Tom Dundon Is Betting His NHL Formula Will Work in the NBA Despite the Critics

Play-by-play callers are wordsmiths, so it was no surprise to read Kevin Calabro use a good word in announcing his exit as the Portland Trail Blazers lead broadcaster. In an interview with The Oregonian, Calabro revealed that he had an offer to stay on but that it was “subprime,” a not-so-subtle dig at his now ex-boss, Blazers owner Tom Dundon, who made his fortune in high interest auto lending.

Hurricane Dundon found a new target this week, sweeping through the Trail Blazers’ broadcast team, wiping out most of it. Calabro is out, as are Neil Everett, Jamie Hudson and analytics maven Tom Haberstroh. Radio play-caller Travis Demers reportedly could return if he’s willing to take a 50% pay cut while any re-upped staff will see significant salary reductions, sources say.

The moves were expected. Since taking over as Blazers owner, Dundon has proved he is counting every nickel. He forced staff out of hotel rooms early during the play-in tournament, declined to pay for two-way players to travel and wiped out more than 70 staffers in a team-wide housecleaning that included most of the PR department. His first major hire, Micah Nori, accepted a contract so humiliating the NBA Coaches Association came out publicly against it.

In fairness, some cost cutting was to be expected. Paul Allen, with a net worth of north of $20 billion, spent lavishly on the team during his stewardship, and his estate continued to after Allen’s death in 2018. New ownership was invariably going to make changes. Some firings, a few pay cuts, some consolidation of departments, sure. A trimmer, though, not pruning shears.

Still, the defense of Dundonomics is simple: It works. Need proof? There’s a silver Cup with his name on it. The Carolina Hurricanes were a broken franchise when Dundon purchased the team in 2018. Bad team. Low payroll. Old arena. The buzz was the team could be relocated to Quebec.

Dundon changed that. The strategy was similar. He cleaned house, firing the head coach and general manager. He pushed out the team’s longtime lead radio broadcaster. He battled the city for funding for arena renovations. He looked at the Hurricanes as a bloated business. He trimmed the fat.

And he won. Carolina made the playoffs for eight straight years under Dundon. This year, it won the Stanley Cup. Dundon took money out of the front office. But he poured it back onto the ice, swelling the payroll and investing in an analytics-based approach. He won the battle for funding, securing $300 million in exchange for a 20-year lease. He earned fan support through cheaper beer, lower parking rates and creative ticket packages.

By all accounts, Dundon is simply dropping that model into a new city in a new league. Make no mistake: NBA officials are embarrassed by all of this. No one wants to see a multibillion-dollar franchise run like a newspaper snapped up by a hedge fund. At Summer League you couldn’t walk far without running into someone with an opinion on Dundon’s approach. Even Adam Silver, a vocal supporter of Dundon, appeared frustrated when discussing the stalemate between the Blazers and Portland on arena funding.

But Dundon isn’t going to change. Why would he? Take the standoff between the Blazers and city officials. The team wants $600 million for renovations. The city is willing to cut a check for its part, with conditions. The Blazers don’t want to hear any of them.

You want renovation plans?

Give us the money.

You want a promise to stay?

Give us the money.

This week, Jamie Dunphy, the president of Portland’s city council, invited team officials to participate in a work session next week for renovations to the 30-year-old Moda Center. It’s unclear if anyone from the Blazers will attend.

Dundon knows when he has a strong bargaining position. He had it in Carolina. He has it in Portland. City officials can (rightly) grumble about forking over millions to a billionaire but they need Dundon. The Moda Center lease expires in 2030. The NBA’s planned expansion has limited relocation options, but there are some out there. And if the Blazers leave Portland, it will be generations before the NBA considers going back there. If ever.

None of this guarantees success, of course. What worked in the NHL may not work in the NBA. The most successful teams have brainpower. Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver. They invest in coaching, in scouting, in front office executives. In Portland, the Blazers’ top assistant GM (Mike Schmitz) left for a better job in Dallas and the head coaching job went to the only candidate willing to take a one-year contract. Hardly inspiring.

But it’s the direction the Trail Blazers are taking. The team broadcast will be worse next season, the staff around the players will be thinner, less experienced. There will be more cost cutting, which will undoubtedly become public. It will roil people at the NBA’s New York office. And Dundon won’t care. His way has worked. And it will take years of failure to make him believe it won’t.

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