As long a franchise isn’t objectively failing with no clear path to recoup its image, I’m 1000% against relocation.

Portland isn’t even close to being that bad.

I live in Cincinnati. The Bengals forced through a 0.5% sales tax approximately in 1999 to build a stadium in ~2002. It is 2026, we are still paying that sales tax for the Bengals stadium. I suspect we’ll be paying for that stadium for the rest of my life, or until the Bengals demand a new stadium. Then we’ll pay another tax on top of the one they’ve been getting for 25+ years.

Fuck the billionaires. Make them build their own stadiums.

Billionaires get socialism and we get league pass for $109.99

Portland losing the Blazers right when Seattle is getting back the Sonics would be an absolute travesty and something that the league would be incredibly stupid to allow to happen. 

Fuck Dundon. Portland is one of the great fanbases in the league. No one boos us louder and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I agree. I want the rivalry of I-5 to come back 

life long blazers fan, season ticket holder, and the blazers are my strongest connection to this city and state. We lose them, its like losing an embarrassing large part of my life. We lose this team im out on the NBA. Honestly, even if we keep them, this whole process has killed so much of my love for this team. Dundon is doing irreparable damage and if he keeps them in town, he is going to cost himself dearly as were all pretty turned off at the moment and its gonna take time to get back to where we were as a fanbase.

Portland leaving would probably cause me to stop watching the NBA. Flair aside, I’m a proud Oregonian and the idea of the Blazers not existing would be the death of the NBA for me.

I sincerely hope this radicalizes people

It’s giving me sonics and chargers deja vu

Something I forgot to add—let’s not pretend that anyone is losing money owning an NBA team! They make money hand over fist! Sports teams outperform the markets by a good percentage! Sell the team if it isn’t enough for you!

It’s strange that teams are privately owned, yet they’re essentially public institutions because of how deeply they’re connected to their cities and fan bases. An owner buying a team with the intention of moving it feels like a betrayal of that relationship, and I think that’s exactly what Dundon has done.

With expansion on the horizon, though, I think there’s a pretty simple solution for Adam Silver. Give Dundon the first opportunity to bring a franchise to Vegas or Seattle, and sell Portland to an owner who is committed to keeping the team there.

Nationalize the Trailblazers

As an Oakland A’s and Raiders fan, I’ve seen where this ends up. I hope you guys stay.

This whole situation is dogshit

If Adam Silver had any balls, he would force Dundon to sell the Blazers to local interests in exchange for the Las Vegas expansion team.

Rich people’s only objective is to destroy everything if it’s not maximizing their own profits

If Sacramento can save the Kings then Portland can save the Blazers.

We got extremely lucky to have Kevin Johnson as our mayor during our relocation battle. Portland needs committed city leaders to work with the NBA to try and sell to a local ownership group or prevent Dundon from skipping town.

Blazers fans need to stay engaged and put pressure on city leaders to not lose their team. They also need to keep buying tickets to keep the pressure on the NBA to now allow the team to leave. It sucks to put money in Dundon’s pockets but unfortunately it’s really the best way to keep your team.

I would go from buying Blazervision (online streaming platform) every year to barely interested in the finals, if the Blazers left Portland. It was sad when they absconded with the Sonics to OKC. If they do the same to the Blazers, it will rip my heart out.

Honestly THIS right here is the best argument for promotion/relegation in American sports. If for example we had 3 tiers of 20 teams that would take essentially all the major population centers out of the conversation for this shit. Right now metros with 3 million don’t have teams. If it was 60 the smallest would be under 1 million.

Thank you. 100% agree with everything as a sociologist. Letting billionaires control everything from our tech use to our politics is the surest collapse of this empire.

I’m sorry, but what does this have to do with LeBron exactly? /s

Portland, the Blazers, and their fans are all amazing! That cheap piece of shit can get fucked. The worst part about the Stanley Cup Finals was having to root for the Canes and El Cheapo

I imagine I’ll feel how I felt when the Sonics left. That team was an institution. Cities need to be able to have equity in these teams or there isn’t any more point than just having random teams play in random locations every year

Yeah. Fuck all of this. No one’s team if safe if this shit is true then why even bother rooting. 

Agreed

I think we can all agree that Lakernation fully supports the Portland Trail Blazers.

We don’t need another Seattle SuperSonics situation where they end up in a city that isn’t really NBA caliber

It’s the third team the NBA stole from the NW. it’s gross what the nba did

At its core its supply and demand - how many cities are nba worthy markets that actually want a team, vs how many franchaises are a available.

Moving teams will always work as a threat as long as there are other viable destination to move to

They refused to fund the Chiefs new stadium, I doubt they’ll do the same for an NBA team

The new owner is a piece of shit. I lived in Portland for years and the fans there are the most loyal I’ve ever seen. The games are always sold out and everybody loves them.

People’s “fandom” is what allows teams to get the public to pay for stadiums .  Maybe it’s good we all have less fandom

I hate that the Blazers will be leaving Portland. The owners allowed the team to be sold to this guy and they’ll allow him to move it unfortunately.

It’s always been really hard for me to mentally countenance the notion of being a “fan” of a billionaire owned sports franchise. Especially seeing them pull moves like raising prices anytime they get a good player, charging $15 for a beer, etc. It makes it clear that you’re nothing but a customer to them. A punter, as the Brits say.

But when they do shit like this it makes it so much worse. It’s a stain on the league that this bum ever got approved to own a team. The league should be ashamed.

