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Chris McGowan, president of the Portland Trail Blazers, watches the end of a game in December 2013 between the Blazers and the Dallas Mavericks at the Moda Center. Bruce Ely / The Oregonian

It's probably safe to say that whatever cable television partner has the rights to Trail Blazers broadcasts starting with the 2017 season will be able to show the games through DirectTV and Dish Network, too.

"That would be the goal," Blazers president Chris McGowan said Monday.

The Blazers regional television coverage – which has been a divisive topic and a flashpoint with fans – was one of several topics that came up during an interview with The Oregonian at the team's Media Day at the Moda Center. The annual event is primarily an opportunity for media to interview and photograph players, but coaches and management, including McGowan, also set the stage for the upcoming season.

Cable television

Comcast SportsNet Northwest, the team's primary broadcast partner, announced last year that it had reached an agreement with Charter Communications to provide Blazer games through Charter for the first time – further expanding the team's regional cable footprint. Charter is the dominant cable-TV provider on much of the Oregon coast and in swaths of southern, central and eastern Oregon, as well as parts of Washington.

But the lack of availability of Blazers games through satellite distributors has been a sore point with Blazers fans since the team's 10-year partnership with Comcast SportsNet Northwest began with the 2007-08 season.

Asked if it was realistic that a cable partner, be it Comcast SportsNet Northwest or anyone else, would be able to secure agreements with dish providers, McGowan said, "yeah," but would not elaborate.

NHL

The prospect of Portland adding another top-tier professional sport had a brief, shining moment a little more than a year ago when the Phoenix Coyotes appeared poised to leave their desert home for someplace else. Blazers owner Paul Allen was interested and Blazers management prepared a report exploring the possibility.

Alas, the Coyotes stayed put. But the NHL remains on Blazers' management radar, McGowan said, though no active talks or research has been undertaken on that possibility in the past year. McGowan, who served as chief operating officer of AEG Sports, owners of the Los Angeles Kings, when that team won the Stanley Cup in the 2011-12 season, is as aware as anybody that the NHL's Western Division has two fewer teams than the Eastern Division.

"We would look at it if it makes sense," McGowan said. "But it's not something we're currently looking at."

Asked why he thought the NHL would work in Portland, he replied: "We have a great building. It's ready for the NHL. We have the best, most passionate sports fans of any market I've ever seen, evidenced by the sports offerings we have in Oregon and the support they get, whether it's us, whether it's the Timbers, the Thorns, the Thunder and the Ducks, as well as Oregon State."

Capital improvements

The Trail Blazers in early September showed off the first phase of a nearly $16 million multi-year Moda Center remodel that will impact everything from the cheap seats to the club level. Improvements included refurbishing 1,800 Club Level seats in the 200 section, replaced the all-you-can-eat format with a $30 credit to be used inside the arena.

"We've been able to improve virtually every area of the building and the outside of the building in quick fashion," McGowan said.

He said the team is about halfway through a three-year project list to improve the team's practice facility in Tualatin, as well as the Moda Center and Rose Quarter amenities.

Other improvements, to the Moda Center and elsewhere – all major decisions – must be approved by a four-person board led by owner Paul Allen. The board also includes Bert Kolde of Vulcan Inc.; Seattle Seahawks president Peter McLoughlin, who is also president of First & Goal Inc., and chief executive of Vulcan Sports and Entertainment; and Jeff Dunn, Seahawks vice president of business strategy and analytics.

Memorial Coliseum

The city of Portland, owners of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, is studying what to do with the site of the Blazers' sole NBA Championship, in 1977.

The Trail Blazers manage the 54-year-old facility but McGowan was not willing to offer an opinion on what should be done.

"We manage the facility. Our position on what should be done is the same as it's always been – it's a city building," McGowan said. "We will work in coordination with the city and follow their lead."

Is he experienced?

McGowan, introduced as the Blazers president on Oct. 29, 2012, enters his third season with the Blazers.

"I don't feel like a veteran. I don't feel like a newcomer, either," McGowan said. "I guess I would say I'm comfortable with what we've done to date but also focused on the opportunities that lie ahead of us, which are numerable. I still feel like I'm still learning the inner-workings of the NBA, and networking and getting to know people in the NBA – whether it's team presidents, the commissioner (or) people who work in the league office."

As for McGowan's boss, Paul Allen is experienced.

Allen enters this season, his 26th, as the third longest-tenured owner in the NBA, behind Herb Simon of the Indiana Pacers (owner since 1983) and Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago Bulls (1985). Paul Allen took over the Blazers in 1988.

-- Allan Brettman