Minnesota Timberwolves minority owners Mark Lore, middle left, and Alex Rodriguez, middle right, watch during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks December 19, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, file)
By DAVE CAMPBELL
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The ownership transfer of the Minnesota Timberwolves must continue as originally planned, after a three-person arbitration panel ruled 2-1 that controlling owner Glen Taylor must cede control of the NBA club to partners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez in the disputed final phase of the $1.5 billion sale that was uniquely arranged nearly four years ago to give Lore and Rodriguez the majority stake.
The binding ruling issued Monday granted Lore, an e-commerce entrepreneur and investor, and Rodriguez, the former Major League Baseball star, a 90-day extension to finish the acquisition. The sale is subject to approval by the league’s board of governors, with at least 23 of 30 team owners needing to vote yes.
“We look forward to working with the NBA to complete the approval process and close this transaction so that we can turn our attention to winning championships in Minnesota for our incredible fans and the Twin Cities community,” Lore and Rodriguez said in a statement.
The 83-year-old Taylor, who grew up on a Minnesota dairy farm and built a fortune with a business that specialized in printing wedding invitations, bought the Timberwolves for $88 million in 1994 to prevent the franchise moving from New Orleans. Taylor and his wife, Becky, issued a statement expressing their disappointment in the ruling.
“We will review the decision thoroughly prior to making any further comment. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Timberwolves and Lynx players, staff, and loyal fans for their support,” the Taylors said.
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch was conducting his pregame news conference in Cleveland when the news broke.
“I’ve had a great relationship with all three owners,” Finch said. “I’ve been super blessed to work here, and they’ve been nothing but supportive in all their own individual ways and together at times. I’ll have to wait and see what is official, but it hasn’t affected our basketball abilities, which has been the most important thing, and all the ownership groups have been super mindful of that. I know it’s been a long process with a lot of angst on both sides, so the resolution of it is overall good for the club.”
Taylor announced last March he was exercising his right to pull out of the deal because Lore and Rodriguez did not send the final payment within the 90-day deadline of initiating the purchase of their third portion of the club to reach about an 80% stake — including about 30% funded by their investors — and become the controlling owners of the Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx. Taylor also said they missed other deadlines guiding the transfer process.
Lore and Rodriguez were blindsided by the decision and defended their integrity, accusing Taylor of having seller’s remorse amid a steady rise in the value of NBA franchises and a breakthrough 2023-24 season for the long-languishing Timberwolves. They blamed the delay in delivery of the final 40% of the payment on the slow pace of the league’s approval process and said they submitted paperwork six days ahead of the deadline.
Lore and Rodriguez have long insisted they have the wealth to make the purchase work. Lore told the Minnesota Star Tribune in an interview the day after Taylor’s decision that he’s in better financial position now than when the deal with Taylor was first struck.
“I’m flush with cash. I’ve got literally hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank, ready to invest in the Wolves and bring home a championship,” Lore said.
Since then, Lore and Rodriguez brought on former New York City mayor and financial media mogul Michael Bloomberg to their investment team. According to an ESPN report last October, they’ve got $940 million in the bank ready to completely buy Taylor out for full ownership rather than keep a 20% stake as stipulated by the purchase agreement. Entering this year, the Lore-Rodriguez group owned about 36% after the first two purchases — called tranches — with Taylor owning 60% and his limited partners accounting for about 4%.Taylor preferred the unusually long runway so that he could serve as a mentor of sorts to Lore and Rodriguez as they learned the business, the community and the league, an arrangement NBA Commissioner Adam Silver later said the league would advise against in the future in light of the falling-out between the two sides.
Forbes valued the Timberwolves at $3.1 billion in its latest projections for NBA clubs published at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, more than double the amount of the original agreement. That ranks just 28th in the league, with the Wolves playing at Target Center, a 34-year-old downtown arena they share with the Lynx that’s owned by the city of Minneapolis.
The contract of the sale called for a mediation session, which was held last May 1 and did not resolve the dispute. Stipulations for the arbitration panel included one person selected by each side who had not previously represented them and one person appointed by the chief judge of Hennepin County District Court.
The three-person panel convened last Nov. 4. Taylor appointed retired former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Blatz. Lore and Rodriguez selected Joseph R. Slights III, a Delaware-based partner at the Wilson Sonsini law firm that specializes in corporate governance. Slights also previously served as a Delaware Superior Court judge. Thomas Fraser, a retired former Hennepin County District Court judge, was the neutral arbitrator.
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