Oregon’s top Democrats have unveiled their opening salvo to renovate the Moda Center in order to keep the Portland Trail Blazers in the state for decades to come.

A bill being introduced in the state Senate on Monday could siphon away income taxes paid by the Blazers and any other employers in Portland’s Rose Quarter. Rather than going to the state’s general fund, the bill would allow that money to be sent to a new fund aimed at helping pay to revamp the Moda Center.

The bill, Senate Bill 1501, would also take income taxes paid by construction firms actually doing arena renovations to help fund the work, along with taxes paid by other entertainers who make money performing at the Moda Center.

The money would only be available if the Blazers commit to remaining in the Moda Center for “a specified term.”

The bill, filed by Senate President Rob Wagner, is the first glimpse of legislative efforts to keep the Blazers in Portland as the team prepares to transfer to the hands of a new owner next month. Speculation is rife — in the Capitol and elsewhere — that new owner Tom Dundon could opt to move the team to a new city if the aging Moda Center isn’t brought up to modern standards.

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Reporting by The Oregonian/OregonLive in recent days has placed the price of public investment in that renovation project at $600 million, to be shared among the state, the city of Portland and Multnomah County. Leaders of all three governments issued a release Monday signaling support.

“The key to ensuring Portland remains Rip City for years to come is a significant renovation of Moda Center, the oldest venue where the NBA plays that has not undergone a major renovation,” the statement said in part.

It was not clear Monday morning how much SB 1501 could wind up diverting from the state’s general fund at a time budget writers are already planning to cut state services for years to come. Nor was it clear whether Dundon and his ownership group were proposing to chip in for the arena work. But influential Democrats have made clear that they think the tradeoff is worth it.

“What I think is important is to make sure that we have a facility like the Moda Center in Portland that can keep our most important tenant, which is the Portland Trail Blazers,” Gov. Tina Kotek said last month. “We’re in this transition with a new owner and it’s an opportunity for the city and the state and the county to put their best foot forward and say, ‘Look, we want to be a partner with the new owner to keep the team.’”

Kotek said she would seek a commitment from the Blazers to remain in the city for 20 or 30 years in exchange for the public money. The arena opened in 1995 and is one of the only arenas in the NBA that has not undergone an extensive renovation.

“The Moda Center, with the Portland Trail Blazers as its anchor tenant, is a source of civic pride and is critical to the strength and continued growth of our local, regional, and statewide economies,” Wagner said in a statement. “Renovating Oregon’s Arena is the best investment we can make in Oregon’s economic future.”

The city of Portland owns the Moda Center, and lawmakers supportive of paying for upgrades have suggested the building is a public asset that needs to be renovated at some point. Doing so in order to ensure that the Trail Blazers remain in Oregon only makes sense, those people say.

Under SB 1501, the state can become a part-owner of the building as part of a “joint authority” alongside others in exchange for its investment. That would open up the possibility of borrowing against the state’s general fund to pay for renovations and paying off those bonds with money in the new arena fund. That funding structure would not impact the state’s current budget, which currently has a hole of roughly $650 million.

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With support from Wagner, Kotek and other leading Democrats, SB 1501 appears to stand a strong chance of passage this month. The proposal will almost certainly be called into question by groups that oppose publicly financing sports facilities, investments that are often cast as giveaways to wealthy owners. Whether local governments that are also being asked for funding will also agree to divert money is unclear.

“I don’t think we know exactly what that would cost right now,” Kotek said. “We just need to know what are the options. We have to put a proposal in front of the new owners to say, ‘This is what Oregon can do to have the Moda Center modernized.’”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/09/portland-trail-blazers-moda-center-renovation/