Tensions rise as City Council members demand transparency in secretive Moda Center negotiations, fearing a final renovation deal could exceed the city’s financial limits and risk the franchise’s future.
Portland City Council already told the Trail Blazers what it was willing to put on the table.
The problem now? The people who will eventually have to approve the final deal aren't actually in the room while it's being negotiated.
The Portland Trail Blazers and city remain in negotiations over a long-term Moda Center lease and renovation agreement, with Mayor Keith Wilson warning this week that the process remains "fragile" with "no certainty at all."
That's a pretty uncomfortable message for City Council to hear from the outside.
KOIN reported Friday that Councilor Candace Avalos is growing uneasy with the process, even though council will eventually be asked to review and approve the city's financial commitments and binding agreements.
Avalos, who voted against Portland's August term sheet, pointed directly to Wilson's warning. If the mayor is publicly expressing that kind of uncertainty, she essentially wants to know what he is seeing that council isn't.
And that's where this latest development becomes different from the months of back-and-forth surrounding the Moda Center.
City Council already approved an 8-4 nonbinding term sheet that established Portland's negotiating framework. It includes $120 million from the city toward the initial renovation, additional long-term arena investments and a lease of at least 20 years.
That vote never finished the deal — it established what council was willing to negotiate from.
As we examined earlier this month, even all of the progress surrounding the Moda Center still left several major steps between Portland and a finished agreement.
Now another pressure point is starting to show.
Whatever the city and the Blazers ultimately negotiate still has to come back before a council that hasn't been sitting at the table. Avalos has already described the August term sheet as closer to Portland's ceiling than its floor, which becomes pretty important if the final agreement asks council to move much further.
Councilor Dan Ryan added another wrinkle this week, acknowledging that whatever comes back later this year could look quite different from the guidelines council approved in August.
That's really the issue here.
Council knows what it authorized. It doesn't know exactly what it will eventually be asked to approve.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has already said that a Blazers departure would represent a failure, adding even more pressure to negotiations that haven't exactly lacked it over the last few months.
And this isn't the first time City Hall has shown concern about where things could be headed. Portland officials have previously raised questions about the Blazers' long-term intentions as the arena dispute has dragged on, while the battle itself has at times spilled into a public fight over who should carry responsibility for getting a deal done.
The Sept. 30 City Council work session should offer the next meaningful look at where things stand, even though no formal action can be taken there. Portland's current timeline calls for negotiations through the fall, with binding terms expected back before council by the end of the year.
For months, the question has been whether Portland and the Blazers could get close enough to strike a deal.
They still have to answer that one.
But now there's another question sitting behind it … what happens if the deal that comes back isn't one City Council wants to approve?
