Alex Rodriguez is the new Wolves owner!!

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

It's a shame nobody based in Minnesota stepped up, but I think that's kind of the way team ownership seems to be going these days, right? These teams have so much value, you kind of have to try to sell them to anybody, including people from outside your geographic region, otherwise you're really capping the value of the franchise. Aren't the Wilfs from New Jersey? And I think LeBron has a share in an ownership group that owns Liverpool FC.

These owners are looking for an investment that they can someday turn around and sell for much more. Just think, Taylor bought the team for just 88 million and he's selling it now for 1.5 billion. Wow. There's always a chance a team gets moved, especially when it's been as historically awful as ours. And theoretically, there might be markets out there where this team could be more valuable, presumably if someplace offers to publicly fund and essentially give away a stadium to a team. But I don't think Silver wants teams moving, so the league wouldn't make it easy. The Seattle fiasco still stings.

While I'm not exactly happy the celebrity face of the ownership group is a steroid cheater, the fact that a professional businessman like Lore will be replacing a local owner who has earned a reputation for old-fashioned thinking and behavior could help us turn the page on our awful history. This is huge news, and while it's a little tough to know what to make of it, I think there's less reason to be worried and more reason to be relieved about the future.

1. I don't know if you simply presented Lebron as an example or as a real alternative, but that was never going to happen. "Cross-Ownership" (or whatever a player owning another team would be) was tried in baseball several decades ago and failed because fans saw it as a conflict of interest, even on occasions that would have helped the "lesser" of the two organizations, and this was pre-internet, with Doctors like Wolvesfan given a platform to spew whatever pee-paw Rupert told him to say.
2. Steroid Cheater as a negative? I am actually looking forward to some cheating. Woj's writeup on BSPN originally stated that MIN had only gone to the playoffs once since 1994 (instead of saying advanced past the first round once) and was only corrected at or about 1120am EST Sunday morning. So how many people read that and said "yeah, sounds about right"? (Note: if you ever see something like that and use the "report a bug" function, they are generally good at fixing it, but 12 hours?!?!)

[Lipoli390]

It's a shame nobody based in Minnesota stepped up, but I think that's kind of the way team ownership seems to be going these days, right? These teams have so much value, you kind of have to try to sell them to anybody, including people from outside your geographic region, otherwise you're really capping the value of the franchise. Aren't the Wilfs from New Jersey? And I think LeBron has a share in an ownership group that owns Liverpool FC.

These owners are looking for an investment that they can someday turn around and sell for much more. Just think, Taylor bought the team for just 88 million and he's selling it now for 1.5 billion. Wow. There's always a chance a team gets moved, especially when it's been as historically awful as ours. And theoretically, there might be markets out there where this team could be more valuable, presumably if someplace offers to publicly fund and essentially give away a stadium to a team. But I don't think Silver wants teams moving, so the league wouldn't make it easy. The Seattle fiasco still stings.

While I'm not exactly happy the celebrity face of the ownership group is a steroid cheater, the fact that a professional businessman like Lore will be replacing a local owner who has earned a reputation for old-fashioned thinking and behavior could help us turn the page on our awful history. This is huge news, and while it's a little tough to know what to make of it, I think there's less reason to be worried and more reason to be relieved about the future.

Good analysis, Drew.

I'm not troubled by a-Rod's steroid past. If everyone is cheating then no one is cheating and at the time nearly every player in Major League Baseball was taking performance-enhancing drugs. More importantly, A-Rod has been successful and well-respected in his post-baseball life and the key guy, Lore, is really smart.

I think it's rare that someone buys a professional sports franchise for the gain on the eventual sale. There are lots of other billion-dollar investments that earn a similar or better return over time. Moreover, people who buy professional sports teams typically hold onto them a long, long time. With rare exception, the few who buy professional sports teams do it for the fun. It's a toy for guys with a lot of money who love sports and who seek outlets for their competitive zeal. Watch Mark Cuban during Mavs games and you can see why these guys buy teams. Note that Lore was a former amateur track athlete who recently challenged Jerry Rice to a race and won. He's obviously hyper-competitive and a bit eccentric - exactly the type of person who buys professional sports teams today. Another reason they buy them is to enhance or open up other business venture opportunities. A professional sports team can be leveraged in multiple ways for other business purposes. That's especially true for an NBA franchise given the NBA's broad appeal and international reach.

