Blazer Mafia scandal increases risk of team leaving

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation,

People who may think the latest news of the Portland Trail Blazers head coach being charged with organized crime will just come and go are mistaken.  First, this news story and trial may take years to play out.  Secondly, the FBI director said this is just the tip of the iceberg.  There is more to come.

This nationwide scandal comes as Portland’s Blazers basketball team hands over to a new owner, who is facing other troubles.

• The current deal to purchase the Blazers by Tom Dundon’s investment partners is not final.  This evolving scandal may greatly impact the team valuation and the agreement itself.

• The Portland Blazers arena is already among the oldest, non-upgraded basketball arenas in America.  This is another liability that makes it easier to move the team to a newly built arena in a new city.

• Portland is losing population for the first time in 40 years.  Do investors make a big bet on a city losing population or on a city gaining population?

• Portland airport has had dozens of flight routes cancelled by multiple airlines because people are greatly reducing travel to Portland.  There are no longer any direct flights from Portland to Asia.

• Seattle and Las Vegas want a basketball team.  Seattle has a 4 million Metro population compared to Portland’s 2.5 million Metro population.  Vegas just lured in its own NFL football team, an MLB baseball team, and Formula One racing in just a few years.   Vegas just built a $4.3 billion hotel complex, Resort World, while Portland’s latest Ritz-Carlton hotel went bankrupt in just one year of its grand opening.  Others speculate Kansas City as a new NBA location.

• The 140-day non-stop rioting in Portland at the ICE facility makes continuous national news.  This wave of bad news, combined with the Covid-era riots, is permanently cementing a bad reputation for Portland to the rest of the nation.   Portland is coming across as out of control.Portland and Oregon have lost major corporations as they have left the area.  Here lies the problem: without a major pool of prosperous corporations and entrepreneurs, the City of Portland will demand that taxpayers foot the bill for building a new arena.  Already, the Blazer arena, Rose Garden, does not pay property taxes.  Already, the area around the Rose Garden is considered underperforming for business vitality (which is the reason politicians say sports venues should require a tax subsidy because of the extra business they bring).