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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Wow didn’t expect this. This can’t be good. Can’t see the new owners spending winter nights in Minneapolis. At least some star power for the front office.
 

And anyone who gets excited when they say they want to keep the team here. What do you expect them to say? They gone.
 

Go4 said:
they will be in vegas or Seattle in 3-4 years
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El Amin Fan said:
And anyone who gets excited when they say they want to keep the team here. What do you expect them to say? They gone.
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Taylor has always said he would only sell to someone who agreed to keep the team here. We’ll see whether that’s reflected in the terms of the sale.
 



2nd Degree Gopher said:
Taylor has always said he would only sell to someone who agreed to keep the team here. We’ll see whether that’s reflected in the terms of the sale.
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The key is how ironclad that is. A penalty to break a clause will be nothing for a new city to entice a move.
 

El Amin Fan said:
The key is how ironclad that is. A penalty to break a clause will be nothing for a new city to entice a move.
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Well, it would if it was $2B or something outrageous. It could also be something like the right of Taylor or his heirs to repurchase the team before it could be moved, maybe at an unattractively low price.
 


The lease buyout is only $50M. Unless there is something incredibly enforceable and punitive in the Purchase and Sale Agreement, this franchise is now untethered.
 



El Amin Fan said:
Proof will be in the details.
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It always is.
jamiche said:
The lease buyout is only $50M. Unless there is something incredibly enforceable and punitive in the Purchase and Sale Agreement, this franchise is now untethered.
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Yep, it won’t be the lease buyout that ties them here. If Taylor is requiring the team to stay here, he is presumably leaving hundreds of millions on the table. The terms of sale can be drafted to make moving it difficult and costly.
 


Full Speed Ahead said:
Seattle Seawolves...
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It does have a ring to it.

Taylor proverbially dribbled the air out of the ball for all these years with his inept stewardship of the team, and now he'll turn over its lifeless husk to someone who'll take it elsewhere and revitalize it. It didn't have to be this way. This city and state gave more love and attention to this awful franchise than they deserved, and we would've flipped for a contending team. The national perception must be that this town can't and won't support the NBA and that moving will be a mercy killing. Or that everything we touch dies.
 

The only things that few Timberwolves left have going for them is the greed of NBA Owners. They don't get anything from this sale. Even if they move the team in 2-3 years. However they'd be able to split any money for an expansion team.

Right now it would probably be around $1B. Make it two expansion teams(LV and Seattle?) and it becomes at least $2B.
 

Taylor said Rodriguez and Lore will be in Minneapolis on Monday, when they’ll receive a tour of the facilities and meet with team employees. After that, they’ll have the 30 days to get the requisite paperwork together to send to the NBA. The League will then go through that paperwork and the hope is they’ll then go before the Board of Governors for approval.

Taylor purchased the NBA franchise for $88 million in 1994 and the WNBA’s Lynx in 1999..

According to Spotrac, Rodriguez earned $437 million in career on-field earnings. Since retiring, Rodriguez has primarily worked in television, ranging from baseball analyst to guest judge on Shark Tank.

Lore has been the president and CEO of multiple e-commerce companies, ranging from Jet.com to Quidsi. Most recently, he was the president and CEO of Walmart U.S. eCommerce. He reportedly left that position on a full-time basis in January, though he still reportedly advises the company..

Taylor said the team will remain in Minnesota.

“We’ll have that protected,” he said.

www.twincities.com

Timberwolves and Lynx nearing sale to former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and e-commerce maven Marc Lore

Ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves may soon be changing hands.
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com
 

I didn't think it would be possible to dislike a Minnesota franchise owner more than Norm Green. It appears I may stand corrected.

If the break-up rumors with J-Lo are correct, then there's really zero silver lining.
 

Ope3 said:
I didn't think it would be possible to dislike a Minnesota franchise owner more than Norm Green. It appears I may stand corrected.

If the break-up rumors with J-Lo are correct, then there's really zero silver lining.
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She'd look good in a winter mink coat!
 

Bad Gopher said:
It does have a ring to it.

Taylor proverbially dribbled the air out of the ball for all these years with his inept stewardship of the team, and now he'll turn over its lifeless husk to someone who'll take it elsewhere and revitalize it. It didn't have to be this way. This city and state gave more love and attention to this awful franchise than they deserved, and we would've flipped for a contending team. The national perception must be that this town can't and won't support the NBA and that moving will be a mercy killing. Or that everything we touch dies.
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Looks like Seattle already has a Seawolves team... http://www.seattleseawolves.com/
 

Glen breaking the first rule in business; don't sell LOW. Could the value of the franchise be much lower now than it has in the last handful of years?

Optimistic about new ownership though; it literally cannot be any worse.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Glen breaking the first rule in business; don't sell LOW. Could the value of the franchise be much lower now than it has in the last handful of years?

Optimistic about new ownership though; it literally cannot be any worse.
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Ah..you think that Taylor getting $1.5 billion to keep the team here is low? Hell, they only got $550M for the Bucks. Though they had to spend another $250M on the arena. Even at $750M, Taylor got $750M more.

They did get $2.2B for the Rockets, but that team has a long and recent history of success on the court and at the gate. While Taylor & Company don't have either of those things. He's probably been losing money for most of the last 10-12 years too. The Houston Metro is also 6M people to our 4M.

Now add in that Taylor will be 80yrs old in 10 days and his kids don't want the team and he gotta hell of a deal.
 


Then mpls will have to build a 1 billion dollar arena to lure the nba back.
 


Spaulding!No! said:
Then mpls will have to build a 1 billion dollar arena to lure the nba back.
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Maybe not. We already have an outstanding arena ........ in St Paul.

Former Mayor Coleman, back when people were trying to figure out how to build the Vikings a new stadium, proposed that both the Wild and Wolves should play games in Xcel and that a new practice facility be built for them there.

Maybe he'll end up getting his wish.
 


It will be just like when the Sonics left. Weren't they horrible .... then as soon as they left, they had Durant and were good in OKC?
 

MplsGopher said:
Or ... you know, Sonics.

In the brand new (completely gutted and rebuilt) Key arena.
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Thanks for that. Forgot that when the carpetbaggers from OKC moved the team from Seattle, the city got to keep the name "Sonics". Not sure if they kept "Supersonics". 😎
 

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