy. And in April, Allen made peace with his lenders. He bought back the Rose Garden, reuniting the team with its home arena and giving the "broken economic model" a rest.

The challenge now? To break-even in "three or four years," Golub said. </div>

Source: OregonLive.com