Baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and his business partner Marc Lore are reportedly expected to enter a legal battle with Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor following his decision to nix his sale of majority ownership to Rodriguez and Lore in March and are expected to take the dispute to arbitration, the Financial Times reports.
Rodriguez, 48, and Lore, 52, the founder of Quidsi and Jet.com, accuse Taylor of having had "seller's remorse" when he decided to halt their deal to purchase an 80% stake of the NBA franchise, as well as the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, as part of a $1.5 billion deal. The two men were expected to make payments in three tranches, however, didn't provide the remaining $520 million to increase their stake from 40% ownership to 80%, with Lore refusing to pay a significant percentage of funds, the New York Post previously reported.
Documents shared with Taylor, the NBA and The Carlyle Group private equity firm outlined Lore and Rodriguez's budget plan, which aimed to lower the Timberwolves' payroll to $171 million, far less than the projected $172 million luxury tax threshold and would've gone from a more than $25 million tax payment to a franchise receiving an estimated $6.5 million tax distribution, beginning next season, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported last month. Minnesota finished the 2023-24 NBA season No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and currently leads the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets, 2-0, in the second-round of the Western Conference Playoffs after only making the postseason four times in the last 20 seasons.
"ESPN Sources: Timberwolves minority partners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez submitted financial projections forecasting a sizable retreat in roster payroll that majority owner Glen Taylor believed would jeopardize franchise’s ability to compete for a title," Wojnarowski wrote on his X account.
Rodriguez and Lore issued a statement after Taylor revealed his decision to nix their purchase of majority ownership on March 28.
"We are disappointed with Glen Taylor's public statement today. We have fulfilled our obligations, have all necessary funding and are fully committed to closing our purchase of the team as soon as the NBA completes its approval process," Rodriguez and Lore said in the statement, which was reshared by the Athletic's Shams Charania. "Glen Taylor's statement is an unfortunate case of seller's remorse that is short sighted and disruptive to the team and the fans during a historic winning season."
Rodriguez and Lore had previously purchased 40% of ownership stakes in the two franchises for $600 million and were expected to control 80% as part of the new deal, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported in December 2023. The deal, however, expired on March 27 after a 90-day period following the exercise notice issued by Rodriguez and Lore.
“I will continue to work with Marc, Alex and the rest of the ownership group to ensure our teams have the necessary resources to compete at the highest levels on and off the court,” Taylor said in the statement in March. “The Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale.”
Rodriguez is one of the most polarizing players in the history of baseball, having twice broken the record for the largest sports contract ever signed and also admitting to using banned performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 and 2003, which consequently resulted in a yearlong suspension in 2014, during his 22-year baseball career. The 48-year-old hit for a .295 average and recorded 696 home runs, 3,115 hits and 2,086 RBIs during stints with the Seattle Mariners (1994-2000), Texas Rangers (2001-03) and New York Yankees (2004-2013, 2015-16), winning three American League MVP awards (2003, 2005, 2007), the 2009 World Series, 10 Silver Slugger Awards and being named as an All-Star 14 times.