Trail Blazers sources address relocation fears as $600m Moda Center deadline emerges

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The Trail Blazers were acquired by Tom Dundon only in March, but fears that the NBA side could be relocated are rearing their heads.

The cause? The planned redevelopment of the Moda Center, where the team plays its games. It’s a tale as old as time – a dispute between the team and local authorities about public funding.

Dundon wants $600m in public funds. The city of Portland has agreed, but has also made several stipulations that the team, at this point, consider simply unworkable.

The latest reports suggest that the city of Portland sent a list of conditions for a 20-year lease, including a $3m annual property tax offset increasing over the years, as well as a requirement to hire union workers and limit project cost overruns.

Is the dispute so unresolvable that the Trail Blazers could become the first NBA franchise to up sticks and move since the Nets swapped New Jersey for Brooklyn in 2008?

It is a mark of how serious the situation is that, despite the immense political and legal fallout that would inevitably ensue, the prospect is increasingly being mooted in the media and among fans.

‘We want to stay in Portland’, says Trail Blazers insider

Clearly, there are huge differences between the city and Dundon’s people.

But inside the team itself, it appears that relocation would only be a very last resort.

Speaking to The Athletic, an anonymous Trail Blazers source with knowledge of the machinations within Moda Center dispute said: “No one with the Blazers has ever said we want to move. We don’t want that. We want to stay in Portland.”

In addition to the pressure from the city-team dispute, the Trail Blazers also face a 31 December deadline to release $365m of state funding.

If they are unable to thrash out a deal by that juncture, the promise of that money will be revoked.

Zooming out on the graph, the Trail Blazers’ lease for the arena ends in 2030, which will naturally represent another deadline and a factor in the possibility of relocation.