Who Is New Portland Trail Blazers Owner Tom Dundon? | The Firm Of Harris & Marang

Who Is New Portland Trail Blazers Owner Tom Dundon? | The Firm Of Harris & Marang

We welcome to the show, friends. We’re happy to have you along on this pretty big day here for us at 1051, the fan, the fan sports network at 1080, the fan uh 1080 a.m., excuse me. The YouTube chat, the text line. You guys are all having fun today and I’m happy to be around you. Uh big news today as the Portland Trailblazers, it is reported, have been sold for around $4 billion doll hairs to a a group led by a man named Tom Dundan, who is the majority owner of the Carolina Hurricanes. Not majority owner, 100% owner. 100% 100% owner. He bought the sexy fully in 22, I believe. uh bought the team in 2018, but I believe he bought the50 full share of the team in 2022. Is this one of those things where the state of Oregon’s most googled person in the month of August is Tom Dundan and he lives in Carolina? Probably already today. Uh no, he lives he’s Dallas. Oh, he lives in Oh, well, Texas. No income tax. Yeah. Um Tom Dundan. Hey, I love that you mentioned that that he is the majority owner of the Hurricanes. Now, this is not a slide on hockey, but the reality is is that hockey franchises are not valued as the same as NBA franchise. Bought them for $450 million in 2018. And what are they worth now? Probably not that much more. I’d say probably 657 somewhere in that range. They’re certainly going up because they have the new rights deal. And that’s that’s the thing again. And they’re good. Yes. And they’re good. And but they’re in a market I believe Raleigh is like 30 something. Uh let’s see. Raleigh media market size. Uh oh, no, actually it’s 22nd. It’s just behind Portland. Oh, so same as us. Yeah. What’s up? So, and that’s uh according to the latest polls. So, two just short of 2.8 million as far as I should say market size. So, actually actually I I thought they were 30 second for some reason, but yeah, they’re right behind Portland. There is a excerpt on Wikipedia that I’m excited to read during the break that says Tom Dundan and the quote bunch of jerks era 2017 to present. You telling me that this guy I need hockey boy to chime in for this. Are you telling me that this guy’s created a bad boy identity in Carolina? Cuz look, dude, majority ownership identity that gets my pants real tight because that’s like that’s one direction. That’s one voice. That’s one thing. I mean, Paul had that for a little bit here in good ways and bad ways. We had a good ways in the late 80s, early 90s and bad ways in the in the late 90s and bad ways in the early mid 2000s in terms of identity. Yeah. I mean, the the the identity of the Paul Allen teams for the longest period of time was spam. Spend Paul Allen’s money. the the CBA and where it’s at today is largely because of Paul Allen. Yeah. Because he was willing to out like don’t get me wrong, what Balmer and what did uh with the Clippers and the um the Warriors, that’s what got the CBA to where it fully is today because they were just like we’re going to spend more money than God and our luxury tax bill is going to be more than, you know, three times what team or what other owners spend on their teams and they’re like, “Yeah, we can’t have that. Sorry.” Uh so that pushed it. But Paul Allen, I believe, was the first owner in the NBA to have a $100 million payroll. Really? Yeah. He said, “Screw it. Let’s go.” He said, “F them kids.” Uh, some other interesting things about old Tommy boy here. Uh it looks like when he took over for the hurricanes, he went through jersey changes, went to uh an updated flag logo corrected to a hurricane warning flag and also made the canes on the sweater on the front of the sweater. You seen that for the hurricanes just says canes. So I mean if history repeats itself and we’ll get into what we think the future looks like a little bit later. this guy puts a stamp on it is what I’m seeing. Yeah, I think so. And uh I I I do have the actual uh numbers here. So, in 2018, Dundon bought 52% of the team. Uh and then in 2021, he required all remaining minority shares of the uh Carolina Hurricanes, becoming the franchise’s sole owner. Dude, I wanted to do that with the Blazers. Well, I will say if he if he doesn’t have the money, you know, shorting uh uh shortening the name on the front of the jersey to the Canes and whatnot, we’ve already got Blazers on the front of the jersey. I swear to God if they go, we riot. I I will throw him into the will. Not me. I’ll do it. Riot. No. Pitchfork time. It’s god awful. Anybody who says zers, I am immediately out on as a human being. Dude, I love zers. The same guys that say zers are the ones that go, “Hey, you want to go get a slice of zah?” Yeah. It’s like, no, I want to punch you in the face. Yes, exactly. Oh, man. I just found out you guys really don’t like me. Yes. There you go. I do. I don’t I don’t call it zah. I do like you, but yeah, you might have your foibless. It’s only called zah when I make the Lady Gaga joke. Zah. That’s her favorite food. The uh the interesting thing here is that between these three owners, none of them are worth the untold billion. So, uh Dundan, depending on what you believe in, is worth anywhere between a billion and one I believe it’s 1.4, right? There’s one report says 1.7. So, under under two billion. So, that means he cannot be the sole owner, correct, of the team because he does not have the funds to front four billion dollars. Yeah. So, the other guys on this list, Mark Zar is worth a billion and uh from Blue Owl Capital, who I did some research on Blue Owl Capital. Their credit is 145.5 billion. Their real assets are 71.5 billion. That’s not his that’s No, that’s not his money. That’s what they’re managing, but that’s he maybe they’re the money. I would be that a conflict of interest. Yeah, you can’t do that. um that kind of money can’t be in the NBA just yet. We’ll see where that goes. Uh the other uh owner that is named and it it matters the order that they are presented in the article. I mean that’s why Tom Dundan we can assume is the guy. Yes. Uh and then you’ve got uh Zar and then you’ve also got uh Portland based Shield Tile. Uh he is the co-CEO of Collective Global which is another like finance asset company. Okay. This dude’s