In a letter to the NBA Commissioner, Gov. Tina Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson made it clear they want to see the Portland Trail Blazers stay in the city and the Moda Center renovated.

“The Portland Trail Blazers are more than a part of our history — they are part of our future,” Kotek and Wilson wrote in a letter Tuesday.

The letter marks the first significant public lobbying from two of Oregon’s most prominent politicians on the fate of the Blazers and the publicly-owned arena they call home.

The estate of Paul Allen announced in May that the Blazers are for sale, ending years of speculation about its future. Shortly after, it became clear that the state of the aging Moda Center could be problematic if the Blazers wanted to stay in the city. In a meeting with reporters in Las Vegas July 16, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he preferred to keep the team in the city but that it would likely need a new arena.

It appears, for now, everyone agrees.

Along with the governor and city’s top elected official, a group of well-known local business executives and former Blazer players and other city power players created a new group called Rip City Forever, which also wrote a letter to the governor’s office this week stressing a sense of urgency.

“Leadership begins with clear-eyed recognition that Portland and Oregon will need to compete with other cities who are likely already plotting to woo the next Blazers owner to their city,” the letter read. The Oregonian/OregonLive and Willamette Week first reported on the group.

The letter calls on city and state letters to consider significantly updating the Moda Center, reimagining the Rose Quarter or thinking about an entirely new place for the arena.

“For example, replacing the Moda Center with a new arena at the Lloyd Center or another central city location could not only secure the Blazer’s future in Portland, but would revitalize downtown and create even greater opportunities for the future of the Albina neighborhood and Albina Vision Trust — the largest restorative redevelopment effort ever undertaken in the United States,” they wrote.

The newly-formed Rip City group includes a wide-range of well-known people; former Trail Blazer legend Clyde Drexler, former Trail Blazer and gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley; the head of the Oregon Business Council, Duncan Wyse; former state Senator and gubernatorial candidate Betsy Johnson; Sadie Lincoln, the founder and CEO of Barre 3; founder and CEO Kim Malek of Salt & Straw.

The city of Portland now owns the Moda Center. It is one of the older arenas in the NBA that has not undergone extensive renovations.

The Blazers are one of 30 NBA franchises, a limited commodity that has increasingly prompted record sale prices when teams hit the market. Silver announced last month that the NBA was taking a closer look at expansion, but there’s no immediate timetable.

The Blazers’ short term lease at the Moda Center — which runs through 2030 with an option for an additional five-year extension — make the team potentially portable if the new owner is not committed to Portland.

Gov. Kotek and Mayor Wilson wrote in their letter that the “Blazers are in our DNA, and at the center of what makes this community so special.’

“We fully support renovating the Moda Center to become a point of pride for the Blazers and for our city,” Kotek and Wilson wrote. “We are prepared to explore the public-private partnerships needed to make it happen.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/07/30/trail-blazers-nba-portland-mayor-oregon-governor-lobby/