Trail Blazers owner Jody Allen has been tasked with selling off most of the assets of her late brother Paul Allen and donating the money to charitable causes, but she has been reticent to offload the NBA franchise just yet.
According to Rachel Bachman of The Wall Street Journal, Nike CEO Phil Knight and Dodgers minority owner Alan Smolinsky recently made a follow-up offer to buy the franchise from Allen, a year after their initial $2 billion offer was rejected. Though Bachman does not indicate a dollar amount, she notes that Knight and Smolinsky increased their bid to keep up with the rise in sports team valuations.
“As Jody said publicly last year, the sports teams are not for sale,” Jason J. Hunke, spokesman for Paul and Jody Allen’s umbrella company Vulcan, said. Jody also inherited the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks from her brother. “That will eventually change pursuant to Paul’s wishes, but there is no preordained timeline for when that will happen. Interested parties can engage when we establish a sales process at some point in the future.”
According to Hunke, Allen’s estate team “balances an overall strategy for asset disposition with driving the best possible sales process and outcome for each individual asset and asset class. There are many different asset classes being managed to that end.”
It appears that it could take 10-to-20 years to fully resolve the estate and establish a sale for the Trail Blazers and Seahawks, with Hunke calling that “a fair and accurate time frame.” The two clubs are worth an estimated $6.6 billion, per Bachman.
Bachman consulted with several lawyers familiar with complex estate sales. Many disputed such a lengthy window as being necessary.
“You would almost have to intentionally slow-walk it,” said Allan Cutrow, a partner at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP. “They don’t have to accept (Knight and Smolinsky’s offer), and they may not even have to negotiate it… But at the very least, you would think, barring something else in the (estate) document, that they would reach out to an investment banker and they have some duty to market this and get the best possible value.”
“[The] concept that a complex estate takes 10 to 20 years to be fully sorted out, that would be very unusual,” Andrew Mayoras, a trust and estate litigation attorney, said.
Bachman writes that the 30-year ground lease of the Trail Blazers’ current home arena, the Moda Center, will expire in 2025, and Allen could opt to leverage public funding for improvements. Bachman notes that, at least judging by language she shared in a recent email, it does not appear that Allen is looking to offload the team any time soon.
“As chair, my focus is building championship teams and managing the franchises for the long-term,” Allen wrote in an email to Bachman. “Today, I work regularly with the GMs, presidents, and coaches on significant sports, business, and organization decisions and have final say on strategic moves such as key hires, trades, and player extensions.”
Knight, worth over $40 billion, is hoping that a sale to him and Smolinsky will keep the team in Portland for the long haul.
Even while fielding oft-injured All-Star point guard Damian Lillard, the Trail Blazers have missed out on the playoffs in back-to-back years. They sport a cumulative record of 60-104 across the past two seasons. The club has the third pick in the upcoming draft, which could be used to either draft a promising young cornerstone or to acquire an impact player via trade.
As a Portland resident I beg you to sell to Phil Knight already.
At 85 years old, why in the world would you pursue a sports franchise.
You obviously know nothing about Phil Knight, the Blazers and the Oregon sports community.
It’s called legacy.
Sounds like the woman is having too much fun playing owner to be bothered with her charge under the lwt. Maybe her successor will focus on it. Of course, it could be an act. No way any executor is selling to a random offeree like Knight appears to be here.
10-20 years to sort out the estate! That seems insane
His holdings would have to be insane. $20.8 billion cash. Who knows what in properties and stocks. The Blazers and Seahawks are owned by multiple parties. 10-20 years sounds about right.
Trust Lawyers using Jody Allen as the proxy for the no sale is pretty funny
Jody Allen has nothing to do with this. She is the almost-unheard-of-before sister to now brokering, and being the decision maker for a billion dollar sports franchise sale?
Just slightly out of her league, I’m sure.
I’m sure there is good reason to not sell to Phil Knight, and his other compadres. I can think of a few.
He’s not a very nice guy, rude often, kinda weird, manufactures $300 shoes in countries that use child, and slave labor.
Not exactly a great guy to sell the franchise to
How about the NBA players that wear Nike shoes? Are they evil too? Let’s just shut down the whole league because of supposed “slave labor.” Nobody wants to work smdh
Awfully presumptuous of you, Jody Allen was the CEO of a billion dollar investment firm for over 25 years. I’m pretty sure the Seahawks and Blazers are “in her league.”
This situation is going to get ugly. It sounds like she has no intention of giving up the Blazers despite her dead brothers wishes. I can see a scenario where an outrageous offer is made, well above what the Blazers are worth, she rejects it, and the league has to step in and force a sale.
It doesn’t work that way.
Its greed that jody allen keeps the teams, she wants the pay check off the teams, that will dry up once sold. And will not realize income from selling the teams due to proceeds going to charity. This IS NOT IN BEST INTEREST OF THE TRAIL BLAZERS!