Moda Term Sheet Work Session #2 Recap

On July 16, the City sent over a draft term sheet (that was discussed but not officially approved by councilors) to the Blazers. Days later we were told (through an anonymous quoted source in the Oregonian) that the draft was a "non-starter."

On July 30, we were finally able to sit down face to face with representatives from the organization at our second Moda work session. A couple of key takeaways below:

• Blazers representatives consistently raised their concerns that the City would file a lawsuit based on the "first-class" NBA arena standard that's currently their responsibility in the 2030 bridge lease. Councilor Novick made an offhand comment about it at our first work session and the Mayor was clear that the City never considered suing the Blazers over the provision.
• Blazers representatives repeatedly said the deal was bigger than just the Moda Center, pointing to economic headwinds like an unfavorable tax environment ("high income taxes"). It's worth noting that Portland City Council has very little control over Oregon tax code (for example, we simply help administer the Multnomah County Preschool for All tax).
• Blazers representatives reiterated their point that they believe they already have paid their private contribution to the renovation through maintaining the Moda Center for the last 30 years. They also believe that the arena is currently in "first-class" state.
• Blazers representatives emphasized that they believe the state's bonding bill (SB 1501) is the deal itself. Representatives raised issues with the draft term sheet because it raises their financial obligation from the state baseline, with a repeated reference to 20 points where the term sheet diverged from the state's deal. They did not say what those 20 points were.
• Blazers representatives say that Portland's economy could lose $800-900 million a year if the Blazers leave and that it's atypical for so much of the current economic benefit to come from out of state dollars (TV deals) vs. in-state tourism, etc. This new analysis was conducted in the spring, but this is the first time we've seen these numbers.

For a full recap of the work session, you can read OPB's coverage here.

Portland, I'll let you be the judge on whether you're satisfied with those responses. But for me, I'm going to keep moving forward with the clear goal of making sure Rip City stays Rip City, and making sure East Portland gets real benefits from any Moda deal. And I'm hopeful that we can get this done in good faith, with collaboration from all parties, in a way that earns Portland's trust.

Key Moda Dates

• June 2026: Council work session and discussion of community feedback from survey and in-person engagement events.
• July 30:City Council work session on the Moda Center "term sheet," a non-binding preliminary document outlining the key economic and control terms of the proposed operator lease.
• August 5:City Council meeting on the term sheet.
• August 12: City Council meeting on the term sheet.
• September-October-November: Lease negotiations.
• November-December: Council votes whether to approve a "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU), a bonding document detailing final negotiated terms of the operator lease.
• Spring 2027: Council votes whether to approve the "Definitive Documents," a formal operator lease agreement written in compliance with the terms of the MOU.