Timberwolves sale fiasco gets pivotal arbitration update

There’s a new development in the ongoing saga of who will own the Minnesota Timberwolves as current owner Glen Taylor looks to retain control while Alex Rodriguez’s team hopes to force a previously agreed upon sale.

The two sides were forced to attend mediation earlier this week and, now that that has failed to resolve the Timberwolves’ ownership situation, arbitration is the next step, per the Star Tribune:

“Mediation was unsuccessful this week in the dispute between minority owners and business partners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez and principal owner Glen Taylor over majority control of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.

The conflict will now head to arbitration, a binding procedure for settling private disputes to avoid going to court.”

The mediation hearing, supervised by retired Hennepin County Judge Rick Solum, did not resolve a central disagreement over a call option clause for the completion of a deal for Lore and Rodriguez to acquire majority shares from Taylor, people with knowledge of the matter told the Star Tribune.

When contacted Thursday, Solum declined to comment on the mediation hearing. The Timberwolves also declined to comment. Messages to lawyers representing Lore, Rodriguez and Taylor were not answered.”

Lore and Rodriguez were expected to make their third and final installment of a $1.5 billion payment to Taylor for the Timberwolves and Lynx by March 27, giving them 80% ownership of the franchises. The next day, Taylor said in a statement that the acquisition option had expired.

“What I anticipate doing — if I can work everything out the way I’m planning on it — is I’ll just continue to keep the ownership,” said Taylor. “I’ll have the controlling ownership and just keep on running. We have a plan that upon my death we have a plan of what will happen, but they’ll stay in Minnesota, and they’ll be controlled by my family.”

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