Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez vow not to move Timberwolves but say they’ll push for a new arena

In the more than four years since they agreed to purchase the Timberwolves and Lynx, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez felt a number of emotions.

And many of those emotions were rolled into one as the NBA’s Board of Governors unanimously voted to approve the sale from Glen Taylor on Tuesday.

What was supposed to be a two-year gradual takeover doubled in length, thanks to the drawn-out and contentious battle after Taylor, who owned the Wolves since 1994, tried to cancel the sale in March 2024. That led to arbitration, in which Lore and Rodriguez prevailed in a 2-1 decision in February. Then came Tuesday, the day they envisioned when all parties agreed to the $1.5 billion deal in 2021.

“It’s just a monumental day, obviously,” Rodriguez told the Minnesota Star Tribune in a joint interview with Lore. “But I feel equally if not more relieved. We’re both happy, let’s just say that. It’s been a journey.”

Lore said he and Rodriguez were both “numb” because of how grueling the process had become in recent months.

“The ups and downs, it’s been quite an emotional ride, taxing emotionally,” Lore said. “We’re probably not feeling the full impact of what it means yet because it’s been so hard.”

Once the deal is closed, a step expected later Wednesday, their work can be in earnest. At the top of their and fans’ minds when it comes to the future of the Wolves is just where they will be playing.

Lore and Rodriguez have repeatedly squashed the notion that they would ever move the team out of Minnesota.

“Alex and I said this from the beginning, we’re never moving the team,” Lore said.

But just where they will play their games in Minneapolis is a future that is undecided and still unknown to Lore and Rodriguez.

What appears certain is the current setup at Target Center is not good enough in the long term for Rodriguez and Lore when it comes to the possibilities of the arena generating revenue that can then go back into the team.

“It is a necessary component to any business, especially us who are in a middle market,” Rodriguez said. “You need the revenue. You need the economic model to be able to generate more revenue and then pull that revenue back in, just like a virtuous kind of flywheel, right?

“The market’s ready for it. Our fans deserve it, but Marc and I have a lot of work to do. We’ve been talking about this for over four years now, but there’s still a lot of wood to chop.”

Ideally, they would like an arena in downtown Minneapolis because having the Twins, Vikings, Wolves and Lynx “does so much for our community,” Rodriguez said. But they have to find a location with the right kind of “footprint,” Rodriguez said, to support their vision of an all-encompassing arena entertainment district around the area.

Rodriguez cited 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 examples of what they are striving to attain.

“We at least need a footprint to create a mixed-use project where you can really change a whole community around at least a few blocks, where it can bring a lot of energy and it can recruit a lot of people from all over, and that’s really the goal and the vision,” Rodriguez said.

Lore said while they haven’t discussed the specifics of where the funding would come from for this project, they are “prepared to fund it privately.”

On the court, the Wolves have never achieved the success they have the last two seasons after reaching back-to-back Western Conference finals for the first time ever. That ascent began with the drafting of Anthony Edwards and the hiring of head coach Chris Finch, both of which took place before Lore and Rodriguez came aboard.

But in 2022, they did bring in, from Denver, President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly, who has an opt-out on his contract this summer.

Connelly expressed optimism earlier this month that he would be in Minnesota in the long term.

“I think you guys are stuck with me,” Connelly said.

Lore and Rodriguez said they speak to Connelly every day and had multiple meals set up with him this week; the NBA draft is Wednesday and Thursday.

“Continuity is going to be a part of our strategy to win,” Lore said. “It’s played out well so far. Tim, Coach, Ant, that threesome is hopefully going to be intact for a long, long time, and it’s a great nucleus to build around.”

Maintaining annual success in the NBA is a costly venture. Teams have to pay their star players big money, as the Wolves began to do with Edwards last season. That often means venturing into the luxury tax, and the Wolves paid an $85 million luxury tax last season. Lore said paying the luxury tax consistently to keep the team competitive would not be an issue among himself, Rodriguez and other limited partners (LPs) who are aboard.

“It’s a collective. Me and Alex own a good chunk of the team, but we have other LPs as well that have deep pockets that are willing to step up. So I think it’s a collective decision,” Lore said.

“... We’re not afraid to invest in losing money to create franchise value over the long term. Similar to the way you would approach a startup, as well. As startups typically make money, you’re investing for the future.”

Lore said they couldn’t get into specifics of who owns what portion of the franchise but did talk in general about how that breaks down.

“Just know Alex and I are over 50%, and the rest is split across like a dozen different LPs,” Lore said. “Nobody has any substantial percentage.”

Lore is the official governor of the Wolves with Rodriguez as the alternate governor, while those titles are flipped for the Lynx.

“That’s just a thing on a piece of paper,” Lore said. “That doesn’t mean anything to us. We’re operating it as co-chairmen as we are, like co-founders, and just running it together. We technically had to put a name on paper, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

Lore and Rodriguez are not in the typical situation that a lot of new owners are as they take over the Wolves. Other teams’ fan bases may be wary of new owners trying to make a big splash when they take over, and those misguided moves might set back the team on the court for years to come.

Lore’s guiding motto is “vision, capital, people,” and when it comes to the basketball side of the Wolves, they have the people in place with whom they are comfortable executing the vision for the franchise.

“We went out, found who we thought was the very best person in the world to come in and run that for us, and it’s proven to work out pretty well,” Lore said. “We’re going to do the same thing for the business side.”

Longtime CEO Ethan Casson and Chief Operating Officer Ryan Tanke are leaving the organization as part of the changeover from Taylor to Rodriguez and Lore, and the new owners are searching for new leaders on that side of the organization.

“We spent the last four years kind of running basketball, and we’re really excited to take that energy and copy-and-paste and do that on the business side,” Rodriguez said. “Roll up our sleeves and really get to work on the business side.”

The success of the Wolves and Lynx on the court the last few years presents opportunities for the business side of the operation, Rodriguez said, and he and Lore want to capitalize on that success.

Rodriguez added that over the last year, he and Lore felt strong support from the fan base, and they’ve felt welcomed in Minnesota since they came aboard four years ago. Now that they are officially running the organization, they hope to reward the faith and goodwill fans have shown them.

“We feel an incredible amount of gratitude,” Rodriguez said. “Even though the last year and a half has been difficult, I felt like the community really leaned into us, which was nice and a bit surprising.

“… We hope to work really, really hard. We have the energy and the passion, and we’re ready to get to work and bring more good times to our fans.”