$2 Billion?!

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julius said:
what is incredibly hilarious about their mindset (and I have no doubt it's a very small minority of Sonic fans who "believe" this is remotely happening)...if Paul Allen was going to do this, he is really going about it the stupid way.

Unlike the Sonics back before they moved to OKC, the Blazers are actually investing in the arena, investing in creating a positive connection between the city and more importantly, state and the team AND they're doing things to improve the overall health and reputation OF the franchise (both business wise and basketball wise).

So, in other words, Paul Allen is doing almost the exact opposite thing you'd want to do to justify and speed up the process of moving the franchise to another city.
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Plus, he still owns the arena here, right? I mean, he moves away, he has to hope for a publicly funded building, and then sell a worthless building here.
 
Plus didn't/isn't he trying to buy an NHL team to move to the RG? Why would he burn that many bridges if he had another team here?
 
OneLifeToLive said:
What's interesting with this is he has already said that if he purchses it, it would be for LA. If that is the case that leaves Seattles future team without an invester. Or atleast a publicly known.
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Well, that's what Clay Bennett said when he bought the Sonics - that he would not move them to OKC.
 
Re: The Blazers - The city of Portland has an iron-clad lease with them. The Blazers moving is a moot subject.
 
Stevenson said:
Well, that's what Clay Bennett said when he bought the Sonics - that he would not move them to OKC.
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I never thought of Ballmer as being a basketball junky. So much of a junky that he would be willing to spend 1.2 billion of his riches to purchase a team that resides 1000 miles of where he lives and where he intended on bringing a team. Has to be more to this. The deal is signed, sealed and almost delivered. Pending league approval the team is his.
 
Stevenson said:
Re: The Blazers - The city of Portland has an iron-clad lease with them. The Blazers moving is a moot subject.
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When is that contract up anyways? Was it 30 years after 93?
 
julius said:
When is that contract up anyways? Was it 30 years after 93?
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I still think Allen has the money to hire a good enough attorney to find the 'loophole' if he wanted to make this happen. I don't have that much confidence in Portland city politics to think otherwise.

He is hounded constantly by those that adore him in Seattle to move the Blazers up there. He is a hero up there. He has to at least think about it every once in awhile.
 
OneLifeToLive said:
I still think Allen has the money to hire a good enough attorney to find the 'loophole' if he wanted to make this happen. I don't have that much confidence in Portland city politics to think otherwise.

He is hounded constantly by those that adore him in Seattle to move the Blazers up there. He is a hero up there. He has to at least think about it every once in awhile.
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And what does he do with the Moda Center? They can't make enough off of Winterhawks games and the occassional concert to justify owning such a place.
 
RR7 said:
Might as well give it away at that point. Who would buy an arena like that with no team?
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Someone with the intent to bring a team in?

A group lead by Merrit Paulson? Idk, anyone.
 
RR7 said:
Might as well give it away at that point. Who would buy an arena like that with no team?
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Paul Allen only put ~$100m of his own money into the RG, if even that. The rest were through Vulcan loans, the city of Portland, and the $46m of his own money he put up to build the arena. He may as well just give it to the City of Portland.
 
OneLifeToLive said:
Sell it?
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Good luck selling an almost 20 year old building with the main tenant being a minor league hockey team and a soon to be defunct arena football team.
 
OneLifeToLive said:
Someone with the intent to bring a team in?

A group lead by Merrit Paulson? Idk, anyone.
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Merrit Paulson isn't actually that wealthy. And by "that wealthy" I mean "that he can realistically afford the cost of running an NBA team, even if there is a group he brings in".

Running an NBA team has turned into a billionaires club.

And if it costs 500 million for a team like the Bucks and with the Clippers setting the bar insanely high, it'd cost probably close to (all told) a billion dollars to move another team to Portland (NBA wise).

Merrit is a lot of things, but a miracle worker he ain't.
 
RR7 said:
And what does he do with the Moda Center? They can't make enough off of Winterhawks games and the occassional concert to justify owning such a place.
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The Portland Clippers!
 
julius said:
Merrit Paulson isn't actually that wealthy. And by "that wealthy" I mean "that he can realistically afford the cost of running an NBA team, even if there is a group he brings in".

