The debate around funding renovations to the Trail Blazers’ home arena has gone from bad to worse.
Soon after Blazers owner Tom Dundon said he was not inclined to contribute toward $600 million in planned upgrades to Portland’s Moda Center, the team and city are increasingly at odds over a proposed term sheet that would oversee the project.
According to industry sources and multiple reports, the Trail Blazers are strongly rebuking the term sheet issued last week by the city that would require a $3 million annual payment for a property tax offset, a 20-year lease term that requires all home game at the Moda Center, and “a labor harmony agreement” likely leading to unionized jobs at the arena.
“The term sheet is a non-starter,” The Athletic reported a team source as saying. “I don’t know why they sent it to us, because they know very little of the stuff we would agree to.”
That, in turn, has sparked further pushback from city leaders, and amplified a three-way fight between the team, the office of Mayor Keith Wilson, and the Portland City Council.
