Former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and billionaire Marc Lore are finalizing a deal to purchase the Timberwolves, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Under the agreement, current owner Glen Taylor will retain control of the franchise for two more seasons before it shifts to Rodriguez and Lore in 2023.
“We look forward to entering this phase of the process with Glen Taylor,” Rodriguez and Lore said in a prepared statement. “Our respect for him and the legacy he has built lays an amazing foundation for what is to come. We are excited by the prospect of getting to know the Timberwolves organization.” (Twitter link)
Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic first noted the interest from the potential buyers (Twitter link).
Rodriguez and Lore signed a letter of intent today that provides a 30-day exclusive negotiating window to finalize the purchase, Krawczynski writes in a full story.
Sources tell The Athletic that Rodriguez and Lore would become limited partners — each with an even stake — in the current ownership group for the next two and a half years before Taylor steps aside. Taylor, who will turn 80 later this month, has owned the team for 27 years and has been looking for someone to take it over.
According to Krawczynski, negotiations have already produced agreement on several key elements of the sale, include a $1.5 billion valuation for the franchise. Rodriguez and Lore met with Taylor this week at his Naples, Fla., home and made significant progress in negotiations.
If a purchase agreement is reached, the new owners would need approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors before a sale can be finalized.
Taylor, who purchased the team for $88MM in 1994, has placed it on the market several times, Krawcyznski adds, but hasn’t found an offer he was willing to accept. He was insistent on keeping it in Minnesota and wanted to find purchasers who would agree to become short-term partners so he could mentor them before they fully took over.
Since retiring from baseball in 2016, Rodriguez has become an entrepreneur and media star, Krawczynski notes. His investments include fitness gyms, coconut water, e-sports, Fanatics and a digital delivery service called goPuff. Lore began his fortune with Quidsi, which sold to Amazon for $545MM in 2021. and later founded Jet.com, which Walmart bought for $3.3 billion in 2016.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Caveat emptor
Everyone is trying to copy dodgers and magic. Lol
Yeah they were the first ever to own teams.
Huh? Why would they want to copy the Magic, or Dodgers? The Spurs, and Yankees, have more success.
Not THE Magic, Magic Johnson who owns the Dodgers. He meant an athlete in one sport owning a team in another.
Cool. Tony Bosch can be team pharmacist!
Putting that J-Lo money to good use!
Are the new owners ungenerous?
If they are, they usually join “tank power ranking” in two or three years
What?
He doesn’t even know…
Can we not? Please? Us Wolves fans have had to endure enough for, like, our entire existence…
Although, anyone is better than Glen Taylor. Maybe??
How is this a bad thing? Glen Taylor is arguably the worst nba owner not named Donald sterling in the history of the league. Let’s just hope he actually sells it this time.
James Dolan: Hold my beer.
Lol yeah, Dolan is in the argument as well.
James Dolan ‘is’ an argument. No one likes him. Not the fans, current players, former players, or even his mother.
His shareholders like him.
Also, we’d probably end up being Walmart Center and Walmart Field and Idk if I can handle that rn in this pandemic world.
Can you imagine the attire if it was ‘Walmart Arena?’ The entertainment would be in the seats, not the floor.
Hopefully these new owners can help Minnesota build a playoff contender for years to come Instead of seeing them every year.
Sooo, are we to assume that this purchase group has made written promises of staying in Minny?
A Rod is everywhere
I gotta say though I am stunned
A South Florida man like him wants to go to Minnesota?
He won’t move to Minnesota. The Wilfs own the Vikings and don’t live here either. You can own a team without relocating.
Well you gotta show them some love and support the community, it is a part of the deal
Yeah you create a few community funds, some charitable organization and say the right things. You fly on your private jet to the home opener, and if the team is good, you show up to a handful of nationally televised games and sit court side.
Glen Taylor goes to every game and sits in plain view of everyone, and the organization is laughably bad every year.
The wilfs make generous donations and go to most Vikings home games (once a week) and seem to be pretty well respected around Minnesota. If you build a decent team and don’t say something moronic, it’s pretty easy to get in the good graces of local fans without moving to the city.
… And… (c) You don’t move the team away.
There must be language about that in the agreement.
A-Rod, J-Lor,
and The Mentor.
My comment/response got posted to the bottom
Oh well
Glenn Taylor wants to mentor the new owners?
How much do they have to pay to make sure he doesn’t?
Haha so very true. Hope he doesn’t “mentor” them.
LOL this is gold. So true.
It’s very easy. He brings them in for a 15 second conversation and says “do the opposite of everything I did.”
ARoid is insignificant to me. I have no respect for people who look you in the eye and lie to your face. NBA will have to check players for PEDs now. Hope he goes broke so he will sell. Don’t want him in my sport.
A-Rod has made hundreds of millions of dollars, had relationships with some of the most beautiful women in the world, spent most of his life playing a game for a living, and now makes even more money talking about that game.
But if he doesn’t have your respect, I’m sure he will think his life is a waste.
I’m with you. He’s one of the biggest cheats in the history of sports.
This means the team is relocating. No Doubt
Better investment than the NY Mets <3 failed bid.
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ NBA team.
Good luck, A-Rod, and Marc Lore.
A Rod does have a history with Seattle, so…let the rumors begin!
A-Rod picture caption: All that money and I can’t move it??
have fun with A-Rod, b-ball fans?
Seriously guys? There are probably a billion photos of Alex Rodriguez available and THAT is the one you choose to use? Couldn’t you find one of him in mid-sneeze?
Ha lol
The Wilfs are okay
Although they did have. That one scandal, not sure if it was their fault, but that luxury boat scandal was ridiculous
It was all thanks to Fred Smoot
However the Wilfs and the Vikings and Smooth survived
Taylor is awful. Transition should be faster.
A-Rod is a legend!
Sooo much better days to come in MIN with him around, might be the ticket to keep KAT long term as well!
Towns will smell some business associate money! Actually, players in general might put the Wolves on the free agency map.