Haynes: Blazers President Chris McGowan Plans To Bid For NBA All-Star Weekend

Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com reports that Portland Trail Blazers president Chris McGowan plans to inform the NBA's Board of Governors that he would like to host an NBA All-Star Weekend in Portland.

Portland Trail Blazers President Chris McGowan has informed CSNNW.com that he will make it known at an April 18 NBA Board of Governors meeting in New York, that he has every intention of preparing a bid to bring NBA All-Star Weekend to the city of Portland.

"We made the decision that we're going to go all in for it," McGowan told CSNNW.com.

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"We're definitely going to pursue it," McGowan said. "Doesn't mean we're going to get it, but if the opportunity presents itself, we're going to go for it. If 2017 is available, we want to get in the mix for that year."

The idea first came up back in February, when NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver called Portland a "great city" and said that the NBA "has interest" in Portland acting as a host city.

2014 All-Star Weekend is in New Orleans. Silver indicated in February that 2015 will be held in either Manhattan or Brooklyn. Doug Smith of the Toronto Star reported in February that Toronto has begun the process to bid for the 2016 game. During Silver's Saturday address, Cleveland was also linked to hosting another All-Star Game.

Mike Tokito of The Oregonian reported at the 2012 All-Star Game that Silver said that a lack of hotel rooms would hold back Portland's chances. That reason has been given for years.

"We'd love to find a way to get to Portland, but that continues to be the issue for Portland and many other ideal cities, and just a function of not enough hotel rooms," Silver said.

A list of recent All-Star Weekend venues has favored buildings that are newer than the Rose Garden and the NBA has given multiple All-Star Weekends to brand new arenas soon after they opened. The list of the last 10 venues plus next year's venue includes nine host arenas that are newer than the Rose Garden: New Orleans Arena (twice), Staples Center (twice), Toyota Center (twice) Amway Center, Cowboy Stadium and Pepsi Center. Only the US Airways Arena in Phoenix and the Tomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas were older.

There's also the issue of geography. The only host city since 2003 to be in the top-half of the United States was Denver. New York would be another exception to this trend if the city does host All-Star Weekend in 2015.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter