Paul Allen’s estate has officially agreed to sell the Portland Trail Blazers to a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon, The Associated Press reported Friday.
The deal, which was tentatively announced last month, will keep the team in Portland. The Allen estate confirmed they’ve “entered a formal sales agreement” with Dundon’s group, though they didn’t share the price tag.
Dundon isn’t going it alone. His investment team includes some heavy hitters: Portland-based Sheel Tyle (co-founder of Collective Global), Marc Zahr from Blue Owl Capital, and the family behind Panda Express through their Cherng Family Trust.
The purchase price? A whopping $4.25 billion.
Dundon wanted the purchase agreement signed this month, with the deal expected to close by March 31, 2026, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic.
The NBA Board of Governors still needs to approve the sale before it’s official.
If everything goes according to plan with that March 31 closing date, the new owners will take over with just six games left in the 2025-26 season.
For comparison, the Boston Celtics sold for $6.1 billion back in March. The Blazers deal should wrap up by year’s end.
Dundon, 53, isn’t new to sports ownership. He bought into the NHL’s Hurricanes in 2017 and became majority owner the following year. His day job? Running Dallas-based Dundon Capital Partners as chairman and managing partner.
The Allen estate announced they were putting the team up for sale just this past May.
Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, bought the Blazers way back in 1988 for just $70 million. That’s turned into quite the investment over 35+ years!
Allen died in 2018 at age 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He was a major sports enthusiast who also owned the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and co-owned the Seattle Sounders soccer team.
Since his death, his sister Jody Allen has been running things as chair of both the Blazers and Seahawks while serving as trustee of her brother’s estate.
Local group Rip City Forever, made up of former Blazers and team officials, released a statement about the sale:
“The work to ensure Portland remains Rip City Forever has just begun. A public-private partnership to create a world-class home for the Blazers is at the heart of this effort. We urge Mr. Dundon, together with city and state leaders, to seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity to think big and act big – for the future of our city and state.”
