Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore recently proposed to Glen Taylor that the loser of their battle over the ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves cover the legal costs of the winner, according to multiple people familiar with the details.
Lawyers for Rodriguez and Lore broached the topic last month, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the matter is private. Taylor’s team has chosen to instead continue with the binding arbitration as laid out in the purchase agreement, where parties are responsible for their own fees, one of the sources said. That process is slated to happen in the coming months.
The legal fight stems from an contract Lore and Rodriguez signed in 2021 to buy the NBA team from Taylor over the course of four separate transactions. In March, Taylor said the deal was off, citing deadlines that the pair missed in the run-up to buying a 40% stake that would have given them control of the Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx. Lore and Rodriguez claim that they were in compliance with the contract.
The dispute has come amid Minnesota’s best regular season—and postseason—run in two decades. The Timberwolves face the defending champion Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals on Sunday night.
A representative for Taylor declined to comment on the offer. A representative for Lore and Rodriguez didn’t respond to a request for comment.
A “loser pays” set-up is not typical for arbitrations, particularly when there’s not a massive financial imbalance between the two parties. Most often, the parties pay their own legal fees—which can include attorneys, expert witnesses, travel, paperwork, etc.—which are lower than they would be for litigation, which can drag out for years. That said, arbitration is not a court, it’s a private gathering, so both parties can enter into such agreements if they both desire. They can also ask the arbitrator to award those costs as part of the final decision.
While it’s unclear exactly why Rodriguez and Lore have made the offer, they’ve made their frustrations with Taylor clear. In an March interview with Sportico, Lore said the group would be the owners of the team, “it’s just a matter of time, and how much pain Glen wants to put the fans, the players, the town and community through. It’s his choice. It didn’t have to be this way.” In that same interview, Rodriguez said Taylor’s approach to the dispute was “so f***ing childish.”
Taylor’s public comments on the matter have focused on what he has called a contract breach via multiple missed deadlines. “We’re just saying we had a contract with you guys, you’ve had plenty of time and this is the end of the contract and we’re just going to go on running it the way we’ve been running it,” he told The Athletic in March.
The contract gave Rodriguez and Lore the right to buy the team in four parts, starting at a $1.5 billion valuation, with the price rising 4% for each successive payment. Since the deal was struck, the pandemic has eased and NBA valuations are soaring. Sportico currently values the team at $2.94 billion. The pair currently own 36% and would keep that minority stake if the arbitration ruling goes in Taylor’s favor.
The arbitration comes after a one-day mediation session earlier this month failed to reach a resolution. It will be conducted by a three-person panel, at some point in the next six months.
With assistance from Mike McCann.