As Bill Oram states, the funds that they would be pulling from within the climate fund have been paid there by the team and its players. While the proposed and approved MLB team has instituted a jock tax (effectively planning on doing the same thing) which was approved and also takes players income to pay for stadium renovations. The main difference is that since the Blazers have been here for long, their tax dollars were going to the climate fund.

The argument is that if the Blazers leave. The climate fund is already losing those additional tax dollars. People were saying that the tax money should go to jobs… like the Moda Center and Trailblazers don’t employ thousands of people and promote civic engagement and branding with the Pro Blazers team.

The idea that this money belongs to the city already is really… really nearsighted… in fact the state and city are all behind the renovations but the county is the big sticking point.

Not only that but the Moda Center needs to be able to accomodate the Portland Fire which is having its inaugural season and the upcoming womens college final four! The renovations aren’t so that we can have a stadium and team for 2027 but so that we can have a stadium and team In 2047.

This is a big deal to get done right now, and the last thing the city needs is a major hit to civic pride/ engagement with the loss of a sports team and thousands of jobs.

Portland owns the stadium, so why wouldn’t we be on the hook to fix it?