After a Scare, Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore Secure the Finances to Buy the Minnesota Timberwolves: Report
Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore have had a rough road trying to become top dogs—er, wolves—in the NBA this week.
The former MLB star and the businessman had lost their financial backing in their bid to become the majority owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Lynx, ESPN reported on Wednesday. The duo, who had just one payment left, had been working with the Carlyle Group before the company seemingly decided to pull its funding. Now, it appears a new financier has stepped up to help them out.
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Dyal Capital Partners is reportedly a pre-approved investor in the Rodriguez-Lore group, meaning that the pair will now have the financial means to complete the sale, according to Sports Illustrated. Their majority ownership would still need to be approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors.
Rodriguez and Lore have been working to become basketball-team owners since 2021. In April of that year, they began the process of buying the Timberwolves in installments. Since then, they’ve bought two installments of 20 percent, with the franchise valued at $1.5 billion. Earlier this year, they then exercised their rights to purchase another 40 percent of the Timberwolves, which would have made them the majority owners of the team. The duo had just one installment, due March 27, left before they could fully take over the team, according to current Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor.
“They had an equity group that was going to come in and put in $300 million, and that equity group has either withdrawn or the NBA has denied them,” Taylor told the Minnesota sports reporter David Shama. “They have to go out and find new revenue. That I do know.” (The NBA told Sportico that the league “did not deny Carlyle’s proposed investment.”)
Rodriguez and Lore are just the latest big names to bet on the sports world. Earlier this year, LeBron James and Drake invested in the PGA Tour, while the Dallas Mavericks were sold to a group including Miriam Adelson. And in recent years, celebrities have thrown money at sports from football to soccer to sailing.
With just a week left before their deadline to pay up, looks like A-Rod and Lore have found someone else to help them foot the bill in the nick of time.
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