Tom Dundon Acquires the Trail Blazers for Over $4 Billion
Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, has reached an agreement to acquire the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.
The transaction will be carried out with the assets of Paul G. Allen, with a valuation exceeding $4 billion, according to sources close to the matter.
Dundon intends to keep the team in Portland.
In the Dundon group are Marc Zahr (co-chairman of Blue Owl Capital) and Sheel Tyle (founder and co-CEO of Collective Global, based in Portland).
The Trail Blazers formally announced their sale in May, and the proceeds from the sale will go to philanthropic projects.
Allen died of cancer in 2018, and his will stipulated that the franchise be sold “at some point.” Jody Allen, Allen’s sister, has acted as the team’s governor as executor of the Paul Allen Trust during that time.
The trust has confirmed that the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, also owned by the estate, will not be part of the sale. Neither will the 25% stake in the MLS’s Seattle Sounders.
The trust’s decision to sell the Blazers came after several key events over the past year.
The NBA agreed to new 11-year media rights deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon for a total of $77 billion. In 2024, the Blazers sold their arena, the Moda Center, to the city of Portland for $1 and the land under the arena for $7 million. Subsequently, it launched a public-private partnership to renovate the arena and the surrounding area, which included a new lease until 2030.
The Dundon group plans to discuss a public-private partnership for a stadium deal with the city and state.
