Are sports stadiums a scam?

Who’s got some time on their hands to dig into this?

Why won’t the team release the actual numbers? Their current lease requires them to keep the arena “first-class” at THEIR expense. An itemized budget would sort every line into “necessary” vs “upgrade.” The “necessary” column IS the bill they already owe. The plans are evidence. Thats why.

It’s time for us to stop fighting each other, and start negotiating for real.

Portland isn't divided over the Blazers. Portland has been divided by a negotiating strategy that needs the mayor, the council, Salem, and the fans fighting each other instead of negotiating together. That ends today 🧵 edankrolewicz.substack.com/p/the-moda-d...

The publication has a sports reporter covering the Moda Center negotiations who also serves as a columnist who's advocated for a hands-off approach to those negotiations with the Blazers until recently. The Oregonian is not blameless for "the heated rhetoric/false framing."

Polling shows no clear direction on what Portlanders want, and city councilors say the Blazers’ new owners have given them extremely limited information about renovation plans.

Surprise, Portland voters oppose using taxpayer money to pay for Moda Center renovations. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Insane. The Blazers, to OPB: we can’t show the city final renderings until the city commits to a financing plan. $600M first. THEN we’ll tell you what it buys. Even Mayor Wilson now admits: “We don’t yet have all the information we’ll need to negotiate successfully.” Here’s what comes next 👇

For my LinkedIn ppl: help our business community and city councilors understand that what’s best for Portland is doing this right! Like, share, etc. www.linkedin.com/posts/edankr...

I want the Blazers to stay in Portland. I want well-paying union jobs to benefit from a Moda Center renovation. I want this to help reconnect a neighborhood torn apart by an interstate, redlining, and the Memorial Coliseum. We need the Blazers to show their math. www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2026...

Today the Oregonian editorial board said the city should charge market rent, take naming rights, and that Dundon is bringing nothing. A former Blazers executive agrees. This was never the fringe position. It was always the reasonable one. They just caught up. www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2026...

I wonder what City Councilors feel about this? Btw the Blazers can’t leave for any reason (even if they break the lease) until 2030 as @wrightkatu.bsky.social pointed out. Surely we have enough time to do proper diligence on a $1B deal by then?

How much is keeping the Blazers worth to you? Keeping Portland’s arena sound and safe costs about $164M over 20 years, pay-as-you-go. The current deal commits more than six times that. That gap is the "Keep the Blazers" premium. www.ripcitynotripoff.com/opportunity-...

I see one general statement about rigging and a medium-priority reference to load-out tunnel repair. If we're going to claim that "acts will skip Portland because of the condition of the Moda Center," the plans should spell out exactly what upgrades must be made and why.

7) City Council held our first public work session on the future of the Moda Center. No decisions have been made, a LOT of information is still not available, a lot of questions unanswered. Now that we passed the budget, we are turning our full attention to these negotiations.

A note: "Since 2009, the Trail Blazers Foundation has donated more than $9 million to local communities." So that's 15 years, averaging $600k a year. The Timbers Stand Together gave $507k in donations in 2025 Timbers as a franchise worth about $685M, the Blazers sold for $3.65 BILLION WITH A B

At the Moda Center protest yesterday, Councilor Mitch Green asked to see an economic impact analysis showing how a renovation would benefit the community more broadly. For all the talk about economic development, it’s concerning that there seems to be no detailed ROI for this project.

Plot status: THICKENING

Oak View? Which produces about four times the concert revenue at Climate Pledge as RCM does at Moda? Don't tempt this town with a good time: data.pollstar.com/Chart/2022/0...

The City has way more leverage given this now-public information. They should be thoughtful and keep negotiating in good faith toward a successful deal, but this materially changes their bargaining position, at least as understood by the public.

HOLY SHIT. Shout out to @wrightkatu.bsky.social for digging this up. The Blazers literally CANNOT MOVE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE until 2030. There is literally ZERO rush to sign a deal. Let's put Tom Dundon on a 4-year City option, that way Tom can feel that competitive burn he always talks about.

“Before I even bought the team, I had an agreement with the city and the state; we had an agreement in principle, they have already approved half of it. Assuming that all gets done then this is a non-story” - Tom Dundon @ 1:23:10 Where can I find this agreement? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...

The mayor lobbed insults not just at councilors, but at one of the most comprehensive & influential sources of info on the upcoming Moda Ctr deal. He called the Blazers fan an "opportunist" but said the billionaire demanding a publicly-funded $600M arena makeover seems "fair, firm," & "friendly."

According to the current lease, whatever today’s NBA standard requires, Tom Dundon is contractually bound to pay for it himself. The “first-class” upgrades the public is being asked to fund for ~$600M are, by the contract’s own words, his obligation.

