Trail Blazers spent (relatively) big to secure state money for Moda Center, records show

The Portland Trail Blazers walked away from Oregon’s legislative session this year with a massive W, convincing lawmakers to spend $365 million of scarce public money to spiff up their home court.

All it took was a small army of lobbyists — and more money than the team spends on lobbying most years.

Records filed with the state last week show that Rip City Management spent $100,000 on lobbying in the first three months of 2026, a period that encapsulates the month-long legislative session.

The sum is a drop in the bucket, considering the public funding the team stands to benefit from in return. But it’s indicative of the full-court press the Blazers put on this year.

Records show that the team employed eight lobbyists from four separate firms. The roster included former high-ranking staffers for Gov. Tina Kotek along with former Republican legislative staff. But the $100,000 in spending doesn’t factor in the ranks of Trail Blazers staffers who were a regular presence in the Capitol this year, including Blazers legend Terry Porter and team cheerleaders.

The lobbying campaign combined feel-good optimism with a not-so-subtle threat: The Legislature could boost Portland by bankrolling a renovation that would bring the Moda Center into the 21st century, or it could do nothing and risk giving new Blazers owner Tom Dundon a reason to move the team elsewhere.

Lawmakers in both parties chose the first option. The $365 million in state funding they approved is contingent on the team agreeing to remain in Portland for two decades, and on Multnomah County and the city of Portland following suit with funding of their own. There is no indication that the Trail Blazers will be required to contribute money to the project.

The Blazers’ lobbying spending in the Capitol is the ninth highest reported by any organization for the quarter, records show. The Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association ($166,250), the self-driving car company Waymo ($144,315), and the Oregon Nurses Association ($129,550) led the way, though none of those groups reported tapping as many individual lobbyists as the Blazers.

The reported outlay is by far the most the team has spent in a three-month bloc dating back to at least 2016. It’s more than the team spent on lobbying for most entire calendar years over the last decade.

The team’s efforts weren’t limited to the statehouse. The Blazers have also pushed Portland city officials on the necessity of public money — and not been shy about dangling the possibility of Dundon moving the team.

Among the arguments that show up in public records are the team’s contention that Portland’s unfriendly tax structure “puts the Blazers at a competitive disadvantage with other small-market cities looking to attract professional sports franchises.”

At least some city officials found the logic compelling. In the State of the City address he delivered last week, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson touted the benefits of using taxpayer money to renovate the city’s largest arena.

“Portland has a choice for the Moda Center,” Wilson said. “Either we activate it as a world-class facility at a major regional destination, or we let it become an aging, half-used facility in a flyover city.”

City records don’t yet show how much the Trail Blazers have spent lobbying city officials this year.