I used to be an Oakland A’s fan. Now I haven’t watched baseball in years. If the people pay for the stadiums , they should be able to make owners sell the team. It should be a public vote if they used ANY tax payer money.

america needs it’s own 50+1 rule like the bundesliga has, these teams should be ours if we gotta pay for all this anyways

I’m a Lakers fan and if they move the blazers, just tell me where to go with my pitchfork and I’ll join y’all.

I’m a Blazers fan, and I hope the city officials show the finger to this owner. Fluff him!

If they’ll move the Sonics, they’ll move the Blazers

There is no bridge too far lol, that is absolutely naive thinking at a minimum

100% agree.

Honestly if Billionaires want cities to pay for their stadiums with tax payer money then the city should get partial ownership of the team

Portland is a small market but the league would be moronic to allow them to move

kill my NBA fandom for at least a couple years

Somehow this post ended up on my reddit feed. I saw this line and felt compelled to comment. If they move your team, fuck the NBA forever. Even if they come back with a “new” Portland Trailblazers a few years down the road. There are plenty of teams (edit: and other cultural pursuits) still in your fair city to get your affections, who are far less likely to leave.

I may have followed a finals or two–the Knicks were compelling this year–but damned if I’m giving them a cent in the effort.

Love, a former Seattle Sonics fan

Damn, ive been under a rock? Blazers might move?

I really hope not. I actually like the Blazers, and it’s just not the same

We need seattle back too

It is only because I love basketball, the sport, and frankly something to justify having a TV at all, that I came back to the NBA. Giving back the Sonics while moving the Balzers to who knows where is an empty gesture.

And Paul Allen should have known better, I know the money goes to charity from the sale, but considering how he came into owning the team he should have had the foresight to stipulate that the buyer has to commit under some kind of penalty to keep the team in Portland. His will probably fucked the Seahawks over too, now that they are headed by a Silicon Valley Vulture Capitalist and his AI Bro son who are both fucking Niners fans.

Fuck Tom Dundon, if he moves the team I hope they never crawl out of the basement for his entire ownership.

So obviously we dont know but with this coming to a seeming fever pitch, when may a resolution of this occur? Feels like kinda soon right? Like by end of this season?

As an oakland A’s fan i really want this to be blown up within the fanbase of the nba, and nothing harming the franchise is allowed ti happen. Its really scary to be devoted to something that feels like a staple and for it to be taken. Oregon needs the trailblazers and im really sorry the previous owners sold it to such a scumbag

I want to mention, as a non-basketball fan, I am pretty frustrated with the whole league. If I had my way, the state would completely deny the Blazers any quarter. I want the Blazers paying a jacked up rent on top of revenue sharing with the city to use our stadium.

What I’m getting at is it might not be in the best interest of basketball fans to alienate those of us who also have to live in these cities.

Feels like screaming into the void. If this happens, please boycott I’m begging

These assholes buying teams just to get a return on their investment are the problem. Owning a sports franchise should be more of a hobby than an investment.

I had not heard. This would be terrible. Rich greedy bastards!

I would be disgusted if Silver let this happen. They are an important team, they have a championship and a long ass history, they should not be treated in such an appalling way as this new owner is doing. Extorting taxpayers to upgrade a stadium that would bring more money to the owner is so fucking disgusting it should be illegal.

I have always been a Celtics fan, but the SuperSonics were my team of the Western Conference. I hated that they could be bought and moved with no real resistance, and it seems to be happening again. I would forever hate whatever team they became.

Until Las Vegas has a NBA team most owners will use LV relocation as option in negotiations. Especially Portlands piece of shit owner

R.I.P. City

Where are they really going to move too, every large market is taken.

watch euroball. ACB

How do people not realize this by now. You can complain rightfully so about the owners taking public money, but if you fall on the side of no or not enough public money, and you prevail the team will likely leave. No public money and the team needs to stay are mutually exclusive

I mean is it worse than moving the Sonics out of Settle?

While I may be a Rams fan because they relocated to LA (also yes Minneapolis Lakers but that beef is ancient and the Wolves are in the city now) I’m just not really a fan of relocation.

Hell I remember giving the Arizona Coyotes a chance in the few years before they left after seeing them and their fans despite the jokes about them for years.

I’m also curious—how would you feel about the league if the Blazers left?

I mean it depends where they end up. If it’s another shared city I hate that, never been a fan of multiple teams per city.

Outside of that situation though I wouldn’t mind and would probably prefer it.

To Where!!!!!!!

We shouldn’t force any athlete to have to live in Portland

We should make a deal 10-year deal that has the city pay more once the Blazers deliver a ring

This Owner Sucks

The oakland athletics strategy. Make the team cheap and suckass so owner can move them to a new city who will pay for a big stadium

Fans from all cities should be protesting against Portland’s relocation. League wide pressure is needed.

This feels like a sea change. The consensus of americans where i live is they are loud dumb and worship anyone with money. It’s nice to see this attitude might be changing (at least with younger people i guess)

There are quite a few billionaires and many, many, many massive millionaires who could form an ownership group in the PNW. I’m always curious why they never do? It’s outside money swoops in and takes these teams out of “south Alaska.”

My first time visiting the Pacific Northwest, my mom took me to a Portland game against Klove and the Timberwolves. I cherish that moment more than, being a ball boy during a charity event in msg, and seeing the Arenas wizards at home against hometown hero Stevie franchise. I definitely want to go back and show my wife the city and the team before 2030.

Not a normal NBA subreddit viewer but just wanted to say as somebody who is an avid spring football fan Tom Dundon is a fucking loser.

I live in Minnesota now, so if El Cheapo moves the team I’ll probably switch to the Timberwolves.