Portland Diamond Project (MLB) | Proposed

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Heck, I am confused that they are getting an NHL team, I guess they have enough of a fan base for that or they have someone wealthy enough that is really into hockey.

If Jody Allen had sold the Blazers operations to Knight, we would probably have had a hat in the ring for the franchise. Instead, we have a losing team, inactive owner, aging arena, and an organization that doesn't appear to have anything exciting to engage the community. C'mon Jody, sell the team!

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

If Jody Allen had sold the Blazers operations to Knight, we would probably have had a hat in the ring for the franchise. Instead, we have a losing team, inactive owner, aging arena, and an organization that doesn't appear to have anything exciting to engage the community. C'mon Jody, sell the team!

I don't buy this because if Knight wants to bring a MLB team to Portland, nothing is preventing him from doing so. His offer to the Jody Allen was such a low ball offer, he was just hoping to buy the team for cheap and she was wise enough not to sell it to him for his low ball offer.

I could see Knight not wanting to pursue a NHL team because he doesn't own the Blazers, but MLB is looking to expanding and MLB2PDX would do well with someone like Knight being the primary financial backer.

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I don't buy this because if Knight wants to bring a MLB team to Portland, nothing is preventing him from doing so. His offer to the Jody Allen was such a low ball offer, he was just hoping to buy the team for cheap and she was wise enough not to sell it to him for his low ball offer.

I could see Knight not wanting to pursue a NHL team because he doesn't own the Blazers, but MLB is looking to expanding and MLB2PDX would do well with someone like Knight being the primary financial backer.

That's just not true. Phil Knight's starting offer was above $2B. The Utah Jazz, a smaller but similiar market sold for $1.66B in 2020 and only 7 teams have sold above $1B. While sales of teams are not an everyday occurance and values are rising into the multiple billions of dollars, his offer was neither offensive nor final. But Jody wouldn't even have a conversation with his representatives.

I don't know if Knight has any desire to be an MLB owner but I do know if he was an owner of the Blazers and the Rose Quarter, he'd be looking to maximize those investments by luring in additional pro sports including NHL and the WNBA.

[babs]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

That's just not true. Phil Knight's starting offer was above $2B. The Utah Jazz, a smaller but similiar market sold for $1.66B in 2020 and only 7 teams have sold above $1B. While sales of teams are not an everyday occurance and values are rising into the multiple billions of dollars, his offer was neither offensive nor final. But Jody wouldn't even have a conversation with his representatives.

I don't know if Knight has any desire to be an MLB owner but I do know if he was an owner of the Blazers and the Rose Quarter, he'd be looking to maximize those investments by luring in additional pro sports including NHL and the WNBA.

I've done a bit of traveling this fall and winter, attending NBA games in many cities. The Moda Center was state of the art 30 years ago. Unfortunately, it may now qualify as one of the worst NBA arenas. It's the lack of investment that's causing me to wonder if Jody plans to move the team and then sell it for a larger sum. Her lack of communication with Portlanders about her long term vision for the team makes me nervous.

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by babs

I've done a bit of traveling this fall and winter, attending NBA games in many cities. The Moda Center was state of the art 30 years ago. Unfortunately, it may now qualify as one of the worst NBA arenas. It's the lack of investment that's causing me to wonder if Jody plans to move the team and then sell it for a larger sum. Her lack of communication with Portlanders about her long term vision for the team makes me nervous.

Talk out there of a Vegas team...come on Phil! Or at least Jody to show that you care to win and also intend to maintain the team in Portland.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

That's just not true. Phil Knight's starting offer was above $2B. The Utah Jazz, a smaller but similiar market sold for $1.66B in 2020 and only 7 teams have sold above $1B. While sales of teams are not an everyday occurance and values are rising into the multiple billions of dollars, his offer was neither offensive nor final. But Jody wouldn't even have a conversation with his representatives.

I don't know if Knight has any desire to be an MLB owner but I do know if he was an owner of the Blazers and the Rose Quarter, he'd be looking to maximize those investments by luring in additional pro sports including NHL and the WNBA.

That was 2020, now the Utah Jazz are valued at about $3 billion, which is roughly how much the Blazers are valued. Moda Center will be going through renovations, and a sale of the time probably wouldn't happen until after that, which in that amount of time the value of the team will most likely continue to rise. This is why Knight's offer wasn't considered. I wouldn't have been surprised if she sold the team to him if he has come in at a high $3 billion or even $4 billion.

Jody has been looking into bringing in the WNBA to Portland, but based on the WNBA, that won't happen until the Moda Center is renovated because they don't want renovations to disrupt the team since their league plays in the summers when renovations would typically happen.

Originally Posted by babs

I've done a bit of traveling this fall and winter, attending NBA games in many cities. The Moda Center was state of the art 30 years ago. Unfortunately, it may now qualify as one of the worst NBA arenas. It's the lack of investment that's causing me to wonder if Jody plans to move the team and then sell it for a larger sum. Her lack of communication with Portlanders about her long term vision for the team makes me nervous.

The Moda Center is planning to renovate the arena in the coming years to upgrade and modernize the building. So I wouldn't be concerned with any plans to move the team, plus I doubt the NBA would allow for another move like that with a popular team.

Originally Posted by PhillyPDX

Talk out there of a Vegas team...come on Phil! Or at least Jody to show that you care to win and also intend to maintain the team in Portland.

The Blazers are in full rebuild right now, the winning part is years away. They are gonna be a tank team for the next couple years at least to maximize their draft prospects. Basically we are watching the Blazers do what OKC did several years ago.

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

That was 2020, now the Utah Jazz are valued at about $3 billion, which is roughly how much the Blazers are valued. Moda Center will be going through renovations, and a sale of the time probably wouldn't happen until after that, which in that amount of time the value of the team will most likely continue to rise. This is why Knight's offer wasn't considered. I wouldn't have been surprised if she sold the team to him if he has come in at a high $3 billion or even $4 billion.

Jody has been looking into bringing in the WNBA to Portland, but based on the WNBA, that won't happen until the Moda Center is renovated because they don't want renovations to disrupt the team since their league plays in the summers when renovations would typically happen.

Jody didn't even engage though. Had she said to Phil, come up with $4B and it's yours, he probably would have made it happen. Jody is an absent owner who lost our star player, tanked the team and seems disengaged with the community.

If she was serious about WNBA, they could have updated the Memorial Colisuem over the next two years prior to the start of the Moda overhaul to make it suitable as a temporary venue. Hell, they could even use it for a Blazer season too. Would be incredibly nostalgic to watch the Blazers play on the same home court that featuryed Drexler, Duckworth, Kersey, and Walton.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Jody didn't even engage though. Had she said to Phil, come up with $4B and it's yours, he probably would have made it happen. Jody is an absent owner who lost our star player, tanked the team and seems disengaged with the community.

If she was serious about WNBA, they could have updated the Memorial Colisuem over the next two years prior to the start of the Moda overhaul to make it suitable as a temporary venue. Hell, they could even use it for a Blazer season too. Would be incredibly nostalgic to watch the Blazers play on the same home court that featuryed Drexler, Duckworth, Kersey, and Walton.

It's probably because the team wasn't for sale. As an owner, she seems pretty present to me, and for losing Dame, that was going to happen since Olshey screwed over the team with all his mediocre moves. As for tanking, that's the smartest thing the team can do post Dame. Look at OKC, they tanked and picked up a lot of quality players through the draft and now have a solid playoff team.

The problem with the WNBA is that the WNBA didn't want the team playing in a temporary home at all. Portland will most likely get a WNBA team after renovating the Moda Center.