The estate of late Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen has formally put the team up for sale with the proceeds going to philanthropic endeavors, the team announced Tuesday.
Allen died from cancer in 2018, and his will called for the franchise to be sold “at some point,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver had said on several occasions over the past seven years. Allen’s sister, Jody Allen, has been acting as the team’s governor as the executor of the Paul Allen Trust during that time.
As part of the announcement, the trust said the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, which the estate also owns, would not be part of the sale. Neither is the 25% stake in the MLS’ Seattle Sounders.
The trust made the decision to sell the Blazers in the wake of several key developments over the last year. The NBA agreed to new 11-year media rights deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon for a combined $77 billion. In 2024 the Blazers sold their home arena, the Moda Center, to the City of Portland for $1 and the land under the arena for $7 million. It then launched a public/private partnership to renovate the arena and the surrounding area that included a new lease through 2030.
Earlier this year, the Boston Celtics sold for a record $6.1 billion, elevating all team values. Sportico recently valued the Blazers at $3.6 billion. Allen bought the Blazers in 1988 for $70 million.
One of the possible bidders is billionaire Nike founder and Portland native Phil Knight, who reportedly approached the team in 2022 with an offer to buy the franchise. Knight, 87, had partnered with Los Angeles Dodgers minority owner Alan Smolinisky on that offer at the time.
The announcement of the sale the day after the NBA lottery, where the Blazers had an 18% chance of getting a top 4 pick but ended up moving back from the No. 10 slot to the No. 11 pick, could have played a role in the timing.
In basketball-centric moves, the franchise extended the contracts of coach Chauncey Billups and general manager Joe Cronin after the season. The Blazers went 36-46 this season, their best record in four years, but haven’t made the playoffs since 2021. They started a full-scale rebuild when trading franchise star Damian Lillard in 2023.
The trust said the sales process would continue into the 2025-26 NBA season. It has hired Allen & Co. and the law firm Hogan Lovells to conduct the process.
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