Hey folks, I really recommend you check out Dane Moore’s latest episode-- they did a great job on the basketball stuff as always, but the last hour is focused on the ownership situation. They have Dan Bowling on, who has become their “Marc Lore correspondent”-- he is a local business owner/CEO who knows Lore very well (and is the CEO of the Genesis Company which sponsors the pod).

He does an amazing job helping unpack some of the things about the ownership situation that I have not seen any other media source cover at this level of detail with this level of nuance. I summarized some of the key points below but I really recommend checking out the pod, as it’s both entertaining and really interesting and informative. Link to timestamp

  • The Glen Taylor group agreed to sell the team at a price of $1.5 billion, which was universally considered an underpay/deal). One of the terms of the purchase set by Glen Taylor was that the payment was to be acted upon in stages.
  • AKA, the Lore group is not buying the team “on layaway”, but rather simply executing on the purchase under the terms set by the current owner. “The Lore group bought the shares available to be bought as they became available to be bought.”
  • The Lore ownership group (which very publically includes ARod, but this pod focused on Lore so I’ll just say him) has closed on 40% of the team as of today. The next stage of the purchase is for an additional 40% of the team (for a total of 80%, majority ownership), and the Lore group has a window of December-March to make that payment.
  • Dan Bowling feels that Lore is one of the great “capital raisers” in the world today and that his entrepreneurship track record reflects that. He believes that there should be no concern regarding their ability to make the final payment, and that the group has been making the payments at the end of their windows represents the fact that there’s no reason to pay any earlier as the agreement has already been made. Dan questions any “league sources” with reports about the Lore group’s finances as no one in the NBA world has connections to Lore or knows his financial situation. Additionally, plenty of due diligence (with accounting firms, law firms, etc. on both sides) would have happened leading up to the purchase.
  • It has been reported by both sides that there was no negotiation about the price or the terms. Glen had “tried to sell it for years” but backed out of multiple early stage explorations. Glen found a buyer he liked and requested it be sold to them at this price in stages. (e.g., if you come to the table and someone offers you a great price on something that you CAN afford, why would you negotiate?) Dan believes the group will absolutely be able to make that last payment.
  • Lore and the new ownership group have been in the building for a while now and are seeing how the organization has been run and getting to learn both what to do and what not to do. The new group is not looking to just buy the team, kick the old guys out, hire their own folks and “figure it out on the fly”. Kyle states that instead of “joking around about the layaway plan”, the real angle is that the new group DID want to learn about the team and its operations, be involved in how the team is run gradually, start changing the culture, etc. Influence of the new ownership group is clear in things like the Gobert trade and Tim Connelly hiring (including his financial package and the fact that the Wolves now have one of the largest front offices in the NBA).
  • The Lore group (ARod specifically) has stated they plan to privately fund a new stadium. Dane posits that the Lore group is probably not just looking to fundraise for the last $600M / 40% payment, but rather that $600M AND $1B+ more for a new stadium which will be an asset independent of the team. “They will play basketball games there AND do all the other stuff” that makes the owners money. With public funding comes public strings attached and the Lore ownership group is looking to control their own assets here and maximize return.
  • On Bally: Dan is “certain” that ownership is embarrassed they can’t distribute their product “which is good” to the fans “who are willing to pay” because of the company in between. They will be considering something that breaks the mold and are looking at situations like what the Suns are doing (distributing free over antenna) to distribute games to fans.

What do you think about the ownership situation?

  • le_swedenOPBEnglish
    1·
    1 年前

    Overall, the podcast left me feeling very excited about the new ownership outlook. One thing I had not considered is that in purchases of other teams, the new billionaire owners tend to be prideful; come in, hire a whole new staff, make these huge decisions, and try and set the world on fire immediately (e.g. Clippers, Suns).

    Not only was the Lore group cool with the transition plan, they are apparently engaged in the transition process, are learning the ropes, while still being respected as decision makers coming in. They are bought in to the direction of the team as it currently stands and that includes considerations like, do we dip into luxury tax to maintain our contender in the future, etc.

    That in tandem with the privately funded stadium “asset” discussion leaves me with this conclusion: They want to build a sustainable, money printing asset here in Minnesota; a version of the Minnesota Timberwolves that is a title contender with face-of-the-NBA level star power, and a privately owned stadium that hosts them and a million other things which makes them money.