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Eight years ago, the Dallas-based Dundon, who made his fortune in subprime auto lending, bought a downtrodden NHL franchise in Carolina and swiftly put his stamp on its operations. Now, after the league’s first 12-1 start to a postseason in 50 years, the Hurricanes are four wins away from their second Stanley Cup championship, with Game 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights set for Tuesday night. “I give him tons of credit,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Dundon. “We’ve been pretty solid ever since he showed up on the scene.” “He’s given everything he can to get us our best chance,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “(He) changed it right from the start.” “He’s always looking for ways to chart an even better course,” general manager Eric Tulsky added.
To many who have worked with Dundon in hockey, whether on the Hurricanes or from the vantage point of the NHL’s league office, this recent avalanche of criticism from the basketball world has come as a surprise. In speaking for this story, they provided many colorful words to describe a man laser-focused on both winning games and eliminating inefficiencies — including “demanding,” “intense,” “data-driven” and “obsessive.” But “cheap” was not something any of them had experienced. “The fact of the matter is, he doesn’t always do things in traditional ways,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. “I think in some ways he’s a bit of a disruptor, but he’s extraordinarily creative and effective. And the results in Carolina — they’re both on and off the ice.”
Brian Berger on Blazers owner Tom Dundon: "He's been a bull in a china shop so far. He's come in and just cut costs. He didn't allow t-shirts. I look at teams like the Knicks and the Spurs and you see all the former players sitting courtside and how the teams have embraced the former players. He got rid of a lot of the people that had connections to the former players last week when they laid off 70 people. He's cutting hotel costs. He's running this kind of like he runs the Carolina Hurricanes, his NHL team. You can't run an NHL team like you run an NBA team. I think there's still changes to come. Obviously we're probably going to have a different coach than Tiago Splitter. He's already talked about paying that coach as one of the lowest-paid coaches in the NBA. You might have a new GM, and you might have a team president."
On the notion he’s cheap: Tom Dundon: “My hockey team has been over the cap many times. They were the lowest in the league. They were at the floor when I bought them. You can go over the cap in hockey. If you have a hurt player, you can replace them. So I’ve been over the cap multiple times because there was a rule that allowed you to go over the cap. And at the same time, when I walk out of a room, I turn off the lights. And so that my friends make fun of me all the time. They’re telling me how bad I am at being rich. “I just don’t want to waste money. I want to invest it. I’ll have many masseuses. I’ll have the best food. We’re going to take care of the players, because it helps you win. It’s part of the deal. Some of the stuff about how we’re going to run the business; Portland spends 100 million more dollars a year on their business than the Hurricanes do, not including players.
On the subject of moving the Blazers out of Portland: Tom Dundon: “When I bought the Hurricanes, all I heard — because I was from Texas — we were going to move the team to Houston. Moving a team is difficult. We didn’t move the Hurricanes. We ended up getting a deal done. We went through the same thing in Portland. Before I even bought the team, I had an agreement with the city and the state. We had an agreement in principle. They’ve already approved half of it. Assuming that all gets done, then this is a non-story. For me, it’s never been really a thing. We didn’t buy the team to move it. We bought the Portland Trail Blazers."
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Mike Vorkunov: Tom Dundon said it was a "mistake" to not send 2-way players on the road. He said Blazers spend $100 million more than the Hurricanes. From his interview on the Game Over pod: "I'm just not gonna waste $100 million just because someone wants to write an article calling me cheap"
Tom Dundon said it was a "mistake" to not send 2-way players on the road. He said Blazers spend $100 million more than the Hurricanes. From his interview on the Game Over pod:
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) May 16, 2026
"I'm just not gonna waste $100 million just because someone wants to write an article calling me cheap" pic.twitter.com/pjsan5zk6S
Mike Ozanian: Multiple sources have told me that Tom Dundon is close to selling a significant LP stake in the Carolina Hurricanes @Canes at a $2B valuation. Dundon is in the process of buying the Portland Trailblazers @trailblazers for over $4B. #NHL #NBA
The Portland Trail Blazers franchise will be sold to a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon. The price of the sail is expected to exceed $4 billion, as Dundon will own his second professional sports team. Dundon admitted last month that he’s “very excited” about the sale. The Trail Blazers’ valuation is listed at $3.65 billion according to CNBC’s latest Official NBA Team Valuations. Dundon purchased a stake in the Hurricanes in 2017 and became the team's majority owner in 2018, as the franchise has seen unparalleled success since his arrival.
Dundon, the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, has reached an exclusivity agreement with Paul Allen’s estate, which means there will be no negotiations with other interested buyers. Dundon’s group is in the process of negotiating documents, but the source close to Dundon says all major points have been agreed upon. The hope is to have a purchase agreement signed in September. A target date of March 31, 2026, has been set for the close of the deal. The estate expressed a desire for the team to stay in Oregon, and the source told The Athletic the team will remain in Portland.
But hearing all that about Tom Dundon, hearing that the Carolina Hurricanes have flourished under his ownership. I would also point out that he is overseeing a huge renovation around the arena there in Raleigh where the Hurricanes play. I think that's an $800 million uh stadium and district project.
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Carolina Hurricanes broadcaster John Forslund is self-quarantined in his basement in Apex after staying in the same Detroit hotel room as Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert, the first NBA player to test positive for the novel coronavirus.
Not always. Haslem admitted Monday that he will root against Miami when the Hurricanes host Toledo in a college football game on Sept. 23. But Haslem has a good reason. The Heat forward’s oldest son, Kedonis Haslem, is a high school football player at Fort Lauderdale-St. Thomas Aquinas and committed to Toledo late last week. “At the end of the day, blood is always thicker than water,” Haslem said. “That will be one game that I will be rooting for the Rockets.”