A power hitter has been added to Alex Rodriguez and business partner Marc Lore’s team in an effort to take over the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx.
The Athletic revealed on Thursday that former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg is joining the potential ownership group. In an effort to take over the teams, Rodriguez and Lore, who now hold 40% of the franchises, are involved in a conflict with Glen Taylor, the current owner.
The 82-year-old Bloomberg is currently the 13th richest person in the world with a net worth of $106.2 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list published on Thursday.
At a valuation of $1.5 billion, Rodriguez and Lore had committed to purchase the clubs from Taylor, acquiring 20 percent stakes at a time. They tried to purchase an additional 40% to take majority control in March, but Taylor claimed he terminated the agreement when the partners switched financing groups and were unable to come up with the necessary funds. At that point, they owed him more than $600 million.
The potential owners denied that, and in an effort to settle the dispute, they have engaged in arbitration with Taylor. If the agreement moves through, Rodriguez and Lore would have until March of next year to purchase the final 20% for a price of $300 million.
According to The Athletic, Bloomberg would put up some of those $300 million so that Rodriguez, Lore, and their partner company could take full ownership right away rather than having to wait until March.
If the arbitration goes in Rodriguez and Lore’s favor and the NBA governors accept their purchase, they don’t intend to stop at merely purchasing the teams. According to The Athletic, they also intend to construct a brand-new, privately funded arena to take the place of Minneapolis’s Target Center.
Only Madison Square Garden in New York is older than Target Center, where the Timberwolves have played since the 1990–91 campaign.
After a 56-26 regular season record, the Timberwolves were defeated by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. The Lynx are 7-2 this season, third in the league, and have won four WNBA titles, the most recent one coming in 2017.
