Dundon in Talks to Sell Hurricanes Stake to Fund Blazers Buy

Tom Dundon is in talks to sell a minority stake in the NHL’s Hurricanes to raise cash for his purchase of the NBA’s Trail Blazers, Front Office Sports has learned.

Dundon has been holding discussions with potential investors about a minority stake in the Hurricanes, according to two sources familiar with the matter. One source says the stake sale is aimed at providing Dundon with more cash to pay for the Blazers, which he agreed to buy in August at a valuation north of $4 billion. A representative for the Hurricanes declined to comment Wednesday.

Mike Ozanian of CNBC first reported that Dundon is “close to selling a significant LP stake” in the NHL team at a $2 billion valuation. 

If that valuation turns out to be accurate, it would represent one of the highest for an NHL franchise. In 2023, the Canadiens were valued at $2.5 billion when Geoff Molson and his family—already controlling owners of the team—purchased a 10% stake from Michael Andlauer. Andlauer was forced to sell that stake in order to be allowed to complete his $950 million deal to buy the Senators.

The Lightning were valued at $1.8 billion in its 2024 sale to a group of investors led by Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, who are the co-CEOs of private-equity firm Blue Owl Capital. 

The group that Dundon is buying the Blazers with also includes someone from Blue Owl—its co-president Marc Zahr—as well as the Cherng family, who founded Panda Express, and Collective Global cofounder Sheel Tyle. That deal will take place in several stages over the next few years, FOS previously reported. 

Blue Owl itself is not involved in either ownership group. Separately, through a fund, Blue Owl does own minority stakes in the Hawks, Timberwolves, and Hornets.

Eight days after Dundon’s deal for the Blazers was announced, RAJ Sports—the owners of the WNBA’s Fire and NWSL’s Thorns—sued the Cherng family in an attempt to stop them from being part of Dundon’s ownership group. RAJ alleged the Cherngs had signed a contract to be part of its own bid for the Blazers but ditched it to join Dundon’s group.

RAJ 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. 

Dundon is a major player in U.S. pro sports. In addition to taking a majority stake in the Hurricanes in 2021, he leads investment firms Dundon Capital Partners and Southpaw Capital Partners. He is also among the owners of Major League Pickleball.

Another one of Dundon’s past sports investments—the short-lived Alliance of American Football—recently had its bankruptcy case wrapped up. Late last month, the judge awarded $1 to bankruptcy trustee Randolph Osherow, who had sued Dundon over allegations he fraudulently bought the league in 2019 with a pledge to invest $250 million that he had no intention of spending.

Dundon had in turn sued Charlie Ebersol, the AAF cofounder and son of legendary NBC executive Dick Ebersol, claiming he was fraudulently convinced to buy the floundering league and the AAF was a financial basket case. That suit was dismissed earlier this year.