Portland Trail Blazers President Chris McGowan, left, holds a commemorative jersey with Moda Health President Dr. William Johnson, at a news conference to announce the renaming of the Rose Garden Arena to the Moda Center, in Portland on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013. The Blazers will unveil a new logo for the Moda Center in the next month. (AP Photo/Anne M. Peterson)
AP
The Blazers will have a new home next season, if only in terms of what we’re now supposed to call the Rose Garden thanks to a 10-year naming rights deal that the club announced on Tuesday.
Portland’s arena is now known as the Moda Center, a right purchased for around $4 million per year by insurance provider Moda Health.
From the Associated Press:“The Rose Garden is not going away. It’s going to be a part of our history and heritage,” [Blazers President Chris McGowan] said. “The Moda Center is going to take us into the future.”
In April, Allen told reporters he was “attached’ to the Rose Garden, which was opened in 1995. The building is owned by Allen’s company, Vulcan Inc.
“I understand people’s investments in a particular name. I tried to pick a name, the Rose Garden, that was something like the Boston Garden or Madison Square Garden, there was something in those names that appealed to me as having some permanence,” he said at the time. “We’ll see what happens.”
It’s the way things are done now, but it’s worth noting that team owner Paul Allen hardly needs the money for the franchise.
As of March 2013, Allen had a reported net worth of $15 billion -- with a ‘b’ -- according to Forbes.