Key people in the state of Oregon "privately celebrated what it viewed as a pro-business, pro-community, pro-sports outcome in Portland's local election," according to John Canzano of the Portland OREGONIAN. Portland's pro-sports community "badly needed an election-night win." Some of the issues at stake: The Trail Blazers' complex lease at Moda Center "needs to be extended soon," as the lease currently runs through '25, but the franchise "could wiggle out of the deal" as early as '23. Meanwhile, a source said that the sale of the WHL Portland Winterhawks is "moving along." The "prevailing fear before the election was that an inexperienced mayor and a splintered group of city commissioners might affect the sale." Additionally, huge city investments in the Convention Center and Rose Quarter and downtown "have been made but the city hasn't yet capitalized on it." When Portland was "snubbed for the 2025 or 2026 Women's Final Four bids last month, lots of people couldn't help but wonder how the optics of more than 100 days of unrest and destruction downtown played into it." Portland "needed politicians who understood both the tangible and intangible benefits of getting the Blazers lease done and executing a hockey club's sale." What the sports scene "couldn't have was a mayor and group of commissioners who just didn't grasp the value of sport." The newly elected politicians in Portland "have a powerful voting faction that understands the value of sports to a city" (Portland OREGONIAN, 11/5).
