r/ripcity • u/DynastyInProcess • 9h ago
[Vorkunov] Portland Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon has floated the prospect of relocation in private talks with league officials and other owners.
As the Portland Trail Blazers and local government officials negotiate the terms of a new lease agreement to refurbish the Moda Center, the prospect of relocation has hung over the city. It is, ultimately, the largest bargaining chip the Blazers and owner Tom Dundon have and what Portland must fear most if the two sides cannot agree to terms.
Negotiations on a remodel and a new lease have been rocky, but the relationship between the franchise and the city seems to have rebounded since it hit a nadir this summer. Dundon even met with city officials this week at a Blazers preseason game, as first reported by The Oregonian and confirmed by *The Athletic*.
With a looming deadline to make a deal by the end of the year, the Blazers owner told *The Athletic* that keeping the franchise where it has been for 56 years remains his goal.
“We are working to keep the team in Portland,” Dundon said by text message. “That is the priority.”
That threat of relocation has gone unsaid, at least publicly, in discussions between the Blazers and the city. But Dundon has floated the prospect of relocation in private talks with league officials and other owners, sources with knowledge of the situation told *The Athletic*. Those sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the conversations.
The discussions with NBA officials were not an official request, sources said. Dundon was met with resistance during those conversations, and the league told him to focus on trying to make the Blazers work in Portland, sources said.
Dundon denied any such discussions occurred. “That is not accurate,” he said.
