Helen Jung of The Oregonian notes in her blog today that NBA Commissioner David Stern met this week in New York with members of Portland Arena Management, the group of lenders that took over the Rose Garden in 2005 from former proprietor Paul Allen, who also owns the Portland Trail Blazers, the arena's anchor tenant. She also provides some good history that has led to the bad blood between the two sides.

I was tipped off to this meeting by a source this week as well. I'm hearing from my sources that Allen wants to buy back the Rose Garden. My guess is that Stern met with PAM this week in an effort to broker a deal. My sources tell me that up until this point, PAM is asking Allen to pay considerably more than they'd charge anyone else because of the bad blood they have for him. Allen, to date, has balked at PAM's asking price.

Commissioner Stern is likely trying to convince PAM to get a deal done with Paul Allen. Stern knows that Allen is losing millions of dollars and he's coming to the aid of one of his owners. Commissioner Stern can be persuasive, but unless he can convince PAM that they may lose their arena's anchor tenant if the current team/arena relationship continues, Allen may have to bite the bullet and pay PAM's asking price. 

Obviously if Allen gets the arena back, he gets back all of the revenue streams that come with it - parking, concessions, and preferred seating sales to name a few - not just for Trail Blazers events but for ALL Rose Garden events. The other thing that owning the arena and Trail Blazers does is give Allen the option to sell the team and arena as one package - something much more attractive to a potential buyer and a much more lucrative scenario for Allen. The Seattle Sonics sold last year for $350M and that was just the price for the team - not the team and the arena. Allen may be able to get $400-$450M for both the Trail Blazers and the arena if he decided to sell them.

My hunch is that Stern will be able to help Allen broker a deal with PAM to buy back the Rose Garden. Then Allen will wait to see what happens in Seattle with the Sonics. If they move to OK City, then he can decide if he wants to sell the Blazers and the Rose Garden arena or if he wants to keep the Trail Blazers and continue to try to build a winner and a team with a better economic structure in Portland. As I've said before, moving the Blazers to Seattle is a near-impossible feat.

If Allen decides he wants out of Portland and wants to bring an NBA team to Seattle, his best bet may be to sell the Blazers and the Rose Garden and buy the Milwaukee Bucks from current owner Herb Kohl. The Bucks are in the last year of their arena lease and will have considerable money to spend on free agents next summer. A portable team with a flexible roster will be very attractive to someone.

The drama continues.........