Alex Rodriguez and close friend Marc Lore have signed a letter of intent and are negotiating with Glen Taylor to become the next owners of the Wolves

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Iceland12 said:
For revenue production: they didn't have enough boxes. Though that may have been fixed in the renovation.

The other? There are more seats upstairs than down. Supposedly that ratio is rare in the NBA. They can charge more for those corporate "right off" seats down below.
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How fixable are these things?

I like the idea of Minneapolis having an arena and the Wolves not being forced to move to St. Paul to upgrade facilities. I've always been a naysayer on tearing sports facilities down after only a generation of service, but Target Center never seemed that deluxe to me, and I wouldn't blame the new ownership for wanting as nice of digs as the Wild have.
 

Iceland12 said:
For revenue production: they didn't have enough boxes. Though that may have been fixed in the renovation.

The other? There are more seats upstairs than down. Supposedly that ratio is rare in the NBA. They can charge more for those corporate "right off" seats down below.
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The latest renovation helped a little by moving the street entrances on the 1st Avenue side and changing some of the luxury boxes to club seating (suites at both ends were removed for this), but there isn't anywhere else that could have been made into more luxury boxes without a major widening of the building's footprint. There are still things in the upper concourse that haven't been touched since 1990.

TC's base problem is that it tried to do everything, and as such it can't do anything well. Everything goes back to that. The seating bowl was designed to have tolerable sightlines for both hockey and basketball, leading to the problem you mentioned (more seats upstairs than down). Hell, Mariucci Arena is a better basketball venue than the TC. The sea of cloth seats upstairs means that sound gets pulled away from the floor and a big crowd can get lost in the building. I've been at state basketball sessions where a crowd of 10K+ is barely noticeable.

The X was designed by and for hockey all the way, and it shows.
 

Iceland12 said:
Another team in the NYC area wouldn't help the NBA get a bigger TV deal. Which besides the $2b fee, is why they're thinking about expanding. It's the same reason that the Big Ten invited Rutgers and Maryland and ignored the begging of Missouri.

Revenue is also why everybody wants their own arena. They get to keep all the revenue themselves. That's why Gopher Football wanted out of the Metrodome. The Vikings and Twins got most of the revenue out of it.
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It makes zero sense for a single market that isn't huge to build separate arenas to house NBA and NHL teams.

Naturally, TC is the only one off the top of my head, for markets that aren't massive like SoCal or NYC, that did it.

EDIT: I guess PHX would be another.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I like the idea of Minneapolis having an arena and the Wolves not being forced to move to St. Paul to upgrade facilities.
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So that Target and Xcel can undercut each other, and bring less money into the area from major concerts? Seems silly.

I doubt that the combined both arenas have a significant amount of overlap in major revenue events, that one arena couldn't handle. Sure, they probably have more total events combines ... but guessing a lot of minor "filler" events.
 

MplsGopher said:
So that Target and Xcel can undercut each other, and bring less money into the area from major concerts? Seems silly.

I doubt that the combined both arenas have a significant amount of overlap in major revenue events, that one arena couldn't handle. Sure, they probably have more total events combines ... but guessing a lot of minor "filler" events.
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Fair points. Under your logic, though, the X should never have been built. And if it was needed to attract an expansion franchise, what does that mean for how to keep your NBA franchise? Sounds like only one acceptable solution, then.
 


Bad Gopher said:
Fair points. Under your logic, though, the X should never have been built. And if it was needed to attract an expansion franchise, what does that mean for how to keep your NBA franchise? Sounds like only one acceptable solution, then.
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Agree that a single arena should have been constructed for both.

Many markets do it just fine: Boston, Dallas, etc.


Why wasn't the Target Center made the home of the Wild?
 

MplsGopher said:
Agree that a single arena should have been constructed for both.

Many markets do it just fine: Boston, Dallas, etc.


