With just one payment left to claim ownership of 80 percent of the Minnesota Timberwolves, former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore will no longer be financially backed by the Carlyle Group, Sportico reported Tuesday.
It was unclear why the Carlyle Group was out, as the NBA told Sportico in a statement that the league “did not deny Carlyle’s proposed investment.”
Conversations between the sides reportedly stopped recently, and it comes at an inconvenient time for Rodriguez and Lore, who have less than two weeks to make their next payment.
That payment would give the duo ownership of an additional 40 percent of the franchise. Rodriguez and Lore already own 40 percent of the club.
However, Timberwolves majority owner Glen Taylor said Tuesday that there have been problems with the financing for the upcoming payment.
“They (Lore and A-Rod) had an equity group that was going to come in and put in $300 million, and that equity group has either withdrawn or the NBA has denied them,” Taylor told reporters. “They have to go out and find new revenue. That I do know.”
Rodriguez and Lore did have a backup plan, though, as they had been speaking with a number of other financial backers in the event that Carlyle didn’t get approved by the NBA, per Sportico’s report. They still plan to get a deal done by the end of March, and if that happens, it would need to be approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors.
The duo would also acquire the controlling stake of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx as part of the deal.
Carlyle, meanwhile, is working with MLS’ Seattle Sounders on a $58 million purchase of the NWSL’s Seattle Reign, Sportico reported Monday.
–Field Level Media
