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Baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and his billionaire business partner Marc Lore are reportedly rushing to find $300million to close their sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves after an equity group supporting them dropped out of the deal.
However, a spokesman for Rodriguez told DailyMail.com that the ᴅᴇᴀᴅline will be met, as the duo has other options for funding.
The ᴅᴇᴀᴅline for Lore and Rodriguez to close the deal is the end of March. If completed, they will have the controlling stake in the Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.
Rodriguez and Lore entered an agreement with Timberwolves majority owner Glen Taylor in 2021 to buy the basketball teams for around $1.5million.
The Timberwolves were last valued at $2.8 billion per Sportico, with Rodriguez and Lore paying a little more than half of that to purchase the franchise.
Rodriguez and Lore have been in the process of buying the Timberwolves for three years
The purchase also comes with the controlling ownership stake of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx
The next round of funding would bring the duo from 40 percent control of the team to 80 percent.
Rodriguez and Lore have talked with multiple parties should Carlyle not be approved by the NBA, Rodriguez’s spokesman told DailyMail.com.
The pair remain on schedule to close the deal by the end of March, the spokesman added. The NBA would need to approve any other investors.
An NBA spokesman told DailyMail.com that the league ‘did not deny Carlyle’s proposed investment in the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx.’
Instead, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, the decision was mutual as Carlyle could not agree with certain unspecified NBA requirements.
Speaking with reporter David Shama, Taylor revealed Tuesday that the equity group was not currently in place.
‘They had an equity group that was going to come in and put in $300 million, and that equity group has either withdrawn or the NBA has denied them,’ Taylor told Shama. ‘They have to go out and find new revenue. That I do know. I don’t know if they found it or what they’re going to do. We haven’t seen the schedule of ownership yet.’
Lore is a former President and CEO of Walmart and is a longtime business partner of Rodriguez
Rodriguez retired from professional baseball in 2016 and has made many investments since
Lore and Rodriguez have been raising money toward the sale at a $2.1billion evaluation, per Sportico.
The Carlyle group is also currently backing the $58million sale of the NWSL’s Seattle Reign.
Rodriguez’s post-baseball career has been dominated by broadcasting and entrepreneurship.
Acquiring the Timberwolves and Lynx would be his first ownership of a professional sports team after bids failed to buy the New York Mets in 2020.
