Negotiations continue.
The saga of the National Basketball Association’s Portland Trail Blazers franchise ownership’s quest for a new arena lease in Portland and refusal to help pay for arena renovations continues. August 6th is now another important date in the tale as the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners will discuss if the Commissioners want to commit public money to the estimated $600 million that is needed to bring the building to present day NBA standards. Then there is an August 12th deadline for the city of Portland to agree to some sort of understanding with Trail Blazers’ owner Tom Dundon on how much money the city of Portland is willing to sink into the arena renovations and how much Dundon wants to spend to help fix up the place. Then there is a state of Oregon deadline of December 31st which determines if the state will put up $365 million of taxpayers money for the needed funding. But that depends on the team owner, the city and county to come up with a combined financing plan which would be about $245 million committed to the project.
Dundon has not won friends in the Portland community with his I am not putting up a nickel stance. The Women’s National Basketball Association’s Portland Fire franchise has not offered to throw money into the upgrades and the building needs some upgrades for women’s locker rooms, training facilities, medical facilities and player amenities. Portland Fire President Clare Hamill is lobbying the county to invest $110 million into the venue. Dundon has four years remaining on his lease to use the arena. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the lease negotiations have gone “off track” and added that the NBA remains actively involved in discussions but there are still “several open issues” that must be resolved. The Portland arena game continues.
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