Billionaire Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon, who under the plan would pay $0 toward arena renovations to the public's $600m, retorted, "it feels like we’re making a pretty big investment by staying here and paying these tax rates."

it gets worse. He says the ticket fees that fans pay come out of HIS pocket. And that his employees have to pay "taxes" is an investment enough. In other words, anyone who pays taxes should be free to ask taxpayers to renovate their businesses. The full con: www.ripcitynotripoff.com/work-session

Private investment in the Moda renovation is my starting line for any negotiation – and I do mean a capital investment in the RENOVATION itself. Buying the Blazers doesn’t count. And neither do ticket user fees, parking revenue, or rent.

Re the Moda Center, from experiencez in Florida, it is a mistake to give large amounts of taxpayer monies to sports teams for major facilities upgrades, especially when existing agreements put the onus on team owner. What happens = they don't stop asking for subsidies. Plus $ better spent elsewhere.

First impression of new Portland Trail Blazers head coach Micah Nori: like him a lot. Immediately gives off sincere vibes, handled the question about his contract as well as anyone could, was humble, shared credit, and was confident about his value and approach.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson had critiques and a sharp tongue in a Tuesday newsletter that took jabs at city councilors as well as a data analyst who’s become one of the most influential sources of information about the city’s upcoming Moda Center lease contract. What the mayor didn’t have? Accuracy.

If you missed the City Council Moda Working Session, here are the headline items that came out of it. The biggest discovery: Tom Dundon already owes the city hundreds of millions of dollars due to his responsibility to keep the Arena "first-class". 🤯 www.ripcitynotripoff.com/work-session

Transparency & accountability matter. www.portlandmercury.com/news/in-late...

Was wondering what the @fieldofschemes.bsky.social follow-up from @neildemause.bsky.social would look like this morning. Did not disappoint. The Moda Center and Blazers discussion looks even more lopsided from beyond state lines: www.fieldofschemes.com/2026/06/25/2...

It blows my mind how many people fall for the "but the City owns it" trope in stadium debates. This isn't a mean landlord extorting a tenant over the condition of an apartment. Public ownership is a legal arrangement intended for the benefit of the team-tenant.

There is absolutely no risk of lost tax revenue and jobs, because sports venues are well known not to generate them.

Novik asked - www.nba.com/blazers/rose... roughly $40 million over 10 years, which breaks down to about $4 million annually

Thank you @councilorepg.bsky.social for making the distinction between accessibility upgrades for the public vs. owner suite upgrades, private boxes and improvements for billionaires and their guests. Let Tom Dundon pay for his fancy suite himself- he can afford it. PDX cannot. #ripcitynotripoff

An employee was asked how much Moda was paying for the naming rights for the Moda Center... “Terms were not disclosed, but the total value of the deal is believed to be about $40 million.” www.oregonlive.com/blazers/2013...

Councilor Dan Ryan calls for a 30-year lease for the Blazers if the City invests public money, not the 20-year lease required by the State of Oregon's funding package. Maybe I missed it (correct me if I did), but I haven't heard him specifically call for that before.

i need someone to clip this entire statement from @councilorkanal.bsky.social via the live stream because there are so many moments i’m like YEAH!

Democratic voters prefer politicians who are ready, willing and able to fight. Where incumbents fail that test, voters will look to replace them with politicians who will actually fight. That's it. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

I can't transcribe it all, but Councilor Kanal is absolutely snapping right now. One point: an artificially compressed timeline (because information known by the Mayor and the executive branch for months has not been shared with Council and the public) does NOT increase the likelihood of support.

Watch and follow along as the City Council Working Session on Moda here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF-H...

@theschmidtshow.bsky.social nails it--You can support a public deal to keep the Blazers while asking for actual data and comparisons with other cities' market-rate deals. "Personal attacks are a tell, not a rebuttal." www.schmidtshowpdx.com/p/in-the-new...

You can watch the County discuss Moda Center now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=waw8...

I want to hear the positions of the Portland Metro Chamber and Tom Dundon on the Moda, as part of doing my homework to prepare. (I want to hear from everyone: PCEF advocates, Blazers fans, IATSE members, etc. & most of all, D2 constituents.) Having said that: I'm not paying $350 to get lobbied.

Tom Dundon's appearance comes after his NHL team, the Carolina Hurricanes, just won the Stanley Cup. But it also comes as the Blazers look for a new head coach and uncertainty looms over the Moda Center.

Council is holding a work session on the proposed Moda Center renovation this Wednesday, Jun. 24 from 2-5pm at City Hall. You can attend in person or watch the live broadcast on YouTube. m.youtube.com/playlist?lis...   #CityCouncil #ModaCenter