Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon reportedly reached an agreement to buy the Portland Trail Blazers from the estate of deceased owner Paul Allen, Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico reported Wednesday.
Dundon will reportedly pay over $4 billion for the franchise, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, purchased the Trail Blazers for $70 million in 1988. Allen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2009 and died in 2018. Since his death, the team has been run by his estate, which is led by his sister Jody Allen. Paul’s will dictated that his sports holdings should be sold following his death, per a statement released by the team in May. The proceeds from the sale are expected to go toward philanthropic efforts.
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When Allen’s estate announced its intention to sell the Trail Blazers in May, it also announced that it would keep its ownership stake in both the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders for now. Both franchises were owned or part-owned by Allen prior to his death and currently run by his estate.
Dundon, 53, made his money in financial services and — eventually — private investments. He purchased a stake in the Hurricanes in 2017 and became the team’s majority owner in 2018. He’s also a major supporter of pickleball, and owns the retail site Pickleball Central. He played a role in launching pickleball.com.
The Hurricanes have experienced a ton of success under Dundon. The team has reached the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons, making it all the way to the conference finals three times during that period.
The Trail Blazers are coming off a season in which the team went 36-46 and failed to make the playoffs for the fourth-straight year. Last October, Forbes valued the team at $3.5 billion.
