Oregon Basketball Association
The Oregon Trailblazers would be either:
- A professional or semi-professional basketball team owned by the State of Oregon, City of Portland or some multi-jurisdiction or public-private partnership, or non-profit/shareholder corporation of Oregon citizens, or
- The name of the theoretical State Champions and/or All-State team of the OBA.
Investing in regional "Oregon Basketball" is a better investment in cultural and civic capital, economic revitalization, and physical health and vitality, than investing in an NBA pro team.
Semi-Professional Adult Basketball League of Oregon
Proposal for a semi-professional adult basketball league in Oregon, hereafter the "Oregon Basketball Association".
The theoretical All-State team would be known as the "Oregon Trailblazers" and would compete against other all-state teams or teams of the NABA (North American Basketball Association), which is a theoretical minor league and possible competitor to the NBA.
Proposes extending the model of public ownership of high school sport teams (which are owned by school districts) to adult semi-pro teams in regional leagues (as in the Harrisburg Senators and Rochester Red Wings, an ownership model expressly prohibited by the monopolistic and anti-competitive NBA constitution — see civicathletics.org's research on public and community ownership and whether the NBA is a monopoly) while permitting for-profit private ownership of teams (as common in the NBA and other pro sports), and for-profit publicly traded and shareholder-owned teams (as the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves).
Money saved from the Moda Center capital improvements could be spent on salaries or stipends for Oregon semi-pro players, and for financing the OBA.
In the event, the domain name oregontrailblazers.com and all trademarks and copyrights are pledged to the OBA when and if it is constituted and funded.
Proposes that the OBA will be a non-profit/shareholder owned consortium of its constituent teams, like the Green Bay Packers (see civicathletics.org's research on the Packers' ownership structure and why no other major-league team has replicated it), or else a public corporation owned by the Oregon State government.