FILE - A fan sports a Damian Lillard jersey during the third game in the Trail Blazers’ first round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs in April 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
As a deadline to commit public dollars to Moda Center renovations rapidly approaches, it appears that Portland city councilors will be asked to approve spending $120 million on arena renovations next month without knowing where that money will come from in the city budget.
According to city officials, that’s because the Portland Trail Blazers have yet to share details of the renovation plans they have in mind for the Moda Center. The Blazers say they need the city to commit to funding before they’ll share designs.
As part of the city’s commitment to join the state and county in covering the Blazers’ estimated $600 million in renovation costs, Mayor Keith Wilson and other councilors have discussed tapping specific city revenue streams to cover much of the costs. That includes the Portland Clean Energy Fund and a fund within Prosper Portland, the city’s economic development bureau.
To advance that plan, the boards that govern both sets of funding — the PCEF Committee and Prosper Portland Board of Commissioners — must first determine whether their revenue can be spent to overhaul the city-owned arena.
Council President Jamie Dunphy, who is leading city councilors through the Moda negotiations, said the boards have guidelines they must follow to make funding decisions.
“For the PCEF and Prosper boards to make recommendations, they need to know enough about the proposed renovation to determine what can be funded within those rules,” he said in an email to OPB.
A schedule distributed internally by Dunphy’s office in May had noted that PCEF and Prosper boards would review the funding requests in July.
But now, in mid-July, neither board has received information from the Blazers about the proposed arena project, according to city spokespeople for both programs.
It’s not on Prosper Portland’s agenda for their July 13 board meeting.
“We understand the City has requested details related to the Moda renovation from the Trailblazers, which are necessary to inform decisions on financial contributions,” Prosper Portland Executive Director Cornell Wesley said in an email to OPB. “We look forward to reviewing those with city leadership once received.”
And while the Moda project will be discussed at the PCEF Committee’s July 23 meeting, PCEF spokesperson Elizabeth Stover said the committee “has not received any materials or plans to date.”
Neither office anticipates receiving or reviewing plans before Aug. 12. That’s when city councilors are set to vote on a “term sheet,” a document that kicks off new lease negotiations between the city and the Blazers. That document will include the city’s commitment to spend at least $120 million on renovations as part of a new 20-year lease. While Wilson and some councilors have already pledged to give this amount to the Blazers, it will need the approval of at least seven councilors to advance — unless Wilson is called to break a tie-breaking 6-6 vote.
This means that city councilors will be asked to vote on a funding plan without knowing how they’ll pay for it. That may be a hard sell for some, especially those who’ve raised concerns about using PCEF money — a fund reserved for climate-related projects — to renovate an NBA arena.
“PCEF is a voter-approved fund with very specific guidelines,” Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane told OPB. “I don’t see how I can be expected to approve a term sheet without knowing if and how PCEF funds will be used or not.”
Wilson’s office did not respond to OPB’s request for comment. Previously, Wilson had said that he would only support using PCEF funds for the arena renovations if the PCEF Committee recommended it.
Both Wilson and Dunphy say they’re waiting on the Blazers.
“In order to put together the details of a financial package that includes PCEF and Prosper, we need fundamental details of the renovation from the Blazers, which we’ve asked for and look forward to receiving,” said Dunphy.
Charles Boyle, a spokesperson for the Blazers, said the team’s owners are waiting on receiving more information from the city.
“We have been unable to reach an agreement with the city on a funding mechanism for the formal design phase and, until this happens, finalized architectural renderings quite simply do not yet exist,” Boyle told OPB.
The Blazers’ ownership group, led by Texas billionaire Tom Dundon, has shown no signs it will spend money on renovating the city arena. This has become another issue for councilors, who want to see some private investment in the area.
“I am not interested in fully funding anything at the public’s expense without that,” said Councilor Candace Avalos at a late June council meeting.
Councilors are set to discuss the public financing plan again at a July 22 meeting.
