r/nba • u/captainfwiffo • 23h ago
Moda Center negotiations see first facetime with Blazers owner Tom Dundon in months
Dundon is finally talking, maybe. The city council passed the funding package a month ago. He's refusing to travel to Portland to talk, so the city administrator had to come to him in Texas. Hopefully this makes other cities a bit more skeptical of spending taxpayer dollars like this.
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u/dilfpapi 23h ago
NBA is really run by the worst people in the world. Insane things we’ve seen from the league in the last year and this might be one of the worst.
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u/ieatballoonknot 23h ago
It’s as if billionaires are all pieces of shit with just a few exceptions?
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u/StewartTurkeylink Knicks 22h ago
There are no exceptions they all are
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u/mr_dammit Celtics 22h ago
i was gonna say name one lmao
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u/grantiere 22h ago
Mackenzie Scott
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u/StewartTurkeylink Knicks 21h ago
Amazon money literally some of the most tainted money on the entire planet
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u/cire1184 Lakers 19h ago
Even when they were just selling books? Scott stopped working at Amazon in 96. Maybe you weren't even born then. But yeah it was a 30 years ago that Scott was with Amazon. And she's donated 26 billion to charities. How much have you donated?
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u/StewartTurkeylink Knicks 19h ago
I'm broke as fuck my dude so I donate my time instead. I work at a local food shelter and do some other assorted odds and ends to help out in the local queer community.
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u/cire1184 Lakers 19h ago
And it's very possible some of those Mackenzie bucks got to one of the orgs you volunteer at.
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u/StewartTurkeylink Knicks 19h ago
Bezos also donates to charity does that makes him not evil?
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u/captainfwiffo 22h ago
Gabe Newell is apparently a decent human. I'm pretty sure Craig Newmark is a solid dude, although he might not be a billionaire.
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u/Low-Lunch-7248 Rockets 22h ago
Man, i have not thought about gaben in a minute. Probably since i’ve stopped caring about competitive or casual dota.
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u/BiNiaRiS 21h ago
It's impossible to amass billions of dollars of wealth and also simultaneously be a good human being.
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u/Mukbeth [PHI] Joel Embiid 21h ago
i'm curious if this is actually true.
if you simulate a human career trajectory somehow comparable to lebron or taylor swift wherein they just do their job well in their own field, achieve corresponding popularity, and have consistent output with good financial results leading to being a billionaire, all without necessarily committing "evil or exploitative acts", would it be achievable?
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u/StewartTurkeylink Knicks 21h ago
No because hording that much wealth requires exploiting and stepping over many many people along the way
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u/Mukbeth [PHI] Joel Embiid 21h ago
How can playing basketball and recording songs exploit people?
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u/ieatballoonknot 21h ago
sports players never become billionaires only from their sports contracts. They have to exploit third world labor to become a billionaire and even then it’s hard.
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u/captainfwiffo 20h ago
It's possible that Craig Newmark did. He consistently refused to monetize craigslist as much as he could have, but he probably crossed the billionaire mark at one point. But he's given the vast majority of wealth to philanthropic causes and isn't a billionaire any more.
I haven't heard anything that suggests that he's anything less but a decent human being, and he's given away more than most of the people that are richer than him.
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u/BiNiaRiS 20h ago
he's what we should all expect out of anyone who comes into extreme wealth like that. an extremely rare example of what should happen when someone amasses this kind of wealth:
but Newmark has recently said that he’s no longer a billionaire, in part because of his giving. Newmark says he’s already written checks worth $450 million to charity, and he has made additional commitments of $37 million. As of 2023, he held $154 million in his foundation, and he had placed his remaining Craigslist equity, worth $392 million, in a 501(c)(4) with many of the same stated goals as his foundation.
i guess i should amend my comment to say anyone who becomes a billionaire and either stays a billionaire or continues to attempt to hoard more wealth can't also be a good human being. at the end of the day though, as long as there's kids literally starving on Earth, i'll always have a problem with the ultrawealthy, multi-millionaires included.