a monster. And I mean this in like the Whoa. Not like you in a in a screenshot of you and me. 100%. Uh Sheil graduated from Stanford at 19. Wow. Wow. Doogie. Uh yes. In in addition, he also holds a JD from Harvard Law and he is he is a uh a member of the State Bar of Texas. Wow. He was on the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2013. This guy is a dude. Uh, who’s his wife? U, she may or may not work for the state of Oregon in the Oregon Health Authority, which if you’re aware of a particular building right next to Moda Center. Huh. If you want if you want to connect some dots right there. What are we going to do with that building? The the building that has presented some problems. Yes. Uh, for zoning and construction and things that you want to do there, which also circles back to Tom Dundan. He bought all of the minority shares of the Carolina Hurricanes and the building which is now the Lenovo Center and they are redoing that entire area in Raleigh into a district. Y Oh, weird. I know. So great. Weird. We’ll get to that at 11:00 and what that could mean. I think that’s the interesting thing about Tom Dundan here. Again, I maybe he’s still outside and I can ask him in the break. I didn’t catch what Brandon said was a negative thing that he found, but a lot of this stuff sounds really kind of positive to me. Are we just excited that this is sold or does this guy seem like maybe the right guy to run this small market team? I mean, cuz he’s doing a great job. And let’s be real, hockey is a niche sport. Hockey is dieards, though. Die Hards for sure, but it’s very regional. It’s very historical. I mean, the Carolina Hurricanes get the benefit of being the former Hartford Whalers, but Hartford and Raleigh are very far away from and nobody cares. And nobody cares. So, to build a hyped, very successful team in Raleigh, North Carolina, that’s hockey. This might be the kind of guy that I want because that’s now you’re going to take a shot at basketball in Portland. You’ve got a fan base already built in that if you give this fan base a reason, if you give this fan base a product, they will come out. I mean, what there was the longest time where the Blazers had some of the best attendant percentage-wise for stadium capacity in all the NBA. They had a 22year sell. Yeah. Yeah. So, it’s like the fan base is here if you want. And maybe a guy that maybe a small small market, you know, fringe sport. Hockey I don’t think is niche, but it’s fringe. It’s still the big four, but to have of the smaller end of the big four a local kind of driven team become the new guy here, I think it’s kind of a home run. And I will say, unless this guy turns out to be a giant piece of garbage, but we don’t know, man. Well, here’s the other thing. Since Dun bought the team in 2018, the Carolina Hurricanes have not been under 500. They have been to the their his first year in 1819, they lost in the conference finals. The next year, they lost in the first round. They lost in the second round. Then the next year, they lost in the second round, and they lost in the conference finals. lost in the second round and lost in the conference finals. So, they’ve been very successful in his in his run. Now, the the uh Stanley Cup, they won obviously before he was there. They won the cup in was that 05 0506 and they lost in the Stanley Cup finals in 01 02 and that was really only a couple years after they got there. They got they got to Carolina 9798. Yeah. So, uh they had a period of darkness for about a decade from 200910 to 2018. They were not in the playoffs, but they have not been below 500. Uh, their lowest winning percentage since he has taken over the team is 596, so 60%. That’s better than the Mariners. So, better than 54%. Better than the Mariners. Couple couple things coming in on the YouTube chat. Tim says, “Agents hate him, but the fans have appreciated his investment into the team and they’ve succeeded.” He said he took that from reading Kane’s fans on Reddit. And also in Mom’s Basement, I’m a huge hockey guy. I’ve really admired their organization for the last five years or so. I’ve got a buddy who’s a season ticket holder and he loves the organization. They spend money, they win. This is good. Well, the spending money part I’ll push back on a little bit, but yes, they they are not the cheapest team, but they are not spending all of the money. Side note, I know I know we’re up against it, but side note real quick. Do you think I don’t know how many new owners are going to come into any of the big four sports and be cheap? How many new owners have come in and been cheap now? See what I mean? Yeah. So, it’s like once we get the Fishers out and you get the Dan Snider, just like the the jerks and the the Hasslams, like once those guys get out and their kids decide to sell, I don’t think they’re going to be selling to crappy owners. You know, the Pittsburgh Pirates, like your days are numbered. You, if you’re a 12-year-old Pirates fan, by the time you are 50, you might have competent ownership. Now, that sucks to wait 38 years, but you might have competent ownership. And that’s maybe something we overlooked in this situation. So, the Hurricanes have the 23rd lowest or highest payroll in the NHL, but they’re good. Sure. But again, they’re not spending all of the money. Like the Golden Knights are one, Montreal 2, Florida 3, Edmonton four, Philly five, Dallas six. One of those teams have won a Stanley Cup in the last 10 years. Didn’t Vegas win one? That’s the only one. Didn’t the Panthers just win one? Oh, you said the Panthers. Panthers are third. My apologies. I was hearing Montreal, Edmonton, Dallas. Edmonton’s been to two in a row. Still haven’t won it, though. You’ve been to two in a row. I’m a winner here. Well, they’re spending money and it Well, guess what? Hurricanes haven’t won any. I’m a winner here. Okay. Edmonton also has the best player on planet Earth. Okay. The Hurricanes not spending money, not in the cup. Dude, who out there is hella mad that me and Danny are pretending to be hockey bros right now? I know hockey well enough. I got a bunch of friends that listen that watch hockey, so I just listen to what they say.

Meet Tom Dundon, the new owner of the Portland Trail Blazers.

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