The ball is now in the Blazers’ court. After months of discussion and debate, Multnomah County and Portland City Council voted in early August to approve tentative commitments totaling $208 million in taxpayer-funded renovations to the Moda Center arena. Those funds would be on top of $365 million approved by the Oregon Legislature in February.
Multnomah County commissioners acted first, voting 4-1 on Aug. 6 to approve $88 million for renovation and $13.6 million for maintenance over 20 years. The resolution directs the county’s finance chief to crunch numbers to figure out a way to fund those commitments, starting with county taxes on car rentals and hotel stays.
Next, Portland City Council voted 8-4 on Aug. 12 to make a non-binding offer of $120 million for renovations and $275 million for maintenance over 20 years. The city’s offer is contingent on the Blazers signing a 20-year lease. The offer would also require the Blazers to pay $85 million in rent over 20 years, plus $3 million a year in lieu of local property taxes.
The Moda Center is publicly owned and therefore tax-exempt because in 2024, the City of Portland bought it and some of the land it sits on from Paul Allen’s estate for $7.13 million.
Last September, the Portland Trail Blazers was sold to a group of billionaire investors led by Texan Tom Dundon. Since February lobbyists for the new owners have encouraged the idea that the team would leave town if elected leaders don’t commit $600 million for unspecified renovations. The new owners let it be known that they would not be contributing any of their own funds to the renovation. But the offer approved by City Council says the Blazers would pay for any cost over-runs.
Both the city and county are also requiring labor harmony agreements in which construction workers employed in the renovation would be paid prevailing wage and stadium workers would have a non-adversarial path to unionization. They’re also proposing that the City be allowed to use its arena for civic and community events up to a certain number of days a year.
Under the city’s proposal, the Blazers would retain all revenue from stadium naming rights, advertising and sponsorships.
A number of local labor leaders submitted written statements in support of the City of Portland term sheet, including Oregon Labor Federation president Graham Trainor and IBEW Local 48 business manager Garth Bachman.
“The Moda Center is a publicly owned property/facility,” wrote Randall Friesen of the Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Council. “It is not unreasonable to use public dollars to improve the facility as it is also not unreasonable for the city to charge a fair price to lease the facility to the Blazers.”
The next step will be for the city, county and state to jointly negotiate terms with the Blazers, with the goal of bringing back an agreement City Council could vote on in December.
How Portland City Council voted
- In favor: Olivia Clark, Jamie Dunphy, Sameer Kanal, Steve Novick, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Dan Ryan, Loretta Smith, Eric Zimmerman
- Opposed: Candace Avalos, Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo
How Multnomah County Commission voted
- In favor: Julia Brim-Edwards, Vince Jones-Dixon, Shannon Singleton, Jessica Vega Pederson
- Opposed: Meghan Moyer
