Tag: paul allen

Phil Knight, Alan Smolinisky makes $2 billion-plus offer to purchase Blazers from Paul Allen’s trust

Adrian Wojnarowski: Nike founder Phil Knight and Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky have made a $2 billion-plus written offer to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers, sources tell ESPN. Discussions are ongoing with the Paul Allen trust that’s …

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn
Nike founder Phil Knight and Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky have made a $2 billion-plus written offer to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers, sources tell ESPN. Discussions are ongoing with the Paul Allen trust that’s overseeing ownership of team. Story soon. – 3:09 PM

More on this storyline

 

A sitting team president of an NBA franchise told me it’s unlikely that the league’s owners would allow the Trail Blazers to relocate to Seattle after a potential sale. “That’s a no-go,” he said. The prevailing sentiment is that Seattle and Las Vegas have already been unofficially earmarked for NBA expansion and the current owners would prefer to avoid cannibalizing what would be a windfall of $6 billion in combined expansion fees. -via John Canzano / May 26, 2022
A number of potential ownership groups have been rumored to be interested in pursuing the Trail Blazers. Among the names that I have heard as possible majority owners: Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and Laurene Powell-Jobs. Ellison has unsuccessfully attempted to buy NBA teams on three occasions. Scott is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Powell-Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, is an executive and businesswoman. -via John Canzano / May 26, 2022

 

Phil Knight, Alan Smolinisky makes $2 billion-plus offer to purchase Blazers from Paul Allen’s trust

Blazers to be auctioned in the next months?

A sitting team president of an NBA …

A sitting team president of an NBA franchise told me it’s unlikely that the league’s owners would allow the Trail Blazers to relocate to Seattle after a potential sale. “That’s a no-go,” he said. The prevailing sentiment is that Seattle and Las Vegas have already been unofficially earmarked for NBA expansion and the current owners would prefer to avoid cannibalizing what would be a windfall of $6 billion in combined expansion fees.

A number of potential ownership groups …

A number of potential ownership groups have been rumored to be interested in pursuing the Trail Blazers. Among the names that I have heard as possible majority owners: Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and Laurene Powell-Jobs. Ellison has unsuccessfully attempted to buy NBA teams on three occasions. Scott is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Powell-Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, is an executive and businesswoman.

Seahawks and Blazers franchises both likely to be sold within a year

Regardless of how involved Allen is, it seems she might not be in charge of these organizations for much longer.

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For decades, the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers enjoyed a high level of stable ownership from philanthropist Paul Allen. The Microsoft co-founder was a rare breed of owner, one who was deeply invested in both franchises’ success yet managed to not needlessly meddle.

After his passing in 2018, the Seahawks and the Trail Blazers’ ownership became the responsibility of the Paul G. Allen Trust. This is managed by Paul’s sister, Jody Allen.

Over the years there have been conflicting an unclear reports about Jody Allen’s interest in the organizations. Some suggest she was hands off, but during the 2022 NFL draft she was seen in the War Room alongside head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider.

Regardless of how involved Allen is, it seems she might not be in charge of these organizations for much longer.

According to John Canzano – current Portland Sports Radio host and formerly with Oregon Live – the Seahawks and the Trail Blazers are to be sold.

The Trust declares the late Paul Allen’s assets are to be sold to fund his “passion projects.” This of course includes the two professional sports teams under his control.

Canzano recently said on an appearance on 93.3 KJR Seattle Radio the Trail Blazers will likely be sold using the same auction house facilitating the sale of the Denver Broncos within a year. Canzano also believes that Jody Allen is saving the Seahawks for last, as she is trying to maintain a way to keep a piece of the ownership.

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Over Olshey’s decade as the top …

Over Olshey’s decade as the top basketball decision-maker, multiple employees asserted they had grievances with his treatment of staff in the workplace, sources said. Olshey allegedly subjected staffers to profanity-laced tirades, including former head coach Terry Stotts while Olshey sat courtside during home games, which routinely caught the attention of Blazers players. In October 2017, late team owner Paul Allen banned Olshey from watching the game inside the arena bowl after Olshey flipped off an individual from the Los Angeles Clippers after Blake Griffin nailed a game-winning 3-pointer, sources said. The incident was caught on television.

Forbes ranks Seattle Seahawks 29th-most valuable sports team

Forbes has ranked the Seattle Seahawks as the 29th-most valuable sports team in the world in 2020.

“Fans are stuck at home, seasons are at risk and revenue is plummeting,” the official Forbes account tweeted Friday morning. “Things might seem terrible for professional sports, but amazingly most of the world’s top franchises are worth more this year than last.”

The annual ranking of the world’s most valuable sports teams has been released and Forbes has named the Seattle Seahawks No. 29 on the list with an estimated value of $2.78 billion.

The Seahawks, now owned by the Paul G. Allen Trust, were initially purchased by Allen in 1997 for a mere $194,000,000.

The Dallas Cowboys earned the top spot in Forbes’ rankings for 2020 (for the fifth consecutive year) at $5.5 billion with the New York Yankees landing a close runner-up at $5 billion.

The NFL was the clear leader as far as the number of teams to make the list this year at 27. The NBA was a distant second with just nine teams named.

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Trail Blazers on sale?

The Trail Blazers are now listed as being worth $1.85 BILLION. That’s incredible to me for a team not located in one of the nation’s media centers. And it reinforces something that I’ve been saying for months now: Jody Allen is going to sell this team. I’m not sure when, because it probably has to await the untangling of all of Paul Allen’s assets.

There are still enough potential …

There are still enough potential interested parties who want to own a team that they can be found on the down low. Nobody knew Paul Allen was buying the team until he sat down at his first news conference. I expect the same thing to happen in the next year or two — only Jody Allen isn’t likely to be there. But she’s going to sell. And you can take that to the bank.