Local influencers and hundred-million-dollar ultimatums take center stage as the franchise deploys new tactics to secure massive public funding for a high-stakes arena renovation project.
The Portland Trail Blazers' Moda Center negotiations have already featured hundreds of millions of dollars in proposed public funding, contentious government meetings, relocation concerns, a 4-1 county vote and 19 failed City Council amendments.
Enter influencers.
According to Alissa Gary of The Oregonian, comedian Ian Karmel, writer Ashtyn Butuso, Deadstock Coffee founder Ian Williams and shoe store owner Troy Douglass were compensated to post videos advocating for the nearly $600 million renovation project.
The partnerships were disclosed, and Karmel said he planned to donate his compensation while maintaining that he would've supported the cause for free.
So this isn't some grand influencer scandal. But it does represent another fascinating development in what has increasingly felt like a public relations war over the future of Moda Center.
The actual negotiations are complicated enough.
Oregon has already committed $365 million in bonding toward improvements to Moda Center and the surrounding Rose Quarter, Multnomah County recently advanced a framework allowing it to contribute up to $101.6 million and Portland officials have considered putting up another $120 million.
Yet those numbers have almost become only part of the story.
Blazers leadership has publicly criticized Portland's proposed term sheet, previously calling it a "non-starter." City officials have pushed back on the franchise's requests, while Portlanders have packed government meetings to voice their own opinions.
Now, a pro-renovation coalition is paying recognizable local figures to take the argument directly to their social media followers.
And perhaps the most interesting part is the message being delivered.
"I believe there's a very real chance the Portland Trail Blazers will leave Portland if we don't get the Moda Center renovated," Karmel said in his sponsored video, via The Oregonian.
That's certainly ... one way ... to capture a fan's attention.
Whether Portland is actually in danger of losing the Blazers is a much more complicated question. The franchise's current agreement keeps it at Moda Center through 2030, and the ongoing negotiations are specifically designed to produce a new long-term lease.
There's also a substantial amount of public money already on the table.
None of that guarantees the two sides eventually reach an agreement, but it illustrates why boiling the entire situation down to renovate the arena or lose the Blazers probably doesn't capture everything happening here.
And that's where this latest development becomes important.
The fight over Moda Center is no longer exclusively about finding roughly $600 million and negotiating a lease. There's now another battle being fought over which side can convince Portlanders its vision for the arena makes the most sense.
We Are Rip City is entitled to make its case. Local officials are entitled to make theirs. And Portlanders are ultimately entitled to decide which arguments they find convincing.
But with City Council's Aug. 12 vote approaching, the campaign to renovate Moda Center has officially expanded beyond conference rooms and government chambers.
The negotiations are still about dollars.
Winning the public might be becoming nearly as important.
