Tom Dundon’s intended purchase of the Portland Trail Blazers for over $4 billion should be taken with nothing but optimism by Blazer fans.
Dundon heads a group of investors that together have agreed to buy the team, which includes the co-president of Blue Owl Capital, Marc Zahr, and Portland-based CEO Sheel Tyle. While Zahr and Tyle have no experience in owning a sports franchise, Dundon does.
Tom Dundon began purchasing a stake in the Carolina Hurricanes in 2017 — his first venture into professional sports. By early 2018, he was the majority owner. In the summer of 2021, Dundon completed the purchase of all minority shares in the team, making him the sole owner.
From the point at which he entered the Hurricanes’ world to now, the team went from a “debt-laden, thinly capitalized franchise” that hadn’t made the playoffs since 2009, to a perennial Stanley Cup favorite with a mixed-use district on the way for its small-market city.
Meddling owners can be an issue, but by every metric that matters, Tom Dundon is a resounding one-for-one so far as an owner, and looks to go two-for-two with the Trail Blazers.
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Undisputed Positives
The most important part of the early reporting about Dundon’s purchasing of the Blazers is that they’re staying in Portland.
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Bolstered by the ties Tyle has to the city — his wife, Sejal Hathi, is the director of the Oregon Health Authority — and the fact that Dundon did not move the Hurricanes out of Raleigh, Dundon’s word, or more specifically the word of sources familiar with the proceedings, can be trusted.
Blazer fans can rest easy.
What is also apparent from looking at Dundon’s handling of the Hurricanes is that he’s willing to spend and be a player in free agency.
This offseason, after losing to the Florida Panthers 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Hurricanes signed a top free agent in Nikolaj Ehlers to a lucrative contract. That’s something the Blazers have basically never been able to say.
Every Blazer fan would tell you that the two things they want most from the new owner are: To keep the team in Portland and to spend money on the team.
Tom Dundon is ready to do both.
Off the Court Dreams
It’s no secret that the Blazers could use a new stadium. Adam Silver flat-out said it recently.
What would also be a dream for Portland would be a mixed-use entertainment district surrounding the Moda Center. It appears to be a tall task, given the confines of the area.
These mixed-use districts are almost always a resounding success, which is why Dundon has successfully put together development plans to build one for the Hurricanes — and for NC State fans — around the Lenovo Center.
While it’s almost impossible to tell whether or not Dundon is thinking about doing something similar in Portland, let alone whether he can pull it off, seeing an example of him putting fans and community interests at the forefront of his decisions is extremely encouraging.
It’s a way of building a business that he’s held firm on from the very beginning of his Hurricanes ownership, in both small and large ways.
The Blazers are Dundon’s biggest sports business investment. Hopefully that means he cares about Portland just as much as he does Raleigh.
If he does, Blazer fans are in good shape.
Survey Says…You Suck
Back in February, The Athletic published an article that asked 19 anonymous NHL agents a variety of questions about their league.
Carolina received the second-most votes (4) for the question, “What is the most difficult front office to deal with in the league?”, and by far the most votes (10) for “Who is the worst owner in the league?”
Some of the reasoning behind answers for why agents hate Tom Dundon includes:
- “His GMs and assistant GMs … have to ask him permission for anything,”
- “A lot of people in our business hate it that Tom is so f—ing involved, and he is basically the manager and he has a lot of strong opinions”
- “I don’t know how he has the time or the energy. He’s the de facto GM.”
What this primarily says is that NHL agents do not like doing business with Dundon.
It also makes clear that Dundon has involved himself in the decisions of the Hurricanes’ front office extensively during his time there so far. It’s impossible to know how many of the decisions the front office has made he should be credited for, but what’s indisputable is that Carolina has put together a sustained winner, and that Dundon has been a part of it.
Nosy Owners — a Matt Ishbia Situation?
A lot of NBA fans would prefer that owners hire the proper people for their front office and then stay out of those new employees’ affairs.
It obviously isn’t ideal to have someone who has never owned a basketball team or been involved with any advanced level of basketball make the biggest decisions an NBA front office can make; however, if the trade-off to having an owner who cares about fan experience, hates losing, and is willing to spend money and be aggressive on the trade and free agent market is that he is involved in every decision — that typically is a pretty good deal.
The Suns’ Matt Ishbia is the most glaring example of how owner-meddling can go terribly wrong. He opened up his checkbook and pushed all his chips in right away to bring Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal to Phoenix, depleting the roster in every other aspect along the way. The moves he has made have crippled the franchise.
Hopefully, Tom Dundon will recognize Matt Ishbia’s mistakes.
Will Portland Be the Next Phoenix?
This overbearing style of management, while risky, opens doors that the Blazers have never been privy to, especially since Jody Allen took over the team. Portland has never signed a big-name free agent. The Moda Center is dilapidated by NBA standards. Pundits across the league question the direction of the franchise and its long-term plan.
If Tom Dundon comes in and changes the Portland’s course on all three of those facets of basketball operations, whether by his own innovation or simply through an open checkbook, fans will see him as a hero.
If he oversteps his boundaries, reshuffles the front office, and the team takes steps back within the next few years, with his fingerprints all over the place, then yes, he’ll be the next Matt Ishbia.
But simply put, too many Blazer fans have been wanting an owner who is ready to go for broke, do what is necessary to win a championship and breathe new life into the franchise for this not to be an exciting hire.
Yes, the success of the Hurricanes doesn’t fully translate into success for the Blazers.
Sure, the Carolina market is different than Portland’s.
Agreed, a meddling owner who goes over the top of his front office is very often a bad thing.
But ever since Paul Allen died, Portland has been missing an owner who is public-facing, cares about winning, and wants to build something great.
Now, in Tom Dundon, they have someone who wants to be exactly that.
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