Running an NBA team has turned into a billionaires club.

And if it costs 500 million for a team like the Bucks and with the Clippers setting the bar insanely high, it'd cost probably close to (all told) a billion dollars to move another team to Portland (NBA wise).

Merrit is a lot of things, but a miracle worker he ain't.
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He may not be worth it but his connections I would think gives him access to it. Also, I didn't say Merritt as in the way I would say 'Paul'. I said group lead by Merritt.

Merritt seems like a guy that would save basketball for a town like Portland.
 
OneLifeToLive said:
He may not be worth it but his connections I would think gives him access to it. Also, I didn't say Merritt as in the way I would say 'Paul'. I said group lead by Merritt.

Merritt seems like a guy that would save basketball for a town like Portland.
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I think the problem with that thinking is, having a group of semi-rich people owning the Blazers would suck.

Since I'm not worried about Paul Allen selling the team or moving it (because of the reasons I outlined earlier), I think it's a lot of hair pulling/discussion for naught.
 
How did this thread get hijacked into never-never land? What a pointless discussion about a non-subject.
 
julius said:
Merrit Paulson isn't actually that wealthy.
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His dad and family are wealthy enough, and the connections they have to wealth are almost w/out peer. Hank Paulson is a legendary Wall Street villain, considering how he help orchestrate the destruction of other firms outside of his Goldman Sachs while Fed Secretary.
 
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PapaG said:
His dad and family are wealthy enough, and the connections they have to wealth are almost w/out peer. Hank Paulson is a legendary Wall Street villain, considering how he backed the destruction of other firms outside of his Goldman Sachs while Fed Secretary.
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This.
 
Stevenson said:
How did this thread get hijacked into never-never land? What a pointless discussion about a non-subject.
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unfounded fear find their way into the hearts of every thread that involves another team moving/being sold or anything to do with Seattle getting a team.
 
julius said:
unfounded fear find their way into the hearts of every thread that involves another team moving/being sold or anything to do with Seattle getting a team.
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I don't think Paul would do this but to continue to say that city of Portland has an iron clad lease agreement with him and there is no way out of it I'm just not buying it. There is a loophole and I think there is an attorney that would find it if he really wanted the move.
 
OneLifeToLive said:
I still think Allen has the money to hire a good enough attorney to find the 'loophole' if he wanted to make this happen...

He is hounded constantly by those that adore him in Seattle to move the Blazers up there. He is a hero up there. He has to at least think about it every once in awhile.
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Portland should consider him a hero, too.
 
The Clippers have the worst leases in sports right now. If I were Balmer I'd demand the city build me my own arena, or simply move it to Seattle or Anaheim
 
Shelly Sterling said in a statement. “We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premiere NBA franchise. I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success.”

There's no way she said that with a straight face. In the 33 years they "worked to build the Clippers into a premiere NBA franchise", they made the playoffs a grand total of 7 times. And have been the laughingstock of the NBA for the vast majority of the time he's owned them. And it was not because of the fact they're in the same city as the Lakers.

http://nba.si.com/2014/05/30/shelly-sterling-sells-clippers-steve-ballmer-microsoft/
 
PapaG said:
Yep. Team will sell for around $1.8b to an LA group. Either that, or Ballmer will have to sign some sort of agreement to not move the team to Seattle for 'x' amount of years.
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Nope, Ballmer would need permission to move the team, it won't happen they would not even let them move the Kings let alone a revitalized Clippers team leaving LA. The 2 billion will stand and the team will stay in LA. At least for the remainder of their lease 8 years I believe.
 
julius said:
Just have your owner say something racist, and badda bing badda boom....


what, too soon?
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Maybe this was the plan all along, Sterling wanted to sell but he knew they were over rated so he decided to give them an opt out or some extra motivation. Clippers lost because they were distracted by this whole situation not because they are inferior to the Thunder. Had they won it would have made them even more attractive to potential buyers.

Plus he streamlined the sale process and timeline Sterling is a genius.
 
Yeah, I said elsewhere that I think he had this whole thing planned. Every owner should pull this stunt to double his team worth.
 
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