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8 months ago
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Alex Rodriguez and business partner Marc Lore's chances of buying the controlling stake of the Minnesota Timberwolves appears to be over, as the team's current owner, Glen Taylor said the franchise is no longer for sale.
Lore and Rodriguez recently had to scramble to find $300million to help finance the deal after an equity group supporting them dropped out of the deal.
The agreement between the pair and Taylor was required to be finalized within 90 days, which ran out Wednesday, per a team release.
A Rodriguez spokesperson declined to comment Thursday on Taylor's insistence that the team is no longer for sale
Rodriguez's spokesperson told DailyMail.com last week the deal would be completed without issue.
Rodriguez and Lore were close to securing ownership of the Timberwolves and WNBA's Lynx
Rodriguez and Lore already have a 40 percent stake in the team but failed to gain more
The deal would have also included ownership of the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx.
'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,' said Taylor via release. 'The Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale.'
Rodriguez and Lore may could have been given a limited extension to finance the purchase, but that did not occur, per a team release.
Lore and Rodriguez already controlled 40 percent of the team, with their latest agreement looking to bring the pair's total to 80 percent.
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.
Glen Taylor now says the Timberwolves are no longer for sale after agreement fell through
Lore and Rodriguez had been raising money toward the sale at a $2.1billion evaluation, per Sportico.
Taylor is now free to sell the team at closer to a $3billion evaluation instead of close to half the amount he agreed to unload the pair of teams to Rodriguez and Lore for.
Rodriguez's post-baseball career has been dominated by broadcasting and entrepreneurship.
Acquiring the Timberwolves and Lynx would have been Rodriguez's first ownership of a professional sports team after he failed to buy the New York Mets in 2020.
The Timberwolves are currently in second place in the Western Conference, a half-game behind the Nuggets for first.
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