Dundon returns to Portland as Moda Center lease talks hit a December deadline

PORTLAND — Oct. 13, 2026 — Tom Dundon is back in Portland, and the calendar around Moda Center is getting short. The Trail Blazers owner sat courtside for Monday’s 119-66 preseason win over the London Lions after a day of meetings with legislative leaders and local business figures, his first public appearance in the city since a June Metro Chamber event. The Oregonian’s Bill Oram, in an Oct. 13 Herald and News reprint, framed the visit as a warm-up for sharper talks when Dundon returns for the Oct. 21 season opener against the Phoenix Suns.

Dundon bought the franchise from the Paul Allen estate in March. Nearly eight months later, the arena that opened in 1995 remains the central business problem. The lease runs through 2030. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has called Moda Center bottom-tier among league buildings. Renovation talks now hinge on nearly $600 million in public funding — and on a long-term lease that has to be locked by the end of the year.

What the public money looks like

The state’s share is the largest piece: about $365 million in bonding, largely backed by taxes paid by Blazers players. Those bonds unlock only if the team and local governments agree on a long-term lease by year-end. The city of Portland is weighing roughly $120 million. Multnomah County could put in up to about $101.6 million; the county approved joining a joint authority on Oct. 1, according to KATU’s reporting, though the actual funding has not yet been authorized.

Monday’s meetings put Dundon across the table from Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber, House Majority Leader Ben Bowman and business leaders that included Jeff Swickard. Oram described the sessions as relationship-building ahead of the more pointed conversations expected next week, when Dundon is due back for opening night.

The leverage and the fear

The franchise has raised concerns about Oregon’s tax structure and about whether the team can make money in the current arena arrangement. Relocation talk is the shadow hanging over every deadline story in a mid-market NBA city, even when ownership says it wants to stay. Team president Dewayne Hankins has said the organization remains committed to Portland. That message matters politically; it does not by itself unlock bond authority or rewrite a lease.

For state lawmakers, the player-tax-backed bonds are a bet that keeping the Blazers in a modernized Moda Center is cheaper — and more popular — than watching the franchise’s value walk to another market. For Dundon, a December lease deadline turns what could have been multiyear arena politics into a compressed negotiation. Missing that window would leave the $365 million state package on the table while the clock on the 2030 lease keeps ticking.

What comes next

The Oct. 21 Suns opener is the next public checkpoint. Dundon is expected back in town for more substantive talks around that visit. Between now and Dec. 31, the joint authority, city hall, the county and the front office have to turn Monday’s introductions into a lease that satisfies the bond trigger. Until that paper is signed, Moda Center’s renovation package is a headline, not a construction plan — and Portland’s NBA future stays tied to a year-end deadline.