Portland Wants to Host the NBA All-Star Weekend


According to Trail Blazers president Chris McGowan, the team is prepared to submit a bid to host the NBA’s All-Star Weekend. The most likely of dates for Portland to host the midseason event would be 2017. Per CSNNW: “Last week McGowan met with Drew Mahalic, Chief Executive Officer of the Oregon Sports Authority, and the two have developed a plan of attack in order to make this happen.The city of New Orleans is hosting the event in 2014 and it is between Brooklyn and New York for 2015. Word is Cleveland and Toronto have the upper hand for 2016, leaving door open for the year 2017. A high-ranking NBA source said that an announcement on who receives the event for 2015 and 2016 will be forthcoming, but added that the bidding process has not begun for 2017. ‘We’re definitely going to pursue it,’ McGowan said. ‘Doesn’t mean we’re going to get it, but if the opportunity presents itself, we’re going to go for it. If 2017 is available, we want to get in the mix for that year.’ He added: ‘We’ll get all the details in New York and learn about the bidding process and let them know that we’re very interested and go from there. If that 2017 year is available, that’s definitely the one we’ll aim for.’ Ever since the soon-to-be NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at All-Star weekend in Houston that there was interest from the league in bringing All-Star Weekend to the city of Portland, McGowan has researched tirelessly the possibilities of that becoming a reality.”