The Portland Trail Blazers for Sale: Paul Allen’s Legacy at Stake
The Portland Trail Blazers’ property, belonging to the late Paul Allen, has been formally put up for sale. The funds obtained from this transaction will be allocated to philanthropic initiatives, as announced by the team on Tuesday.
Paul Allen, who died of cancer in 2018, left instructions in his will for the franchise to be sold “at some point.” Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, had mentioned this intention on several occasions over the past seven years. Jody Allen, Paul Allen’s sister, has acted as the team’s governor and executor of Paul Allen’s trust during this time.
In the announcement, the trust clarified that the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, also owned by the estate, will not be included in the sale. Nor will the 25% stake in the MLS’s Seattle Sounders be sold.
The decision to sell the Blazers was made after several key events during the last year. The NBA agreed to new 11-year television rights deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon, totaling 77 billion dollars. In 2024, the Blazers sold their arena, the Moda Center, to the city of Portland for 1 dollar and the land it sits on for 7 million dollars. Subsequently, a public-private partnership was launched to renovate the arena and its surroundings, including a new lease agreement until 2030.
Earlier this year, the Boston Celtics were sold for a record $6.1 billion, which increased the value of all teams. Recently, Sportico valued the Blazers at $3.6 billion. Allen bought the Blazers in 1988 for $70 million.
One of the possible bidders is Phil Knight, billionaire founder of Nike and a Portland native, who reportedly approached the team in 2022 with an offer to buy the franchise. Knight, 87, had partnered with Alan Smolinisky, a minority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, for that bid.
The announcement of the sale, made one day after the NBA lottery, where the Blazers had an 18% chance of obtaining one of the top 4 picks, but ended up moving back from the 10th to the 11th position, may have influenced the timing.
Regarding basketball-focused moves, the franchise extended the contracts of coach Chauncey Billups and general manager Joe Cronin after the season. The Blazers had a 36-46 record this season, their best in four years, but haven’t reached the playoffs since 2021. They began a large-scale rebuild by trading franchise star Damian Lillard in 2023.
The trust indicated that the sale process will continue until the 2025-26 NBA season. It has hired Allen & Co. and the law firm Hogan Lovells to carry out the process.
