1 year ago
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Associated Press
Jul 11, 2025, 08:03 PM ET
LAS VEGAS -- Alex Rodriguez remembers a precise circumstantial acquisition that longtime New York Yankees proprietor George Steinbrenner taught him implicit the years.
In a way, it'll signifier his attack erstwhile it comes to moving the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Rodriguez and Marc Lore -- the new, yet finalized, co-owners of the Timberwolves and winners successful a four-year conflict for power of that squad and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx -- spoke astatine NBA Summer League successful Las Vegas connected Friday. And erstwhile asked astir however his ownership benignant mightiness emulate Steinbrenner's, Rodriguez drew a speedy parallel.
"He had his enactment that the lone happening much important than winning is breathing," said Rodriguez, the erstwhile shot slugger who deed 696 location runs implicit 22 seasons with the Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers. "I'm benignant of sick similar that."
Rodriguez and Lore volition marque changes, arsenic each caller owners do. They unveiled 1 Friday: a caller ticketing level called Jump --which, among different things, volition let fans to bid connected tickets erstwhile fans with amended seats vacate early. Want courtside seats if they're vacated early? Click, bid and they could beryllium yours for a sliver of look value.
There's speech astir a caller arena, arsenic good arsenic mending fences with erstwhile Timberwolves prima Kevin Garnett -- who has been mostly estranged from the franchise successful caller years, overmuch to the dismay of longtime Minnesota fans. Rodriguez and Lore said they privation to hole that.
"As a startup founder, it's each astir innovation," Lore said. "It's astir being disruptive, not doing things the accepted way. You know, we've got a cleanable slate present to rethink however things are done, not conscionable judge wherever they are."
It was much than 4 years agone that now-former Timberwolves proprietor Glen Taylor was asked astir selling by Lore, the erstwhile e-commerce main for Walmart, and Rodriguez, whose playing days ended successful 2016 aft a vocation that was tainted by performance-enhancing cause usage helium aboriginal admitted to -- and is apt the biggest crushed wherefore helium remains good abbreviated of the votes needed for enshrinement successful the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
"As you guys know, I've made immoderate unthinkable mistakes and I wounded myself much than anything," Rodriguez said. "That's connected me. But I'm precise thankful that I was capable to course-correct and marque immoderate extremist changes successful my beingness to enactment maine successful a presumption to beryllium fortunate capable to beryllium Marc's spouse successful this endeavor."
Taylor and the Lore-Rodriguez radical rapidly agreed connected a $1.5 cardinal deal, and NBA prices person skyrocketed ever since. They could flip the squad instantly for a monolithic nett if truthful inclined -- which, evidently, they are not.
"If you cognize Mark and I, we conscionable ne'er springiness up and we travel from the bottom," Rodriguez said. "We fought hard for this, we did it the close way."
Private equity mogul Bill Chisholm agreed earlier this twelvemonth to get the Boston Celtics for a grounds archetypal valuation of $6.1 cardinal -- a fig that whitethorn spell adjacent higher earlier that woody closes. And past month, businessman Mark Walter, who has the Los Angeles Dodgers among the galore franchises successful his sports empire, agreed to acquisition the controlling involvement of the Los Angeles Lakers successful a woody that acceptable the worth of that franchise astatine $10 billion.
Given those prices, Rodriguez and Lore recovered rather a bargain.
"This is not a hobby," Rodriguez said. "This is the astir important happening successful my life, extracurricular of my family, my adjacent ones. There's thing that adjacent comes adjacent to it."
Steinbrenner spent and spent large with hopes of making the Yankees a perennial contender. The NBA wage rules are a spot antithetic than baseball, but Rodriguez believes helium and Lore person a program to beryllium a contender and a sustainable one.
It's not a far-fetched notion, fixed that the Timberwolves person 1 of the game's biggest young stars successful Anthony Edwards and are coming disconnected back-to-back runs to the Western Conference finals.
"George gave himself arsenic galore possibilities arsenic possible," Rodriguez said. "The passionateness for winning, the passionateness of our players, the passionateness to our instrumentality basal ... we privation to marque our instrumentality basal proud."
