By Mike Vorkunov, Sam Amick and James Mirtle
Billionaire financier Tom Dundon and a group of investors have an agreement to buy the Portland Trail Blazers. Dundon is also the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, which confirmed his effort to purchase the Trail Blazers in a statement to The Athletic.
Dundon later confirmed to The Athletic that he is leading a group to buy the Blazers. The group will also include Sheel Tyle, the co-CEO of Collective Global, who is based in Portland, as well as others. A league source confirmed to The Athletic that the deal places the Trail Blazers’ valuation at approximately $4.2 billion.
The sale is not yet final. A spokesperson for the Allen family, which currently owns the franchise, declined to comment. The Blazers are a part of the Paul Allen estate.
A spokesperson for the Hurricanes said Dundon “is in the process of buying the Portland Trailblazers and is excited about the opportunity.”
There has been some fear in the city that new owners could move the franchise out of Portland. Dundon and the Hurricanes spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether he intends to keep the team in Portland.
Allen, the wealthy Microsoft co-founder, left his properties in a trust when he died in 2018 with directions for them to be sold off slowly. Jody Allen, his sister, has run the team since then.
The trust announced in May that it was selling the team and estimated initially that the process would stretch into the 2025-26 season. Jody decided to sell the Blazers now, based on the state of the market and her brother’s estate.
The NBA’s board of governors must still approve the sale.
There has been ample speculation since Allen’s death about when the Blazers would sell and when the process would begin. Allen’s estate has slowly sold off its other holdings in the years since his death, including his considerable art collection.
Allen’s estate said in May that the proceeds of the Trail Blazers sale would go to his posthumous philanthropic effort. The estate also owns the Seattle Seahawks and a 25 percent stake in the Seattle Sounders, but those teams are not currently for sale.
Nike founder Phil Knight made a public attempt to buy the Blazers in 2022 and partnered with Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky on an offer worth more than $2 billion. The team declined to sell to them at that time.
After Allen’s estate announced the Trail Blazers’ sale in May, Knight said he wouldn’t attempt to purchase the team this time.
Prices for NBA teams has skyrocketed in those intervening three years. The Phoenix Suns sold at a $4 billion valuation in 2023, a record for an NBA team at the time. This spring, Boston Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck agreed to sell the team to a group led by Bill Chisholm at an initial $6.1 billion valuation. The Celtics sale has not been finalized yet.
League sources told The Athletic in June that the Buss family has agreed in principle to sell the Los Angeles Lakers to financier Mark Walter in a deal that values the team at a global record $10 billion.
Sportico was the first to report the deal on the Trail Blazers sale.
— The Athletic’s Michael Russo contributed to this report.
(Photo: Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)