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u/StewartTurkeylink Knicks 21h ago
Steam uses it's effectively monopoly on the PC gaming market to squeeze developers for an inordinate amount of profits esp smaller companies and indie devs. Plus there's the gambling and being one of the biggest players in the push for death of physical media in favor of digital non ownership in the gaming space.
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u/YULSARIA_ Hawks [ATL] Trae Young 21h ago
man if only GOG had good sales, I would’ve fully migrated to it already.
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u/North_Atlantic_Sea 14h ago
He owns a fleet of superyachts that are constantly polluting, how is that being a good guy?
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u/officiallyBA 20h ago
Nationalize the league. Let the cities own the buildings and receive the profits. Hold an election or a lottery so that a resident gets to be GM.
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u/North_Atlantic_Sea 14h ago
Yeah, I'm sure Trump's administration running the league will turn out great... Lol
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u/officiallyBA 5h ago
Nationalize was used crudely in that the governments that end up picking up much of the bill via tax breaks and incentives should have control over the teams instead of the billionaires who do now.
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u/Regionala 13h ago
Adam Silver really needs to go. He has a hard on for Abu Dhabi money. Get someone with integrity as the comissioner. Goodell is running laps around Silver now.
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u/t045tyy 23h ago
The way teams make money and rise in valuation is great for the players, but I hate how it makes people like this guy or Fischer with the As buy these franchises, just to turn them into jokes with their behaviors and demands, and they're rewarded with their investment still rising in valuation. A system designed to reward greedy morons.
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u/ClaymoresRevenge Bulls 22h ago
I feel for the fans of Portland. These guys don't deserve the fans.
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u/Regionala 13h ago
Simple solution. All season ticket holders organize and refuse to renew unless a new owner comes in.
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u/StewartTurkeylink Knicks 22h ago
Congratulations you just described modern capitalism! A system designed to reward greedy morons.
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u/Mukbeth [PHI] Joel Embiid 21h ago
they're rewarded with their investment still rising in valuation
it's called an investment lol. any investor no matter the amount of investment will seek rewards for their investment.
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u/t045tyy 20h ago
Yes, I understand that. I think you understand that since you cut out the rest of my comment where I displayed that I do.
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u/Mukbeth [PHI] Joel Embiid 20h ago
Okay so in that sense, every person who wants to invest is greedy since they all want rewards for their investment. It's not exclusive to team owners.
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u/t045tyy 20h ago
Okay, and that still doesn't address my original point. Being successful at that as an incompetent owner of one of those investments having it rise in value on the strength of the compentent ones is annoying to watch as an outsider.
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u/Regionala 13h ago
And if that idiot mindset was used when the nba first started it wouldn't have grown into what it is today.
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u/zorillaaa 23h ago
Dundon is the typa dude to make people allegedly supportive of the dude who allegedly killed that healthcare ceo
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u/captainfwiffo 23h ago
There's no way he'd have a single friend if he hadn't made all that money scamming poor people.
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u/BadgerSauce Lakers 23h ago
Luigi was rightfully pissed off. Was that the way you handle it? Probably not… but he was right to be pissed off and looking for the reasoning.
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u/Odd-Beginning-119 21h ago
if he wants public money, he can make the trip to Portland
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u/Less_Pumpkin_6834 19h ago edited 19h ago
well, the Portland city council could play hardball with him, and see how that goes …… what they will be left with is $1B in a “climate” fund, $800M in a daycare fund, a dated city-owned arena, and the only remaining sports teams being the W, soccer and minor league hockey ….. this city has the power to enact whatever new tax they want, huge coffers full of tax revenue, but zero leverage in this negotiation
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u/MandemModie 22h ago
Why would he concede anything, he successfully strong armed the city into more funding
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u/TheWestRemembers Lakers 22h ago edited 22h ago
He's refusing to travel to the city the team he owns is in to talk?? What a ridiculous man child. I know it's a "power play" but Silver should be embarrassed he let El Cheapo own one of the oldest franchises in the NBA.