Why wasn't the Target Center made the home of the Wild?
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I can't claim to know or remember the history. My guess is that it wasn't deluxe enough.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I can't claim to know or remember the history. My guess is that it wasn't deluxe enough.
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Sid certainly pulled for them coming to Target Center. My guess would be that the NHL and all potential owners demanded a separate arena. Then when Mayor Coleman and St.Paul said they'd get them one it was all over.
 




MplsGopher said:
That's just silly.
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Only silly if you don't know what happened.

Discussions at time focused on the money troubles the North Stars had. The Gunds were quite vocal about the lack of revenue in town and at the Met Center. Then Norm Greed bought them. That year they made a very improbable run to the Stanley Cup Finals and they couldn't even get all the games on TV! When Green moved them couple of years later reasons cited were:

"Several reasons were cited for the relocation, including poor attendance during a string of losing seasons, the failure to reach deals for a new arena in either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, and a sexual harassment lawsuit against Green that resulted in his wife threatening to leave him unless he moved the team."

The lack of revenue streams was probably why Gary Bettman was quite vocal about the need for their own arena. Doubt he talked much about the sexual harassment suit against Green

When they tried to get the Winnipeg Jets here they would have gone into Target Center. The new ownership included a Minnesota businessman. Instead they moved them to Phoenix.

As of '18-19, eleven NBA and NHL teams share arenas now. Nearly all owned by one team or the other. 3 arenas are owns by groups that own both teams.
 
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Iceland12 said:
Only silly if you don't know what happened.

Discussions at time focused on the money troubles the North Stars had. The Gunds were quite vocal about the lack of revenue in town and at the Met Center. Then Norm Greed bought them. That year they made a very improbable run to the Stanley Cup Finals and they couldn't even get all the games on TV! When Green moved them couple of years later reasons cited were:

"Several reasons were cited for the relocation, including poor attendance during a string of losing seasons, the failure to reach deals for a new arena in either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, and a sexual harassment lawsuit against Green that resulted in his wife (Pat Miles) threatening to leave him unless he moved the team."

The lack of revenue streams was probably why Gary Bettman was quite vocal about the need for their own arena. Doubt he talked much about the sexual harassment suit against Green

When they tried to get the Winnipeg Jets here they would have gone into Target Center. The new ownership included a Minnesota businessman. Instead they moved them to Phoenix.

As of '18-19, eleven NBA and NHL teams share arenas now. Nearly all owned by one team or the other. 3 arenas are owns by groups that own both teams.
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Thanks for the info.

Obviously having competing "main cities" is not the usual situation.


But I would just flat out refuse, as a normal metro area, to build two arenas of that size. Just no.
 

If the Wolves do leave, I hope they implode Target Center for something else or greatly reduce its size.

No need to be undercutting all the great concerts and events that happen at Xcel.
 

Iceland12 said:
Only silly if you don't know what happened.

Discussions at time focused on the money troubles the North Stars had. The Gunds were quite vocal about the lack of revenue in town and at the Met Center. Then Norm Greed bought them. That year they made a very improbable run to the Stanley Cup Finals and they couldn't even get all the games on TV! When Green moved them couple of years later reasons cited were:

"Several reasons were cited for the relocation, including poor attendance during a string of losing seasons, the failure to reach deals for a new arena in either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, and a sexual harassment lawsuit against Green that resulted in his wife (Pat Miles) threatening to leave him unless he moved the team."

The lack of revenue streams was probably why Gary Bettman was quite vocal about the need for their own arena. Doubt he talked much about the sexual harassment suit against Green

When they tried to get the Winnipeg Jets here they would have gone into Target Center. The new ownership included a Minnesota businessman. Instead they moved them to Phoenix.

As of '18-19, eleven NBA and NHL teams share arenas now. Nearly all owned by one team or the other. 3 arenas are owns by groups that own both teams.
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F'k Norm Green. Still. Today.
 



MplsGopher said:
Why wasn't the Target Center made the home of the Wild?
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Probably the same reasons the North Stars didn't move downtown from Met Center, or why the first Winnipeg Jets went to Phoenix: arena priority. Wolves controlled the schedule, advertising, suite money, and concessions, and they wouldn't crack on any of them.
 

