Rare find
The kids at the Merc are like troubled grandchildren to me, and the guy who runs that place is like their weird old friend from the schoolyard. But doggone it, every once in a while they crank out some decent journalism over there. Case in point: Last week (unfortunately just in time to get lost in the holiday), their reporter Courtney Vaughn produced a darn good "explainer" of the situation with the Moda Center arena. (It includes a fine graphic by Anthony Keo and the proverbial "additional reporting" by Jeremiah Hayden.)
Who knows how the drama surrounding that facility will conclude? But for a baseline of where things stand today, the article is level-headed and informative. Nobody else in town has rounded up the facts this well. Really! Good for the Merc. It's here.
I don’t think the taxpayers should have to foot the bill for a private profit making enterprise. The owner is a billionaire who bought in for whatever reasons. If he can’t pay the bills then he needs to move on.
ReplyDeleteSports teams are vanity projects; if you don’t have the $$$ leave!
Dundon is reportedly worth less than $2 billion, not all of it liquid. His share of the purchase price of the Blazers is probably close to twice what he's worth. A lot of it must be on credit already. He's probably tapped out. The choice is between playing in the existing arena or renovatng it at taxpayer expense.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t heard the term “carpet bagger” in a long time.
DeleteYou must not be reading my posts about Raymond Lee.
DeleteShort term memory issues come with old age
DeleteDundon got rich on subprime auto loans--which is in a market wiipeout. He's a flipper.
ReplyDeleteIt sure does seem like he's going to flip the team. Which raises the question: This is what Adam Silver and the other owners want? Doesn't seem like much of a prestige league to me if that's how they're vetting their new owners.
ReplyDeleteI never had the impression that Dundon was an investor. I doubt that he has management skills. He got lucky with his wealth gain. I think he’s looking for a quick way out,
ReplyDeleteDundon’s wealth didn’t come from his management skills. This is a short term position for him.
ReplyDeleteDwight Jaynes recently said on the radio that the Blazers got higher offers from other investors, but somehow this guy was being pushed by the NBA brass. That seems like a breach of Allen's will and another indicator that the NBA is full of crooks and swindlers, like gambling tycoon heiress Miriam Adelson.
ReplyDeleteI think this has less to do with arena renovations than a desire to move to greener pastures. The owner of the Rams was pushing for a new publicly funded stadium in St. Louis. He didn't want them to subsidize it, he just wanted sufficient basis to move to LA where he built a $5B+ stadium without any public subsidies.
ReplyDeleteThe Rams went from being the 28th most valuable team in the NFL (out of 32) to the second most valuable team within a decade.
I don't think there are LA level opportunities available for Dundon, but Portland is a less desirable market than even St. Louis. All signs point to a relocation motive. Dundon doesn't really want these subsidies, he wants an excuse to get out of town.
Portland is a dysfunctional marriage partner for the Blazers. Let them find happiness somewhere else and then, maybe, Portland can focus on getting its shit together.