1) Paul Allen defaulted on a $155 million loan?Originally Posted by alexlannin
2) TIAA-CREF better not help. That's who my retirement plan is with.
Paul Allen issues statement
Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen broke his silence late today, issuing his first statement on the team's attempts to craft a public-private partnership.
In the statement, Allen explicitly threatened to sell the NBA franchise -- or allow it to leave Portland -- if a fix can't be found for its financial problems. "If I have to sell the team or if it can't continue, that will be sad," Allen wrote on the team's Web site.
"For the last ten years, Portland has enjoyed the benefits of the Trail Blazers through what is probably the most favorable franchise relationship with a city that has ever existed in the NBA," he wrote. "Unfortunately the economic model for that type of deal is broken, and now everyone needs to pitch in and try and fix it. If that effort fails, the team is in jeopardy, as we have invested too much to this point to continue."
Allen went on to blame former Blazer executive Marshall Glickman for "the worst arena deal in basketball," signed at a time the team was flying high after championship appearances in 1990 and 1992. He said the PFM consulting firm helped Glickman work out the lease details, although Allen acknowledged that, in the end, "I signed off on the deal."
He accused the lenders who helped him finance the arena with a $155 million loan -- and who later took control when he defaulted -- of being unwilling to renegotiate toward what the billionaire owner considered to be a fair deal: "We had hoped that the owners of Portland Arena Management (PAM) -- which include Prudential, Farmers Insurance, TIAA-CREF, Pacific Life and others -- would understand the model is broken too, and participate in a solution, but so far that hasn’t happened."
"I want the team to stay in Portland," Allen concluded. "If this all ends up in the courts or someone buys the team and moves it, it would be a shame."
1) Paul Allen defaulted on a $155 million loan?
2) TIAA-CREF better not help. That's who my retirement plan is with.
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We may butt heads on wrasslin from time to time, but a mutual hatred for Green Bay practically makes us brothers.
Yeah, he decided to let the company fend for itself instead of paying for it.1) Paul Allen defaulted on a $155 million loan?
2) TIAA-CREF better not help. That's who my retirement plan is with.
This guy willl fly himself into outerspace as he lets his businesses die on earth. What a great role model. He could finance the blazers for years on pocket change.
"But When is Mister Xorn coming back? I don't get it..."
God Bless America
Yep, after, of course, making some of the worst deals in sports. For example, the team is STILL paying Shawn Kemp 2 million dollars a year to not play,
And will for about seventeen more years.
He can thank his somehow unwittingly STUPID bond with Bob Whitsitt for the team's demise. They're STILL trying to recover from his gaffes.
Luckily football is an easier sport to heal your team with (non guaranteed contracts and all) because Whitsitt was crapping up my Seahawks until last year.
None of Paul Allen's business ventures are doing well, including the sporting news
You're not drawing a check from them, I hope.
Exactly. I can't even imagine the balls you'd have to have to ask a mid sized town to help finance a team that you tanked by overpaying spoiled players, then either trading them for lesser talent or letting their contracts run out so you can do the same thing with another player, but get nothing in return. The team's absolutely horrible this year, but paying its players millions. They could have been as shitty a team as they are now with unknowns making league minimum.
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