The Trail Blazers aren’t for sale and no discussions about the potential sale of the team are ongoing, chair Jody Allen said in a statement issued today by the team.
“As chair of both the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks, my long-term focus is building championship teams that our communities are proud of,” Allen said. “Like my brother Paul, I trust and expect our leaders and coaches to build winning teams that deliver results on and off the court and field.
“As we’ve stated before, neither of the teams is for sale and there are no sales discussions happening.
“A time will come when that changes given Paul’s plans to dedicate the vast majority of his wealth to philanthropy, but estates of this size and complexity can take 10 to 20 years to wind down. There is no pre-ordained timeline by which the teams must be sold.
“Until then, my focus – and that of our teams – is on winning.”
Longtime Blazers owner Paul Allen passed away on October 15, 2018, resulting in control of the franchise being transferred to his sister Jody, the trustee and executor of his estate. As today’s statement notes, the plan following his death was for ownership of the Blazers to eventually change hands as part of an estate sale.
One report earlier this year suggested that some league insiders believe a Blazers sale will be completed by the end of 2023, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski revealed last month that Nike co-founder Phil Knight and Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky were making an effort to buy the franchise with an offer of over $2 billion.
However, the Blazers indicated at the time of Wojnarowski’s report that the team wasn’t for sale, and Allen’s comments today suggest there are no plans for it to be sold in the short term. That will change at some point, but an exact timeline remains up in the air.
Damn. I was just going to put my bid in too.
I will join you and put $100
I good for 20 but only if we rename the team the “boaty mcboatfaces”
The Blzzers are more of a ship.
The shippy Mc— nevermind.
I can also do $100. Now we only need about 20,000,097 more people to throw in their hundred bucks and we’re there.
You don’t have to be a good team to make money in the NBA just under the tax
We haven’t heard a word from Jody in the nearly 4 years since Paul died, but NOW she decides to put a statement out to the press without giving anyone a chance to actually ask her questions.
And she’s going to lead us to believe that it could be 10-20 years before a sale……So just delaying the inevitable until the new TV deals come in and she can get more $$$ from Uncle Phil.
Very suspicious, if Paul Allen’s wishes are of relevance. I doubt he said let 25 years pass then sell the Blazers.
Club values keep rising ahead of inflation + return rate, so there’s money to be made by waiting.
She doesn’t want to sell the team yet because she hasn’t succeeded in destroying the team