Authorize a non-binding term sheet with Rip City Management LLC and Trail Blazers Holdings, LLC outlining the terms for Moda Center arena renovation, operating and lease agreements that will keep the Portland Trail Blazers playing in Portland for at least 20 more years

This resolution approves the Proposed Terms for Moda Center Arena Renovation and Post Renovation Operations Term Sheet Lease attached at Exhibit A.The Moda Center is a City-owned facility, constructed in the 1990s, and transferred into City ownership in 2024. It is home to the Portland Trail Blazers, and hosts a wide variety of other events including WNBA games, NCAA games, concerts and family shows. While the facility has been well maintained and remains in good operating condition, many systems are original to the building and will require replacement in the coming years. Additionally, the facility requires a variety of upgrades to continue serving both as an NBA arena and hosting other events in the long-term.The resolution is non-binding, but if approved, sets in motion a period of negotiations with team ownership, state and county funding partners, as well as performance of due diligence and preparation of legal documents with the intent to bring binding contractual documents back to City Council for approval by December 31, 2026.Rip City Management is the sister company to the Portland Trail Blazers that operates the Moda Center and the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which are both owned by the City of Portland. The City, Rip City Management, and the Portland Trail Blazers desire to enter into a long-term agreement that would commit the team to playing in a fully renovated Moda Center arena for 20 or more years. Because the City is unable to meet the full financial needs of an arena renovation alone, the State of Oregon and Multnomah County have agreed to help fund the renovation, subject to certain requirements and limitations.The State's funding commitment of $365 million is contingent on binding commitments of funding from the City and County by the end of 2026.Approval of this resolution sets in motion several months of negotiation and preparation of legal documents with the ownership of the franchise. Assuming terms acceptable to the parties can be reached, binding legal documents will be brought back to City Council for approval in December.These new legal documents will include a development agreement for arena renovations as well as a new operating lease for Moda Center with a term of at least 20 years. Several other existing related Rose Quarter agreements will also need to be revised and updated for consistency with the new lease and development agreement.

See related information in the Financial and Budgetary Impacts section above. According to a 2023 Economic Impact Analysis commissioned by the City from Crossroads, LLC Consulting Group, the economic activity to the region and state of the Rose Quarter event campus is estimated at over $600 million in annual economic impact including nearly 6,000 full and part-time jobs, and total labor income of over $290 million. More recent economic impact information is not available, however recent years have seen similar event activity and attendance to FY 2022-23, and as a result, it is reasonable to assume similar annual economic impacts.Failure to advance the proposed arena renovation project and secure a new 20-year lease with the Trail Blazers will increase the potential for future team relocation once the current lease expires in October 2030. Because the franchise is responsible for the majority of the economic impact generated by Moda Center, the City, State and region is at risk of losing this activity.

The Portland Trail Blazers and Moda Center are important community assets hosting hundreds of events every year with annual attendance of approximately 1.4 million people (1.7 million when including events held at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which is also operated by Rip City Management). The Portland Trail Blazers are a source of civic pride and a unifying force for many Portlanders and Oregonians. The economic, social, and cultural benefit of the team continuing to play at Moda Center is profound. The Portland Trail Blazers have a long history of giving back to Portland and Oregon. Since 2009, the Trail Blazers Foundation and Trail Blazers, Inc. have donated more than $17 million to local communities. The Team is dedicated to philanthropic efforts with particular focus on racial equity, environmental and educational initiatives.To gather community sentiment about the project and the City's financial participation, the Portland City Council hosted an online survey and series of park pop-ups in June 2026. Over 18,000 people took the survey both independently and at the pop-up events. The non-statistically valid results are available online at: https://www.portland.gov/venues/moda-center/moda-facts and reveal that public investment in Moda Center is a divisive issue with a majority of respondents feeling either strongly supportive of the project or strongly opposed. The draft proposed Term Sheet attached to this resolution as Exhibit A includes an initial proposal for a community benefits plan (see Exhibit B to the Term Sheet). This plan includes a variety of desired community benefits including labor provisions, transportation programs, community access to Moda Center and the Rose Quarter, environmental performance goals, neighborhood development commitments, and other items.Significant testimony from a broad segment of the community both in support of and in opposition to this resolution is anticipated.

See related information in the Purpose and Background section above. Prior to acquiring Moda Center in 2024, the City commissioned a facility condition assessment of the arena that recommended phased investment of roughly $500 million would be required to keep the arena operating in good condition for 20 more years. The economic activity to the region and state of the Rose Quarter event campus is estimated at over $600 million in annual economic impact including nearly 6,000 full and part-time jobs, and total labor income of over $290 million. Roughly 75% of this economic activity is attributable to the Portland Trail Blazers and 25% to other activities at the Rose Quarter arenas. The greater economic impact of keeping the team at the Moda Center for the long term is important to the long-term economy of the city, region, and state and associated public revenue streams. The economic activity generated from operations of the Blazers and the Rose Quarter Campus produced approximately $17.9 million in total tax revenues to local and State economies in FY22-23, of which $11.3 million was attributable to the Trail Blazers and $6.6 million to the Rose Quarter Campus.In accordance with the Term Sheet attached as Exhibit A, a major renovation of Moda Center is proposed, with a publicly-funded budget of $573 million. In addition, ongoing support for eligible arena projects up to $288.6 million over 20 years is provided. The City's financial commitment to the project is proposed in two primary parts:$120 million, from sources yet to be confirmed, for the arena renovation project, and $275 million over 20 years in annual payments for eligible projects, from the City's Spectator Venues and Visitor Activities Fund which is primarily funded by ticket fees and parking revenues associated with events in city-owned spectator facilities. The renovation project is also slated to receive $365 million from the State, in accordance with Senate Bill 1501, and $88 million from Multnomah County. The County has also proposed contributing $13.6 million to the ongoing contributions for eligible projects. These financial commitments are described in Exhibit A. Despite these investments from other governments, the City will continue to be the sole owner of Moda Center.In a July 10, 2026 memo shared with the City Council on July 13, 2026 (provided as supplemental information), the City's Chief Financial Officer: 1) provided City Council and the City's governmental and private partners with confidence that the City can meet the original funding commitment to renovate the City-owned Moda Center and maintain the Trail Blazers as a long-term anchor tenant, should the initially proposed funding scenario not materialize; 2) presented information on possible financing scenarios, of which there are multiple options that could be explored; and 3) anticipated the City will continue to pursue any other legal and potentially feasible funding opportunities that may develop.Should the current lease expire without extension or replacement with a new long-term lease, funding facility upgrades will become a City-responsibility without the participation of identified funding partners.

Rip City management has led the nation with efforts to improve the environmental performance of Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Moda Center was the first major arena in the country to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum status, and recently the Veterans Memorial Coliseum was awarded LEED Gold status.This action approves a non-binding term sheet outlining the proposed agreement terms for a major renovation of Moda Center and new 20-year lease with the Portland Trail Blazers. Moda Center is anticipated to become significantly more energy efficient as a result of this the renovation project as many systems that have been in place since 1995 will be upgraded and replaced with modern technologies.