It would be a travesty if the NBA allowed someone else to do the same thing

lol, that’s some revisionist history. You’ll flame me because my flair, but at the time, the Sonic’s had some of the worst attendance in the nba (²⁸⁄₃₀ I think) and the city told ownership to fuck off when the arena badly needed updates. IIRC, it was one of the worst arenas in the league at the time.

Ownership likely wanted to relocate anyways, but let’s not act like the Sonic’s were thriving at the time.

Y’all can downvote me all you want but the attendance numbers and Seattle voting no for a new arena are verifiable facts (not that y’all care about those).

Howard Schultz did his part with Stern too. They all deserve blame.

I mean its not that simple though.  Now tax dollars have to be allocated towards meeting needs those tax dollars could have met.  Its not like that money was just buried until the blazers needed it

Doesn’t change the fact that Dundon is taking taxpayer money.

If he’s such a glorious capitalist he should pull himself up by his boot straps and pay for a new arena with his own money.

Blazers fans don’t deserve this guy.

Just another billionaire leeching off the government.

PDX folks should’ve just ignored him and let him take his ball and go…somewhere else.

I come back once a year and rent a car every time. So you’re welcome everyone, I saved basketball in Portland.

I’m visiting there soon, so does that mean I can say I personally helped the Blazers?

And his eyeball sockets

Timbers fans are crazier than Blazers fans and Blazers fans are as crazy as they come when they’re good

Also, what was involved in making that track and field program historic is located in the portland suburbs. I don’t understand why people get surprised that Oregonians loves sports.

I think at the end of the day it’s really just that he’s an asshole. I think he’s pissed that people in the PNW think he’s a piece of shit for the subprime loans. He’s probably used to being in places where he gets his dick sucked for being such a “smart businessman” and being in a place where everyone just views him as a conman pisses him off and makes him lash out in childish tantrums.

I hope he fucks off soon. I hope he really is just pumping and dumping and sells the team once the value goes up from the NBA expansion and the new arena. The less time he’s here the better.

No one gives a shit if fans hate the owner. Knicks fans hate their owner. Avs/Nuggets fans are especially fond of Kroenke. Rams the same. Etc, etc across multiple sports.

Way back when Joe and Gavin Maloof were our stupid and terrible owners who tried to move the Kings, an awesome Kings fan named /u/jveezy put together a great writeup of how the whole saga went. Well worth a read, if you have the time, and may shed some light on how these things can go.

No. As I understand it (and I have been wrong before but I’m pretty sure this time) the city put Rip City Management (i.e. the Blazers) in charge of operating the arena and they do all the work booking events and so on, and keep all revenue from everything. The city gets nothing except via the normal taxes on the $940m a year in economic activity the arena generates (there’s no sales tax, so it’s the state of Oregon that gets the most in taxes). The other teams that use the arena (hockey? College basketball team?) have to pay the Blazers for the privilege, but they probably get a discount since the Blazers take all the revenue from the concessions.

This all sounds pretty bad, but the Blazers did sell the arena to the city for \(1 (plus \)7m for the land) a few years ago (I think it was so they dont have to pay property tax?) so it’s a bit of a weird situation. Overall the city and state are about breaking even, I think the amounts they’re giving to renovation are specifically calculated based on all the tax the team generates.

Dude seriously. Even Jacks closes so early, is awful and awfully expensive lol. Need more bars and restaurants in that area as a part of the remodel.

That new GoldenVoice music venue is a couple stops up at the Lloyd center. Could have been cooler if it was a little closer.

The NBA owners turning their back on a 100% public funded arena renovation project would legit cause such a crater for all major US sports leagues.

The billionaires free money glitch would be in jeaproady knowing that cities couldn’t be held hostage to those threats anymore.

Wouldn’t that require money, and a lot of it? Green Bay sorta can get away with it because the Packers is a prideful property to the city and it’s a small market (relative to LA, Boston, Chicago, or NYC). Plus the arena would have to be almost everlasting like Lambeau Field.