New Wolves owners want to leave Target Center. Here’s what’s at stake for downtown Minneapolis.

Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez are clear-eyed that they want to replace Target Center now that they are the new owners of the Timberwolves and Lynx.

When and where the new arena will be built is up in the air, but they said it might not be in downtown Minneapolis, which is anchored by pro sport facilities that have become more important as the office culture has floundered since the pandemic.

“I think you envision it being downtown, but we have to obviously find the right location that can support the vision for this new ... arena we’re looking to build,“ Lore said. ”We want to make sure we don’t have to sacrifice the vision for what this could be. If we can find it downtown, that would be great."

The pair has repeatedly said they intend to keep the teams in Minnesota. But in an interview Tuesday, they indicated the search for a location would span beyond downtown Minneapolis — and they’re in no major rush to find the perfect spot.

Rodriguez said he envisions the arena anchoring an entertainment district and generating revenue that could be put back into the team, citing the New England Patriots’ Patriot Place, the Battery near the Braves’ stadium in Atlanta and L.A. Live by Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles as inspiration.

Target Center fails to check several of the boxes needed to bring those ambitions to life.

At 35 years old, the arena is the NBA’s second-oldest arena, the last to be designed with more seats in the upper bowl than the lower bowl. Its tenure is trumped only by New York’s Madison Square Garden, which has received billions in upgrades over the decades.

The arena also has one of the NBA’s smallest footprints, sitting on less than four acres hemmed in by city streets. That’s about 30% smaller than most NBA arenas, said Ted Johnson, a former executive for the Timberwolves and Lynx who led the $145 million renovation of Target Center completed in 2017.

Other structural challenges hinder revenue and the fan, player and performer experience, too: The building has among the lowest number of premium seats in the league, and the concourses are narrow. Storage space is limited compared to other venues, as is loading space, an important consideration for concerts.

“It needs to be a two-block solution to get to the scale of what they’re talking about,” said Don Kohlenberger, who represented the building owner in the 2014 transformation of the former Block E building now known as Mayo Clinic Square.

Kohlenberger said there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work happening to support and verify the viability of efforts to keep the arena downtown.

A key advantage of urban core is the transportation infrastructure to support large venues, said Adam Duininck, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council.

Even if the new arena were to be located near the Minneapolis Farmers Market, a rumored site contender, Duininck is hopeful the project could mimic the economic impact that the construction of Target Field had on the North Loop and U.S. Bank had on the east side of downtown.

“It might feel a little more distant,” he said. “But not that long ago, the North Loop didn’t feel like a part of downtown. As downtown grows and evolves, it really does get hopefully woven together in a more cohesive manner.”

In a statement Wednesday, a spokesperson for Mayor Jacob Frey said the mayor was “encouraged” to hear the new owners’ expressed interest in keeping the teams in Minneapolis’ core as “the city’s identity and economy are closely tied to having a strong sports presence.”

“Mayor Jacob Frey continues to hold the position that any new arena for the Timberwolves must be built without relying on taxpayer dollars,” the statement said.

In Tuesday’s interview, Lore said he and Rodriguez have not discussed funding specifics but are ready to finance a new arena privately.

That could be a boon for the project in the current political environment. The Wild, Vikings and Twins all asked for state help to renovate facilities in the most recent legislative session, and none of them got what they wanted.

But even if a new arena is not taxpayers’ responsibility, the question of what happens to Target Center will fall to the city.

The city of Minneapolis bought the arena in 1995, after the Timberwolves’ original owners ran into financial problems and explored a sale that would have moved the team to New Orleans.

The overhaul before the 2017-2018 season delivered major upgrades to the lobby, concourses and hospitality areas, including the launch of the ground-level Lexus Club offering a luxury experience for 500 fans.

The city contributed $74 million to the renovations in bonds, which are being paid off by a sales tax. About $49 million of that debt remains outstanding, a city spokesperson said Tuesday.

According to the city’s latest quarterly financial status report, the arena collected $1.6 million in rent from the Timberwolves organization in 2024. It also received $1.4 million from the municipal parking fund and $3.2 million from the city’s downtown assets umbrella fund, which is largely supported by the city’s sales, liquor, lodging, restaurant an entertainment tax collections.

Target Center’s largest expenses last year were $3.6 million for equipment and capital improvements and $1.9 million for building operator AEG.

The owners would face a $50 million penalty for breaking the lease at Target Center before 2035. As they juggle the draft and hiring of new executives, it may take some time before a full-fledged plan is released.

“None of these projects happen overnight,” Johnson said. “They all take a considerable amount of time and effort and involve a lot of different stakeholders. I don’t think Timberwolves fans will be waking up next year to a new venue.”

Chris Hine of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.