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Tom Dundon’s purchase of the Portland Trail Blazers will take place in several stages over the next few years, multiple sources with knowledge of the deal told Front Office Sports.
The team announced in August that Dundon, who also owns the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, will buy the franchise in a deal that valued it at $4.25 billion. The announcement came three months after it was put up for sale by the estate of Paul Allen, the late Microsoft co-founder who bought the team in 1988 for $70 million. Allen died in 2018 and his sister, Jody, has run the team since.
Dundon and his ownership group reached a purchase agreement with Allen’s estate on Sept. 16. Eight days later, RAJ Sports—the owners of the WNBA’s Portland Fire and NWSL’s Thorns—sued the Cherng family in an attempt to stop them from being part of Dundon’s ownership group. RAJ Sports alleged the Cherngs, who co-founded Panda Express, had signed a contract to be part of RAJ’s bid for the team, only to ditch it to join Dundon’s group.
RAJ Sports voluntarily withdrew the lawsuit three weeks after filing it, but not before Dundon filed an affidavit saying he doesn’t need the Cherngs’ money to buy the team. RAJ Sports and the Cherngs reached a settlement out of court, which Dundon facilitated.
Aside from the Cherngs, Dundon’s ownership group also includes Collective Global co-founder Sheel Tyle and Blue Owl Capital co-president Marc Zahr.
The deal is expected to close in March 2026 and Dundon will become the team’s majority owner when it does. A second transaction will take place at a later date for Dundon to buy the remaining stake in the team from the Allen estate. Jody Allen is currently the team’s governor; Dundon will replace her as governor after his first payment.
A league source compared the sale to Bill Chisholm’s recent purchase of the Celtics. Chisholm paid $6.1 billion for the team and assumed majority control in August, but will have a second transaction in 2028 to complete the sale. Chisholm had to raise additional capital to close the deal, which included Aditya Mittal of steel giant ArcelorMittal, who is a minority owner in his group.
“The way we approached this was we wanted it done day one, and it is done,” Chisholm said of his deal at his introductory press conference in September. “It’s just a matter of how it actually gets funded. So it’s done, and in terms of ownership, my stake doesn’t change materially at all, because it’s already locked in.”
Spokespeople for the Paul Allen Estate and Dundon both declined to comment.
