A group led by Tom Dundon, the owner of ice hockey's Carolina Hurricanes NHL franchise, has reportedly reached an agreement to acquire US basketball's Portland Trail Blazers NBA team.
Dundon, a US businessman in the field of financial services, and his group have reportedly reached an agreement to pay around $4 billion for the franchise, which was put up for sale in May by the family of Paul Allen after nearly 40 years of ownership.
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The Dundon Group, which also includes private equity executives Marc Zahr and Portland-based Sheel Tyle, will reportedly look to keep the team in Portland rather than seek a lucrative relocation, a major boon for Oregon sports fans.
Allen, the co-founder of tech behemoth Microsoft, acquired the Trail Blazers in 1988 for $70 million ($191.1 million in 2025 accounting for inflation), and after his passing in 2018, the team has been run by his estate, which is chaired by his younger sister Jody Allen.
The Allen estate also owns the Seattle Seahawks NFL franchise, which Paul purchased in 1997, and a 25% stake in the Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer team.
Allen requested that the sports franchises he had owned (alongside other business interests) be sold off posthumously, with the proceeds put towards his philanthropic interests.
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By GlobalDataWhile neither the Seahawks, nor his stake in the Sounders are up for sale yet, the sale of the Trailblazers indicates that the divestment of Allen’s sports portfolio is still ongoing, and while it remains a complex process to agree a deal, especially given the massive increase in sports franchise valuations over the years, it is not one the Allen family has forgotten about.
In mid-2024, Forbes valued the Seahawks at $5.45 billion, firmly in the middle of the NFL pack but on the upper end of all global sports franchises, based on a team operating income of $104 million annually.
The last NBA team to be sold was the iconic Los Angeles Lakers in a major transaction that valued the franchise at a record $10 billion.
In terms of NBA team valuations, the Dundon acquisition puts the Trail Blazers in the median region for NBA teams, which are not sold often despite their spiraling valuations.
The Phoenix Suns, sold to Mat Ishbia in 2022 (alongside the Phoenix Mercury WNBA team), is the franchise closest in real sale value, having also been sold for $4 billion at the time after the NBA suspended former owner Robert Sarver after an investigation into allegations of historic racist, misogynistic, and hostile incidents.
Before becoming official, the acquisition will need to be approved by the NBA’s board of directors, which has denied sale bids in the past, although not since 2013, when a group sought to relocate the Sacramento Kings to Seattle.
Another major NBA sale, that of the Boston Celtics to a group led by tech investor Bill Chisholm, was finally ratified this week, having been announced in March.
Chisholm’s group has paid a $6.1 billion fee (a record until the Lakers sale is ratified) to acquire a majority stake in the league’s most historically successful franchise.
The group takes at least a 51% stake in the team, and is likely to buy out minority investors to claim full control of the team by 2028, a desire that could cost a further $1.2 billion.
This move will also reportedly see Chisholm step in as governor of the team, replacing long-time owner Wyc Grousbeck, despite earlier reports that suggested Grousbeck would remain with the side through 2028.
Chisholm outbid at least two other groups to acquire the Celtics, including one led by team minority owner Steven Pagliuca.
Pagliuca is also engaged in a bid to acquire the Connecticut Sun franchise of the WNBA, although that has hit a stumbling block as of late after league commissioner Cathy Englebert failed to present the transaction to the board of governors for approval.
Pagliuca agreed a league-record $325 million purchase with the current owners, the Mohegan native American tribe, back in July, and would see the team remain in Uncasville, Connecticut for the time being before an eventual move to Boston, Massachusetts, with Pagliuca committing to building a new practice facility for the team in the latter.
In the time since it was presented to Englebert, Pagliuca’s exclusivity agreement with the tribe lapsed, and a rival bid was submitted. submitted by Marc Lasry, owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
Lasry reportedly matched Pagliuca’s offer, but has instead offered to keep Connecticut’s only major league sports franchise in the state, relocating it to the state capital of Hartford.
It remains that neither bidder could end up with a WNBA team if the league has its way.
Reportedly, the WNBA is against the idea of the Sun playing in Hartford, and would in fact prefer the team moving to Houston, Texas, which is one of the largest US sports markets without a WNBA team.
Indeed, Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta had bid for an expansion franchise in the city, albeit unsuccessfully, but if he was to instead match Lasry and Pagliuca’s bids for the Sun, and pay the league’s considerable relocation fee, he would gain immediate entry into the prized market.
An expansion franchise now costs $250 million, and the league has tied up new team slots through the 2029 campaign.
Although there are still a number of strong NBA markets without WNBA teams, the majority WNBA teams are situated in the vicinity of, or perhaps even share an owner with, an NBA franchise, a factor that is certain to sway the team acquisition race, especially since the WNBA is reportedly prioritizing locations that missed out on the latest round of expansions, of which Houston is one.
Founded as an expansion franchise in 1999 as the Orlando Miracle (a sister team to the NBA’s Orlando Magic), the Connecticut Sun was purchased by the Mohegan tribe, and relocated to the tribe’s Mohegan Sun casino and arena in Uncasville in 2003.
The Sun is currently one of the only WNBA franchises without a dedicated practice facility, while their arena at the Mohegan Sun, boasting a 9,000 capacity, is less than half of the Minnesota Lynx’s league-leading 20,000 capacity at Target Center.
