Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore will become the next majority owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves after all.
The ownership transfer of the team must continue as originally planned after current Timberwolves controlling owner Glen Taylor halted the final portion of the sale in 2024. The three-member arbitration panel concluded that Taylor didn’t have the power to cancel the final 40% of the $1.5 billion sale to Rodriguez and Lore that was uniquely arranged in 2022.
Lore and Rodriguez, the former Major League Baseball star, released a joint statement announcing that their timeline for obtaining league approval and completing the acquisition has not expired, as Taylor contended when he halted the sale nearly a year ago.
“We are extremely pleased with today’s decision,” Lore and Rodriguez said in a statement, via the Minnesota Tribune. “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.”
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The transaction is subject to approval by the league’s board of governors, with at least 23 of 30 team owners needing to vote yes. Taylor, who grew up on a Minnesota dairy farm and built a fortune on 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 announced in March 2024 that 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 successful 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 to the league last March 21, six days ahead of a deadline.
Rodriguez is an employee of FOX Sports.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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