It will be interesting to see what Lore, a brilliant Mark Cuban like businessman, and A-Rod do with this franchise. Note also that A-Rod is married to Jennifer Lopez. There's a lot of business savvy and celebrity firepower in this new ownership team. It's really exciting in my view. And while there's certainly a risk that this new ownership team eventually moves the team out of Minnesota, I see that risk as minimal for the reasons I've already given.

[Monster]

The thing I like about this is that it appears that nearly everything Lore touches turns to gold. This guy has a real track record of success and between him and Rodriguez probably have the savvy and progressive thinking needed to take a woebegone mid-market franchise like the Wolves and turn it around. I kind of see Lore as being similar to Cuban in this regard.....or at least that's what I'm hoping.

I'll add to what you said here that both Lore and A-Rod are both under 50 also so if it all works they should be around for a long time.

Also it's somewhat worth noting they are getting the Lynx in this sale. WNBA franchises aren't worth a whole lot now but I could see that changing somewhat in the future making this an added value to the sale. Cheryl Reeve is 54 so I'm guessing that the Lynx will stay highly competitive for another decade or more.

For a franchise with few stars having a guy like A-Rod (and JLO) around adds a little star power. I wonder if KG even though he lost out on the chance to own the team gets his jersey retired and is around like guys with his accomplishments for the team typically does even if he has no direct involvement.

I trust Lore and A-Rod more than I trust KG. Whatever one might think of A-rod as a person, he has been very successful after his playing days. I'm sure they have huge egos, etc but Lore and A-Rod exude professional competence. I think these two are at another level of sophistication and business savvy compared to KG.

I agree completely!

You trust these guys over KG who lost millions to a finical advisor who stole from him? Yeah I'm totally with you. The idea of KG highly involved (in making decisions) always worried me to some extent. It would be nice for the best player in franchise history to not hate ownership and not have to be begged to be around sometimes.

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

The thing I like about this is that it appears that nearly everything Lore touches turns to gold. This guy has a real track record of success and between him and Rodriguez probably have the savvy and progressive thinking needed to take a woebegone mid-market franchise like the Wolves and turn it around. I kind of see Lore as being similar to Cuban in this regard.....or at least that's what I'm hoping.

I'll add to what you said here that both Lore and A-Rod are both under 50 also so if it all works they should be around for a long time.

Also it's somewhat worth noting they are getting the Lynx in this sale. WNBA franchises aren't worth a whole lot now but I could see that changing somewhat in the future making this an added value to the sale. Cheryl Reeve is 54 so I'm guessing that the Lynx will stay highly competitive for another decade or more.

For a franchise with few stars having a guy like A-Rod (and JLO) around adds a little star power. I wonder if KG even though he lost out on the chance to own the team gets his jersey retired and is around like guys with his accomplishments for the team typically does even if he has no direct involvement.

I trust Lore and A-Rod more than I trust KG. Whatever one might think of A-rod as a person, he has been very successful after his playing days. I'm sure they have huge egos, etc but Lore and A-Rod exude professional competence. I think these two are at another level of sophistication and business savvy compared to KG.

I agree completely!

You trust these guys over KG who lost millions to a finical advisor who stole from him? Yeah I'm totally with you. The idea of KG highly involved (in making decisions) always worried me to some extent. It would be nice for the best player in franchise history to not hate ownership and not have to be begged to be around sometimes.

Besides the obvious financial lack-of-sophistication, how about what a giant pain-in-the-ass he sounds like he would be. When he had that huge blowup with Taylor a while back, Windhorst had a podcast with Jackie Macmullen and some poor guy who said 5 words in an hour. Macmullen spent the first half defending everything KG ever did, and spent the second half talking about all the arguments the had because KG told her to get lost. So which is it, Jackie?

I laugh about how everyone said he was good in the Sandler movie. HE LITERALLY WAS HIMSELF! He was in 3 scenes. In the first, the director told him to be an 8. In the second, a 5. The third, a 2. But there was no deep reveal. It wasn't like he would have carried "Chairman of the Board" or anything.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

It's a shame nobody based in Minnesota stepped up, but I think that's kind of the way team ownership seems to be going these days, right? These teams have so much value, you kind of have to try to sell them to anybody, including people from outside your geographic region, otherwise you're really capping the value of the franchise. Aren't the Wilfs from New Jersey? And I think LeBron has a share in an ownership group that owns Liverpool FC.

