Phil Knight says he's not interested in buying Trail Blazers - ESPN

PORTLAND, Ore. — Nike co-founder Phil Knight said Wednesday that he is not interested in buying the Portland Trail Blazers, who are up for sale.

Paul Allen's estate said Tuesday that it has begun the process of finding a new owner for the team. Allen, the billionaire cofounder of Microsoft who died in 2018, stipulated the eventual sale of his sports properties in his will.

There was speculation that Knight, the chairman emeritus of Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike Inc., might step in to buy the Blazers because he had expressed interest a few years back.

«Five years ago, when I was a younger man, I had a great interest in being a part of the Portland Trail Blazers franchise. However, at my current age, I can confirm that I no longer have interest in acquiring the team,» Knight, 87, said in a statement via Nike.

Allen owned the Trail Blazers, the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and a stake in Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders before his death at age 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Since then, his sister Jody Allen has served as chair of the Blazers and the Seahawks and trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust.

Allen's estate said in its announcement that the sale of the Blazers is consistent with Allen's «directive to eventually sell his sports holdings and direct all estate proceeds to philanthropy.» Neither the Seahawks nor the Sounders are currently for sale.

Jody Allen reportedly rebuffed Knight's offer to buy the Blazers for more than $2 billion in 2022. At that time, there were no ongoing discussions about the sale of the teams, she said in a rare statement.

«A time will come when that changes given Paul's plans to dedicate the vast majority of his wealth to philanthropy, but estates of this size and complexity can