Portland Mayor Keith Wilson on Monday said it’s up to city councilors and the committee governing the Portland Clean Energy Fund to award local funding to the Moda Center renovation.

Supporters of the approximately $600 million project have put together a workable budget, Wilson said. But the ball is in the council and PCEF committee’s court to green-light the city’s share of the renovation, he added.

“We’ve got placeholder items for the funding,” Wilson said. “We still have to go through our councilors. We still have to go through our PCEF committee. They are the final arbiters.”

Wilson’s comments came at the Moda Center on Monday to celebrate the 30-year-old arena hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament beginning Thursday. Wilson sought to project positivity regarding Portland’s capacity to host major events such as March Madness, but he gave no guarantees of city funding.

“We’ve worked hard to make sure that we’ve got available funding, to make sure we can pull this off, but in the end it’s our councilors and our committee members who are in charge of the Portland Clean Energy Fund that will make the final decision,” he said.

Wilson warned that the city risks becoming “flyover country” for big-time sports and concerts if the Moda Center is not renovated. The possibility that Tom Dundon’s new ownership group and the NBA could move the Portland Trail Blazers to another city has loomed over the public funding debate.

Wilson said he spoke Friday with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, about Portland’s status as an NBA city and aspirations to host a future All-Star Game.

“He was positive,” Wilson said of Silver.

Wilson added that Portland must work to “make sure that this arena is a state-of-the-art home to not only our Blazers but to our (WNBA) Fire and all of the other events that use this home. So, it’s time to update the arena.”

The campaign to fund the Moda Center renovation got a major boost on March 6 with passage of legislation to use $350 million in state revenue backed by income taxes from players and others who work in the Rose Quarter. The speed of the funding legislation was “amazing,” Wilson said.

But the arena project still needs millions of dollars in funding from city and county sources, and backers are marshaling support.

“We’re building a coalition to make sure the Blazers are part of our fabric for years to come,” Wilson said.

Unlike stadiums at the center of debates in some cities, the Moda Center is publicly owned. The city of Portland took ownership of the arena from the Paul Allen estate in 2024.

Jim Etzel, CEO of Sport Oregon, said a major renovation of the arena will ensure that the 2030 NCAA Women’s Final Four isn’t the last major college tournament the Moda Center hosts.

“If it isn’t renovated, we’re off the map,” he said. “Infrastructure wins.”

Organized labor has also supported the Moda Center project push.

“It’s an opportunity for not only creating jobs, but making sure no jobs are lost,” said Robert Camarillo, executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council. “The trades are in a bit of a recession right now.

“We’re excited to get some people to work on that renovation when it happens,” he added.

Project supporters hope to see construction begin in 2027 and finish by the end of 2029.

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