Tom Dundon Acquires the Trail Blazers for Over $4 Billion
According to confirmed sources, NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has reached an agreement to purchase the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. The transaction, coming from the estate of Paul G. Allen, is valued at over $4 billion.
Dundon intends to keep the team in Portland, according to sources.
The Dundon group includes Marc Zahr, co-chairman of Blue Owl Capital, and Sheel Tyle, founder and co-CEO of Collective Global, based in Portland.
The agreement was initially reported by Sportico.
The Trail Blazers announced in May that they were formally putting themselves up for sale, and the proceeds from the sale would go to philanthropic initiatives.
Allen died of cancer in 2018, and his will stipulated that the franchise be sold “at some point.” Jody Allen, Paul Allen’s sister, has acted as governor of the team and executor of the Paul Allen Trust during this time.
The trust has stated that the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, also owned by the estate, will not be part of the sale, nor will the 25% stake in the MLS’s Seattle Sounders.
The trust made the decision to sell the Blazers after several key events in the last 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. Then, it launched a public-private partnership to renovate the arena and its surroundings, 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, according to sources.