These owners are looking for an investment that they can someday turn around and sell for much more. Just think, Taylor bought the team for just 88 million and he's selling it now for 1.5 billion. Wow. There's always a chance a team gets moved, especially when it's been as historically awful as ours. And theoretically, there might be markets out there where this team could be more valuable, presumably if someplace offers to publicly fund and essentially give away a stadium to a team. But I don't think Silver wants teams moving, so the league wouldn't make it easy. The Seattle fiasco still stings.

While I'm not exactly happy the celebrity face of the ownership group is a steroid cheater, the fact that a professional businessman like Lore will be replacing a local owner who has earned a reputation for old-fashioned thinking and behavior could help us turn the page on our awful history. This is huge news, and while it's a little tough to know what to make of it, I think there's less reason to be worried and more reason to be relieved about the future.

1. I don't know if you simply presented Lebron as an example or as a real alternative, but that was never going to happen. "Cross-Ownership" (or whatever a player owning another team would be) was tried in baseball several decades ago and failed because fans saw it as a conflict of interest, even on occasions that would have helped the "lesser" of the two organizations, and this was pre-internet, with Doctors like Wolvesfan given a platform to spew whatever pee-paw Rupert told him to say.
2. Steroid Cheater as a negative? I am actually looking forward to some cheating. Woj's writeup on BSPN originally stated that MIN had only gone to the playoffs once since 1994 (instead of saying advanced past the first round once) and was only corrected at or about 1120am EST Sunday morning. So how many people read that and said "yeah, sounds about right"? (Note: if you ever see something like that and use the "report a bug" function, they are generally good at fixing it, but 12 hours?!?!)

1. Yeah, I was just listing LeBron, like the Wilfs, as an example of owners who don't live anywhere near the teams they own and there's no threat that they'd move the team. Now, if LeBron DID want to buy in to the Wolves and, you know, maybe sign himself . . . I'm not saying no! Though obviously, the league would never allow that.

2. I can't stand cheaters, but good point! After this much losing, I'd be willing to freebase steroids off of some loaded dice while banging a trash can to steal signs, ordering poisoned pizza for my opponents, and programming the air conditioning to blow cross-winds at our opponents basket for a fucking win these days!

[Lipoli390]

It's a shame nobody based in Minnesota stepped up, but I think that's kind of the way team ownership seems to be going these days, right? These teams have so much value, you kind of have to try to sell them to anybody, including people from outside your geographic region, otherwise you're really capping the value of the franchise. Aren't the Wilfs from New Jersey? And I think LeBron has a share in an ownership group that owns Liverpool FC.

These owners are looking for an investment that they can someday turn around and sell for much more. Just think, Taylor bought the team for just 88 million and he's selling it now for 1.5 billion. Wow. There's always a chance a team gets moved, especially when it's been as historically awful as ours. And theoretically, there might be markets out there where this team could be more valuable, presumably if someplace offers to publicly fund and essentially give away a stadium to a team. But I don't think Silver wants teams moving, so the league wouldn't make it easy. The Seattle fiasco still stings.

While I'm not exactly happy the celebrity face of the ownership group is a steroid cheater, the fact that a professional businessman like Lore will be replacing a local owner who has earned a reputation for old-fashioned thinking and behavior could help us turn the page on our awful history. This is huge news, and while it's a little tough to know what to make of it, I think there's less reason to be worried and more reason to be relieved about the future.

1. I don't know if you simply presented Lebron as an example or as a real alternative, but that was never going to happen. "Cross-Ownership" (or whatever a player owning another team would be) was tried in baseball several decades ago and failed because fans saw it as a conflict of interest, even on occasions that would have helped the "lesser" of the two organizations, and this was pre-internet, with Doctors like Wolvesfan given a platform to spew whatever pee-paw Rupert told him to say.
2. Steroid Cheater as a negative? I am actually looking forward to some cheating. Woj's writeup on BSPN originally stated that MIN had only gone to the playoffs once since 1994 (instead of saying advanced past the first round once) and was only corrected at or about 1120am EST Sunday morning. So how many people read that and said "yeah, sounds about right"? (Note: if you ever see something like that and use the "report a bug" function, they are generally good at fixing it, but 12 hours?!?!)

1. Yeah, I was just listing LeBron, like the Wilfs, as an example of owners who don't live anywhere near the teams they own and there's no threat that they'd move the team. Now, if LeBron DID want to buy in to the Wolves and, you know, maybe sign himself . . . I'm not saying no! Though obviously, the league would never allow that.

