Allen buys Garden?
Apparently Paul Allen has sealed the deal. He must’ve taken my New Years suggestions to heart. Really, this was the only move that made sense for him to remain here with the team. And it guarantees that Portland will be Rip City for the foreseeable future.
So, what’s next? NHL to Portland? Recently I shot John Canzano an e-mail asking if he though Allen was still interested. He doesn’t think so, but another stream of income certainly would be just what Allen ordered.
Anyway, I think this is a move that needs to be lauded by the community, and I think that it’s a vital step towards rebuilding the broken relationship the team has had with its fans. The Blazers have put on quite a few band-aids in the last 18 months to stop the bleeding, but this is like stitching up a bad cut. Now the healing can really get going in earnest.
Discuss…
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I certainly hope Paul continues to keep the Blazers in Portland. I mean it was his money that originally built this establishment 12 years ago. I would kind of doubt that there would really be anyone else who would be interested in purchasing the team and arena package.
Like they said on the news, if somone ones one, then they better own the other.
i thought that read - Alian buys Rose Garden.
I’m guessing the only party that would buy the garden would be a hockey ownership group looking to move their team, but they’d only do so if they also bought the Blazers. While it would be in Paul’s interest to offer space to an NHL squad, as he’d get income without dealing with payrolls and such, the teams would be at the same financial disadvantage that Paul has been complaining of if they didn’t own the building. All that said, I think buying an NHL squad makes too much sense for Paul to pass up. The new collective bargaining agreement is making everyone money and another dependable stream of income by way of more ticket sales will help fund the operation of the building. And Paul needs that money, as demonstrated by his prior choice to bankrupt out of the building instead of funding its operation. So I see an NHL squad here within three years…
As it stands today, Paul Allen can’t sell out Blazers games with zero big league competition. Not sure why he’d want to spread the big league winter sports market even thinner.
Besides, he’s one of the worst owners in big league sports. He totally f’ed up the arena deal by playing chicken with his lenders, and he cannot be forgiven for stealing Rip City and giving us the Jail Blazers in return.
Hockey fans everywhere are hoping and praying to the puck gods that Paul Allen doesn’t develop a sudden interest in hockey. Gary Bettman’s bad enough. We don’t need a Paul Allen in hockey.
The Penguins probably ain’t for sale anymore anyway, and if they were, they’d go to KC, Houston or Las Vegas before coming here.
I just hope he doesn’t screw the Winter Hawks’ on their lease deal any worse than they’re already getting hosed by Global Spectrum.
– more hockey less war –