Trail Blazers, City of Portland announce bridge agreement

Published 11:07 am Friday, February 23, 2024

The Portland Trail Blazers have every intention to remain in the town they’ve called home since their inception, to play at the Moda Center and keep the story of Rip City alive and well for decades to come.

The Blazers’ arena lease with the city expires in 2025, however, and the two parties have not been able to hammer out a new long-term lease.

Friday, the two entities announced that they seek to enter into what they are calling a “bridge agreement” that will provide at least five additional years to continue working toward a long-term lease while also allowing the Blazers to move forward with plans to renovate both the 28-year-old arena and the Rose Quarter.

“Extending our partnerships with Rip City Management and the Trail Blazers is a win for Portland,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a prepared statement. “This bridge agreement helps us maintain world-class sports and entertainment in our city while we plan for the future.”

The plan will be presented before the Portland City Council on Wednesday during a public hearing.

The current lease, signed Oct. 12, 1995, will terminate on October 11, 2025.

Rip City Management Inc. has the option to extend the lease in increments of three 10-year terms. The first extension must be exercised by Oct. 11, 2024.

But according to Dewayne Hankins, Blazers president of business operations, details within the lease are outdated. Hankins said the Blazers want to negotiate a new agreement more in line with lease agreements reached by other NBA teams and their respective cities.

Discussions on such an agreement have already begun, but a new deal would unlikely be finalized by the deadline to extend. Therefore, Hankins said the Blazers and the city came up with this plan to provide more time for negotiations. The “bridge agreement” consists of two five-year blocks replacing the three 10-year extension blocks within the existing deal.

The initial bridge term would run through Oct. 11, 2030. At that time, should a long-term deal not be reached, Rip City Management would have the option to extend for another five years until 2035.

“This bridge agreement is an important step forward and provides the time and opportunity to pursue a long-term public-private partnership that would keep the Trail Blazers in Portland for years to come — with a renovated Moda Center that would be the centerpiece of a revitalized Rose Quarter,” Hankins said in a prepared statement.

According to Hankins, Blazers chair Jody Allen is committed to keeping the team in Portland and has instructed her staff to get a deal done.

Hankins said any slim chance of the team leaving Portland was avoided with this agreement.

Here are some details within the bridge agreement:

• During the bridge term, the Trail Blazers will commit to remaining in Portland and playing at the Moda Center.
• The Blazers currently own the building but lease the land. Through the new agreement, ownership of the arena will go to the city for the cost of $1.
• Rip City Management will remain responsible for funding and completing repairs, maintenance, replacement and physical improvement projects. All projects must be approved by the city.
• Rip City Management must provide a five-year program of specific capital projects related to arena infrastructure, building systems and revenue enhancements.
• The agreement doesn’t require any upfront investment from the city. It doesn’t require the city to take on debt, adopt new taxes or increase existing taxes.
• The city’s financial obligation to capital projects would be funded by a spectator facility fund made up of user fees and revenue generated by public parking garages during Blazers home games.
• The city’s contribution to capital projects will be capped at 50% or whatever is available through the fund, whichever is lower. If a project costs $10 million, for example, the most the city would pay would be the lesser of whatever is in the fund or $5 million. Should the fund sit at a balance of $3 million, that money would go toward the project, while the Blazers would provide the other $7 million.
• Both parties will seek to add more land near the Rose Quarter for development. Also, the parties will seek additional public funding for improvements from Multnomah County, the state of Oregon and other government entities.
• Should the Blazers and the city fail to reach a long-term deal and leave Portland — and no other NBA team takes occupancy of the Moda Center — Rip City Management must repay all money spent by the city on arena improvements. Also, should the Blazers be sold, the bridge agreement would remain intact.