It’s time Portland hosts All-Star Weekend

The NBA All-Star weekend was held somewhere other than Portland for the 71st time. What does the Rose City have to do to host the game?

The NBA All-Star Weekend 2022 in Cleveland came and went without the Portland Trail Blazers. Team LeBron defeated Team Durant in a no defense high scoring game Sunday.

Minnesota’s Karl Anthony Towns out shot his opponents in the three point competition Saturday and New York’s Obi Toppin – the runner up to the Portland Trail Blazers Anfernee Simons in the 2021 Slam Dunk Contest – was crowned the winner of 2022.

The weekend of events can be a lot of fun with a lot of talented super stars, up and coming stars, or even just a popularity contest depending on how you look at it. However, there is one thing that has been missing since the All-Star game debuted in 1951. Portland Oregon. Yes that’s right, good ole Portland, Oregon USA!

Portland and the Blazers have been represented many times over the years at the event(s), including Moda Center Public Address Announcer Mark Mason, who served as the master of ceremonies in Cleveland this year. But the Rose City has never hosted the NBA’s mid-season spectacle.

This goes beyond the people of Portland and the Trail Blazers themselves. It’s about Gresham and Beaverton. It’s about Vancouver and Longview Washington and the rest of the Portland market. You can even include the teamless Seattle fans in this. It’s time for Portland, Oregon to be in the spotlight and show the NBA and the rest of the basketball world what Rip City is all about.

It’s time for Portland to get the chance to host an NBA All-Star Weekend. The Moda Center, which opened in 1995 is home to the Blazers and seats 19,441. The Blazers previous home, The Veterans Memorial Coliseum still exists next door, and could play host to some of the weekend events as well.

Portland has everything the NBA could want in an All-Star Weekend host

There’s plenty to see and do nearby. Mt. Hood is within an hour if you like snow and winter activities. Do you like the beach? Seaside, Cannon Beach and other beaches are about an hour and a half west of Portland.

Maybe you like history? Astoria, founded in 1811 is the oldest settlement west of the Rockies and has numerous museums, movie set locations and is two hours away. You can even take the bus there.

Food? Portland was ranked the best food city in the United States by the Washington Post and routinely appears in top-5 lists.

So what’s the problem? And why has Portland not been awarded this basketball filled weekend? That’s the multi-million dollar question.

Former Commissioner David Stern once said it was because of the lack of lodging and accommodations. Portland has a few hotels near the Rose Quarter, including the new Hyatt Regency at the Oregon Convention Center.

MAX light rail can take fans downtown to its many hotels. Beaverton, Gresham, Happy Valley and Milwaukie, which all have plenty of lodging themselves are a quick MAX ride away. Vancouver is a quick drive across the Interstate Bridge with yet… more lodging, as well as the hotels across the river from the arena in downtown PDX.

If needed a cruise ship with rooms and other necessities on board could even be anchored on the Willamette River for even more places for people to stay, or used as league headquarters. Not to mention the Conference Center itself and the even bigger Exposition Center a couple miles north. So where to put people shouldn’t be a problem.

Perhaps it’s time for current Commissioner Adam Silver to pay the Portland metro area a visit and to see what it has to offer. Cities like Cleveland, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Orlando have hosted this multiple times.

Even Las Vegas – which has never had an NBA team – has hosted it. In the 50 plus years Portland has had an NBA franchise, it has not once hosted NBA All-Star Weekend. It is time for the NBA to realize this and award it to Rip City.