What to know about the Portland Trail Blazers’ new owners

The Portland Trail Blazers’ eventful offseason continued this week, but the latest off-court move may prove to be the most significant: It could ensure the team remains in Rip City.

Since June, the franchise has drafted Chinese prospect Yang Hansen and signed franchise legend Damian Lillard.

On Tuesday, the sports business website Sportico broke the news that the Trail Blazers are in the process of being sold to an ownership group that intends to keep the franchise in Portland.

The background of the deal

The estate of Paul G. Allen has apparently reached a tentative agreement to sell the franchise. Allen bought the Blazers in 1988, and the team has been owned by his family’s trust since Allen died in 2018.

Ever since Allen’s death, there has been speculation about the franchise’s future owner. Nike cofounder Phil Knight offered to buy the Blazers in 2022 for more than $2 billion, but he was reportedly rebuffed by the Allen family.

Earlier this year, the Allen estate announced plans to sell the Blazers.

Tom Dundon, owner of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, is leading the new ownership group. Other members include Marc Zahr of Blue Owl Capital and Portland-based Sheel Tyle of Collective Global.

Dundon already has a reputation as a sports investor interested in building entertainment districts. Sportico, The Oregonian/OregonLive and other outlets have reported that Dundon’s group plans to keep the team in Portland long term.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who was visiting the Oregon Food Bank Wednesday to discuss cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, told reporters there that he’d just gotten a call from Dundon about the sale.

“And I will tell you that he sounded very excited about the team’s future being here in beautiful Portland,” Wyden said.

What do we know about Dundon?

Dundon is a 53-year-old billionaire who runs an investment firm in Dallas, Texas, where he lives with his wife and five children. His investments include real estate, Topgolf and a major Pickleball retail website.

In 2018, Dundon bought a majority stake in the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes. He purchased the team outright in 2021.

The Hurricanes were in a similar situation to the Blazers when Dundon took over. The team had a short-term lease at a publicly-owned arena in Raleigh. Dundon worked with North Carolina officials to secure a long-term lease. That deal included $300 million in public money and an $800 million team investment in developing an entertainment district around the arena.

According to a 2024 profile in Sports Business Journal, Dundon is a competitive leader known as one of the most hands-on owners in the NHL. Dundon is also interested in bringing a Major League Baseball team to Raleigh. On Tuesday, despite news of the Blazers’ deal, he remains interested in that project.

“[The Trail Blazers purchase] will not impact the Carolina Hurricanes, and Tom still wants to bring Major League Baseball to North Carolina,” a Hurricanes spokesperson told Carolina NBC affiliate WCNC.

Who else is part of the ownership group?

The co-CEO of Collective Global, Sheel Tyle, is part of the group. Tyle is based in Portland and his wife, Sejal Hathi, is head of the Oregon Health Authority.

The group also includes Marc Zahr, co-president of Blue Owl Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in New York.

According to numerous online biographies, Tyle graduated from Stanford University at the age of 19. He also graduated from Harvard Law School. According to Tyle’s LinkedIn page, he was an early investor in Robinhood, the financial program used for trading stocks, cryptocurrency and other security transactions.

Tyle appears to be a sports fan, according to his social media presence. He frequently posts about cricket and tennis.

The ownership group may continue to grow. According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Dundon is in contact with Oregonians about joining the group. That includes Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle. “If it helped to keep the team here, I’d be interested,” Boyle told The Oregonian.

How much will the new owners pay for the Trail Blazers?

It’s unclear what the final price tag will be, but the Blazers are valued at around $4 billion. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday that the sales price was slightly more than $4 billion. Sportico reported a sale price of $4.25 billion.

What could this mean for the Rose Quarter?

One of the appeals of owning a professional sports team is potential revenue from developing an area around an arena, according to Lauren Anderson, director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon.

“Usually the value of a franchise is in the opportunity to build a bigger entertainment district,” Anderson told OPB in May when it was first announced that the Blazers were up for sale.

The Blazers’ current home, the Moda Center, is owned by the City of Portland. The team sold the arena to the city last year for $1 in a deal that included a lease through 2030 with an option of a five-year extension beyond that. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, however, has suggested that new owners should be prepared to renovate the Moda Center or build a new stadium.

Dundon has experience from a similar situation: The Carolina Hurricanes had a short-term lease at a publicly-owned arena when he took over as owner. He negotiated a longer-term lease with North Carolina officials, and secured some public money towards developing the area around the arena.

The group Rip City Forever, which includes former player Chris Dudley and Marshall Glickman, the son of the Trail Blazers Founder Harry Glickman, repeated its call for a public-private real estate development partnership on Wednesday after the announced sale.

What happens next?

Before Dundon’s ownership group officially buys the team, the sale still needs approval from the NBA. The league’s board governors, made up of owners of the 30 teams, will ultimately decide if the sale can go through – a process that could take days, weeks or months.

The sale of the Boston Celtics, valued at $6.1 billion, was announced in March and approved by the board of governors this week.

OPB’s Troy Brynelson contributed reporting.