2. I can't stand cheaters, but good point! After this much losing, I'd be willing to freebase steroids off of some loaded dice while banging a trash can to steal signs, ordering poisoned pizza for my opponents, and programming the air conditioning to blow cross-winds at our opponents basket for a fucking win these days!

Lol. I love your #2, Drew! I'm going to print and frame it. :)

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

It's a shame nobody based in Minnesota stepped up, but I think that's kind of the way team ownership seems to be going these days, right? These teams have so much value, you kind of have to try to sell them to anybody, including people from outside your geographic region, otherwise you're really capping the value of the franchise. Aren't the Wilfs from New Jersey? And I think LeBron has a share in an ownership group that owns Liverpool FC.

These owners are looking for an investment that they can someday turn around and sell for much more. Just think, Taylor bought the team for just 88 million and he's selling it now for 1.5 billion. Wow. There's always a chance a team gets moved, especially when it's been as historically awful as ours. And theoretically, there might be markets out there where this team could be more valuable, presumably if someplace offers to publicly fund and essentially give away a stadium to a team. But I don't think Silver wants teams moving, so the league wouldn't make it easy. The Seattle fiasco still stings.

While I'm not exactly happy the celebrity face of the ownership group is a steroid cheater, the fact that a professional businessman like Lore will be replacing a local owner who has earned a reputation for old-fashioned thinking and behavior could help us turn the page on our awful history. This is huge news, and while it's a little tough to know what to make of it, I think there's less reason to be worried and more reason to be relieved about the future.

1. I don't know if you simply presented Lebron as an example or as a real alternative, but that was never going to happen. "Cross-Ownership" (or whatever a player owning another team would be) was tried in baseball several decades ago and failed because fans saw it as a conflict of interest, even on occasions that would have helped the "lesser" of the two organizations, and this was pre-internet, with Doctors like Wolvesfan given a platform to spew whatever pee-paw Rupert told him to say.
2. Steroid Cheater as a negative? I am actually looking forward to some cheating. Woj's writeup on BSPN originally stated that MIN had only gone to the playoffs once since 1994 (instead of saying advanced past the first round once) and was only corrected at or about 1120am EST Sunday morning. So how many people read that and said "yeah, sounds about right"? (Note: if you ever see something like that and use the "report a bug" function, they are generally good at fixing it, but 12 hours?!?!)

1. Yeah, I was just listing LeBron, like the Wilfs, as an example of owners who don't live anywhere near the teams they own and there's no threat that they'd move the team. Now, if LeBron DID want to buy in to the Wolves and, you know, maybe sign himself . . . I'm not saying no! Though obviously, the league would never allow that.

2. I can't stand cheaters, but good point! After this much losing, I'd be willing to freebase steroids off of some loaded dice while banging a trash can to steal signs, ordering poisoned pizza for my opponents, and programming the air conditioning to blow cross-winds at our opponents basket for a fucking win these days!

I get every reference but the poison pizza. Did that happen? I would like to add one: How about icy runaways on the shit flying-cloud-type airport all the Packer opponent have to land in? And how about some love from the "MSP" staff?

[SameOldNudityDrew]

It's a shame nobody based in Minnesota stepped up, but I think that's kind of the way team ownership seems to be going these days, right? These teams have so much value, you kind of have to try to sell them to anybody, including people from outside your geographic region, otherwise you're really capping the value of the franchise. Aren't the Wilfs from New Jersey? And I think LeBron has a share in an ownership group that owns Liverpool FC.

These owners are looking for an investment that they can someday turn around and sell for much more. Just think, Taylor bought the team for just 88 million and he's selling it now for 1.5 billion. Wow. There's always a chance a team gets moved, especially when it's been as historically awful as ours. And theoretically, there might be markets out there where this team could be more valuable, presumably if someplace offers to publicly fund and essentially give away a stadium to a team. But I don't think Silver wants teams moving, so the league wouldn't make it easy. The Seattle fiasco still stings.

While I'm not exactly happy the celebrity face of the ownership group is a steroid cheater, the fact that a professional businessman like Lore will be replacing a local owner who has earned a reputation for old-fashioned thinking and behavior could help us turn the page on our awful history. This is huge news, and while it's a little tough to know what to make of it, I think there's less reason to be worried and more reason to be relieved about the future.