GopherRock said:
Probably the same reasons the North Stars didn't move downtown from Met Center, or why the first Winnipeg Jets went to Phoenix: arena priority. Wolves controlled the schedule, advertising, suite money, and concessions, and they wouldn't crack on any of them.
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All fair points.

But then why don't the Boston Bruins, LA Kings, [list of all other NHL teams that share arena with NBA team(s)] demand to have their own arenas built or else they'll leave?


And if your answer is something like "because all those NHL teams either actually control the arena more than the NBA team(s) or at least they have a very cooperative agreement with the NBA team(s) as opposed to an adversarial relationship", then my response is "how f___king stupid was the Target Center ownership and/or Twolves ownership???"
 

per Shooter:

Taylor wouldn’t confirm, but it’s a good bet that Lore and Rodriguez will use the two years to get their finances in order for the $1.5 billion purchase. It’s also clear that Lore, whose wealth is estimated at nearly $2 billion, will be the primary money partner in the deal, not Rodriguez.

Taylor, worth $2.9 billion, ranks 1,064 among the world’s wealthiest people, according to Forbes’ new valuations.

I asked Glen what’s he going to do with another $1.5 billion.

He paused.

“Pay taxes,” he said. “I hope there’s some left over.”

www.twincities.com

Charley Walters: Pohlads poised to be lone local owners in Twin Cities major sports

Glen Taylor’s pending sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves means the Twins will be the lone locally owned franchise among NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB teams. Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf are from New J…
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

Howl Wolves!!
 

MplsGopher said:
And if your answer is something like "because all those NHL teams either actually control the arena more than the NBA team(s) or at least they have a very cooperative agreement with the NBA team(s) as opposed to an adversarial relationship", then my response is "how f___king stupid was the Target Center ownership and/or Twolves ownership???"
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The answer: pretty f-ing stupid. The Wolves were waved around as relocation bait from the time they first set foot on the floor, even after Target Center was completed. It was only after Glen Taylor bought the team in 1995 that such chatter stopped.
 

GopherRock said:
The answer: pretty f-ing stupid. The Wolves were waved around as relocation bait from the time they first set foot on the floor, even after Target Center was completed. It was only after Glen Taylor bought the team in 1995 that such chatter stopped.
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Why wouldn’t the Target Center demand a carve out for joint control, for an expansion or relocation NHL team??? I mean, that’s the only league/entity where you’d want/need to do that ...

So short-sighted
 

Having two arenas for the Wolves/Wild is unnecessary, especially when you consider there will be a new Barn someday that can host the state tournaments etc. Move the Wolves to St. Paula and upgrade the X. Target Center is not fixable long-term.
 



Sorry if this was covered already, but did J-Lo and A-Rod breakup over his interest in buying the Wolves? The timing was about right. She maybe had no interest in owning a team or spending time in MN.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Shooter:

Taylor wouldn’t confirm, but it’s a good bet that Lore and Rodriguez will use the two years to get their finances in order for the $1.5 billion purchase. It’s also clear that Lore, whose wealth is estimated at nearly $2 billion, will be the primary money partner in the deal, not Rodriguez.

Taylor, worth $2.9 billion, ranks 1,064 among the world’s wealthiest people, according to Forbes’ new valuations.

I asked Glen what’s he going to do with another $1.5 billion.

He paused.

“Pay taxes,” he said. “I hope there’s some left over.”

www.twincities.com

Charley Walters: Pohlads poised to be lone local owners in Twin Cities major sports

Glen Taylor’s pending sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves means the Twins will be the lone locally owned franchise among NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB teams. Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf are from New J…
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

Howl Wolves!!
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It’s also clear that Lore, whose wealth is estimated at nearly $2 billion, will be the primary money partner in the deal, not Rodriguez.

Was this even in question? Thanks Shooter.
 

LakevilleBro said:
Sorry if this was covered already, but did J-Lo and A-Rod breakup over his interest in buying the Wolves? The timing was about right. She maybe had no interest in owning a team or spending time in MN.
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Nope. They were engaged and he was cheating on her.
 

jamiche said:
I don't really follow hockey and I completely agree. I'm still pissed about it.
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Time to get over it. You've got to see #97 play. He's incredible. They also have one fabulous goaltender and a very capable rookie backup. Zach Parise is on a high scoring 4th line. Tune in!
 

GopherJake said:
Time to get over it. You've got to see #97 play. He's incredible. They also have one fabulous goaltender and a very capable rookie backup. Zach Parise is on a high scoring 4th line. Tune in!
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Agree. KK is the best player that the Wild have had in many years.
 

LakevilleBro said:
Agree. KK is the best player that the Wild have had in many years.
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Should be in great position to sign with VGK when he's done with his rookie deal.

Okay, in all seriousness, holy shit; Had to take a quick peak at Cap Friendly and the Wild are paying Parise and Spurgeon over $7.5M per year until they're both 40 years old? WTF? No wonder they flounder year after year with front office decisions like that
 

Shama chimes in:

I called Glen Taylor Monday but haven’t heard back from the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx owner. If I talk to him soon I will tell him not to sell his teams. Full disclosure here: I consider him a friend.

In early April came news Taylor was negotiating a sale to billionaire entrepreneur Marc Lore and baseball legend turned businessman Alex Rodriguez. Part of the story was a 30-day negotiating period would ensue to finalize details. The exact start date of the period isn’t known but it probably ends soon, if it hasn’t already expired. The best guess is the deal is still alive with NBA authorities meticulously looking at the potential new owners.

I hope the deal falls through because my opinion is that will benefit both the public and Taylor. It’s best that the NBA Timberwolves and WNBA Lynx have local ownership. Plus, Taylor might be positioned to have the pleasure of watching an exciting young Wolves team on the rise. He has experienced great success with the Lynx and that team continues to be an important part of the Minnesota sports menu.


Howl Wolves!!
 

per STrib:

The 30-day negotiation window between Timberwolves and Lynx owner Glen Taylor and prospective new owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez has expired, but negotiations between the parties continue on an agreement for the purchase of the franchises, sources said Tuesday.

The expiration of the 30-day exclusivity window without a deal does not mean talks have broken down and there could be an extension to that agreement, ESPN reported.

In April, Taylor reached the agreement with Lore and Rodriguez for the potential $1.5 billion sale of the Wolves and Lynx, with Taylor maintaining controlling ownership for two years before Lore and Rodriguez would take over in 2023.

Taylor also said there would be language in the contract to keep the Wolves in Minnesota. It's unclear how enforceable such language would be, but Taylor also said the NBA would have to approve any move and the league does not want to move the Wolves out of Minnesota.

www.startribune.com

Negotiations between Lore, A-Rod and Taylor for sale of Timberwolves continue

The 30-day window expired, but talks continue; Lynx would be included in deal.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Howl Wolves!!
 

BleedGopher said:
Shama chimes in:

I called Glen Taylor Monday but haven’t heard back from the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx owner. If I talk to him soon I will tell him not to sell his teams. Full disclosure here: I consider him a friend.

In early April came news Taylor was negotiating a sale to billionaire entrepreneur Marc Lore and baseball legend turned businessman Alex Rodriguez. Part of the story was a 30-day negotiating period would ensue to finalize details. The exact start date of the period isn’t known but it probably ends soon, if it hasn’t already expired. The best guess is the deal is still alive with NBA authorities meticulously looking at the potential new owners.

I hope the deal falls through because my opinion is that will benefit both the public and Taylor. It’s best that the NBA Timberwolves and WNBA Lynx have local ownership. Plus, Taylor might be positioned to have the pleasure of watching an exciting young Wolves team on the rise. He has experienced great success with the Lynx and that team continues to be an important part of the Minnesota sports menu.


Howl Wolves!!
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Glen Taylor taking advice from Shama makes too much sense
 

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