1. I don't know if you simply presented Lebron as an example or as a real alternative, but that was never going to happen. "Cross-Ownership" (or whatever a player owning another team would be) was tried in baseball several decades ago and failed because fans saw it as a conflict of interest, even on occasions that would have helped the "lesser" of the two organizations, and this was pre-internet, with Doctors like Wolvesfan given a platform to spew whatever pee-paw Rupert told him to say.
2. Steroid Cheater as a negative? I am actually looking forward to some cheating. Woj's writeup on BSPN originally stated that MIN had only gone to the playoffs once since 1994 (instead of saying advanced past the first round once) and was only corrected at or about 1120am EST Sunday morning. So how many people read that and said "yeah, sounds about right"? (Note: if you ever see something like that and use the "report a bug" function, they are generally good at fixing it, but 12 hours?!?!)

It's a shame nobody based in Minnesota stepped up, but I think that's kind of the way team ownership seems to be going these days, right? These teams have so much value, you kind of have to try to sell them to anybody, including people from outside your geographic region, otherwise you're really capping the value of the franchise. Aren't the Wilfs from New Jersey? And I think LeBron has a share in an ownership group that owns Liverpool FC.

These owners are looking for an investment that they can someday turn around and sell for much more. Just think, Taylor bought the team for just 88 million and he's selling it now for 1.5 billion. Wow. There's always a chance a team gets moved, especially when it's been as historically awful as ours. And theoretically, there might be markets out there where this team could be more valuable, presumably if someplace offers to publicly fund and essentially give away a stadium to a team. But I don't think Silver wants teams moving, so the league wouldn't make it easy. The Seattle fiasco still stings.

While I'm not exactly happy the celebrity face of the ownership group is a steroid cheater, the fact that a professional businessman like Lore will be replacing a local owner who has earned a reputation for old-fashioned thinking and behavior could help us turn the page on our awful history. This is huge news, and while it's a little tough to know what to make of it, I think there's less reason to be worried and more reason to be relieved about the future.

1. I don't know if you simply presented Lebron as an example or as a real alternative, but that was never going to happen. "Cross-Ownership" (or whatever a player owning another team would be) was tried in baseball several decades ago and failed because fans saw it as a conflict of interest, even on occasions that would have helped the "lesser" of the two organizations, and this was pre-internet, with Doctors like Wolvesfan given a platform to spew whatever pee-paw Rupert told him to say.
2. Steroid Cheater as a negative? I am actually looking forward to some cheating. Woj's writeup on BSPN originally stated that MIN had only gone to the playoffs once since 1994 (instead of saying advanced past the first round once) and was only corrected at or about 1120am EST Sunday morning. So how many people read that and said "yeah, sounds about right"? (Note: if you ever see something like that and use the "report a bug" function, they are generally good at fixing it, but 12 hours?!?!)

1. Yeah, I was just listing LeBron, like the Wilfs, as an example of owners who don't live anywhere near the teams they own and there's no threat that they'd move the team. Now, if LeBron DID want to buy in to the Wolves and, you know, maybe sign himself . . . I'm not saying no! Though obviously, the league would never allow that.

2. I can't stand cheaters, but good point! After this much losing, I'd be willing to freebase steroids off of some loaded dice while banging a trash can to steal signs, ordering poisoned pizza for my opponents, and programming the air conditioning to blow cross-winds at our opponents basket for a fucking win these days!

I get every reference but the poison pizza. Did that happen? I would like to add one: How about icy runaways on the shit flying-cloud-type airport all the Packer opponent have to land in? And how about some love from the "MSP" staff?

Jordan claimed the flu game was food poisoning from pizza he ordered at the hotel in Salt Lake City the night before the game and strongly implied it wasn't an accident. True? I doubt it, but I'd be willing to do it just for a regular season win these days!

[Coolbreeze44]

I hope the new ownership has a POBO in mind that would replace Rosas. Might be the best thing to come out of this deal. I can get excited if that is part of the facelift.

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

I hope the new ownership has a POBO in mind that would replace Rosas. Might be the best thing to come out of this deal. I can get excited if that is part of the facelift.

Is that an absolute necessity? Yeah, the Culver thing has gone bad, but Jerry West once gave Brian Cardinal a 5yr full mid level after exactly one good season, so it happens. KAT/DLO/MB have played like zero games together (unless you are disappointed in the due diligence MIN did with MB, then good point). I still think the best thing to come from this is the cheating.

Why do we call Wolves GM's "POBO"? Isn't operations a strong word? How about coincidence or happenstance?

And why aren't Hockey GM's called "POHO's"?