Michael Bloomberg Joins Lore/Rodriguez Ownership Group

[BlacJacMac]

Of course Glen Taylor isn't pushing for a new arena.

Best case it opens in what? 5 years? Glen has to know there is a decent chance he's not around for that.

Speaking of which, if you're worried about keeping the Wolves here long-term, is Taylor the horse you want to back? Once he goes there is nothing keeping the team here. His family/heirs don't want it, and I imagine Becky will sell to the highest bidder.

[BlacJacMac]

The Nets moved 13 miles. That's not a relocation, its a rebranding.

Its been nearly 20 years since a team actually moved to a whole new market. Its not something the NBA takes lightly.

[shrink]

Of course Glen Taylor isn't pushing for a new arena. Best case it opens in what? 5 years? Glen has to know there is a decent chance he's not around for that.

First, I don’t believe Taylor wouldn’t want a new arena, because having a new arena locked up for the future increases the valuation of the team, or his share of the team. Like every sports team owner in the last thirty years, he wants the public to think he won’t build one without public money. But even if it a new arena wouldn’t increase team valuation, he wouldn’t be the first rich guy in his ‘80’s to build monuments to be remembered by.

Speaking of which, if you're worried about keeping the Wolves here long-term, is Taylor the horse you want to back? Once he goes there is nothing keeping the team here. His family/heirs don't want it, and I imagine Becky will sell to the highest bidder.

I’m not backing any horse. I’m expressing concern that the ultra-rich, ex-Mayor of one of the NBA’s two most lucrative markets is going to be part owner of the Timberwolves. I haven’t trusted ARod and Lore’s promises, Bloomberg makes it worse, but Taylor is no prize either for fans.

The Nets moved 13 miles. That's not a relocation, its a rebranding.

The NBA calls it relocation, but whatever you want to call it, the fact that a team built a billion dollar new stadium in Brooklyn real estate demonstrates how much more lucrative the New York market is, than “13 miles away.”

[BlacJacMac]

The Nets moved 13 miles. That's not a relocation, its a rebranding.

The NBA calls it relocation, but whatever you want to call it, the fact that a team built a billion dollar new stadium in Brooklyn real estate demonstrates how much more lucrative the New York market is, than “13 miles away.”

But you're not moving a team away from its fanbase or media market. If you were a Nets season ticket holder before, chances are you still are after the "move". If you're a NJ Nets fan, you likely are still a Brooklyn Nets fan. And if you're a NY Knicks fan, you're likely still a Knicks fan.

[BlacJacMac]

We're the 15th largest Media Market. We're #2 in F500 companies. We have room for significant development downtown. And what might be the most important thing is the opportunity to create and control a regional network that could add other teams (like the Twins) to the Wolves and Lynx.

It a pretty great situation to own an NBA team.

[Mattya]

All happened in the past? Look at how much context you have to ignore to fit this paranoia. None of these things happened during expansion. Seattle moved because they never built a new arena for years. Moving from East Rutherford NJ to Brooklyn is not the same as moving from Downtown Minneapolis lol.

Unless you can find a single article saying NY is looking for an expansion team I’m gonna hop out of this ridiculousness.

Dude, “expansion” isn’t some magical word that everything that has happened doesn’t matter, and we’re safe forever.

So that’s a no on reporting of a new NYC group?

[shrink]

All happened in the past? Look at how much context you have to ignore to fit this paranoia. None of these things happened during expansion. Seattle moved because they never built a new arena for years. Moving from East Rutherford NJ to Brooklyn is not the same as moving from Downtown Minneapolis lol.

Unless you can find a single article saying NY is looking for an expansion team I’m gonna hop out of this ridiculousness.

Dude, “expansion” isn’t some magical word that everything that has happened doesn’t matter, and we’re safe forever.

So that’s a no on reporting of a new NYC group?

Couldn’t find it with an internet search, but like I said for the start, I’ve been reading stuff everywhere. If it makes you feel better, it was never reporting, it was speculation.

You can find a little on a third team in LA, which is the same situation, with LA and NYK being by far the two biggest market, but again, it’s all speculation.

Still, your “Magic expansion talk protects teams from relocation” take is untrue.

[shrink]

The Nets moved 13 miles. That's not a relocation, its a rebranding.

The NBA calls it relocation, but whatever you want to call it, the fact that a team built a billion dollar new stadium in Brooklyn real estate demonstrates how much more lucrative the New York market is, than “13 miles away.”

But you're not moving a team away from its fanbase or media market. If you were a Nets season ticket holder before, chances are you still are after the "move". If you're a NJ Nets fan, you likely are still a Brooklyn Nets fan. And if you're a NY Knicks fan, you're likely still a Knicks fan.

And moving to the other side of the river has to be so much more profitable that you recoup the cost of a billion dollar arena.

[shrink]

Look, I get that I’m saying stuff people don’t want to hear. I don’t want to consider the Wolves relocating.

And I’m not saying it’s even probable. But I definitely disagree with posters implying it’s impossible. I would go even farther in saying that while it may never happen, three New York guys owning the team like ARod, Lore and Bloomberg makes it more likely.

[Mattya]

Dude, “expansion” isn’t some magical word that everything that has happened doesn’t matter, and we’re safe forever.

So that’s a no on reporting of a new NYC group?

Couldn’t find it with an internet search, but like I said for the start, I’ve been reading stuff everywhere. If it makes you feel better, it was never reporting, it was speculation.

You can find a little on a third team in LA, which is the same situation, with LA and NYK being by far the two biggest market, but again, it’s all speculation.

Still, your “Magic expansion talk protects teams from relocation” take is untrue.

No you sound like a guy trying to justify his feelings on “they are from NY”

Sure my point isn’t valid, we just have to use extremely stupid examples and ignore all context that’s says relocation out of Minneapolis isn’t comparable at all.

[BlacJacMac]

The NBA calls it relocation, but whatever you want to call it, the fact that a team built a billion dollar new stadium in Brooklyn real estate demonstrates how much more lucrative the New York market is, than “13 miles away.”

But you're not moving a team away from its fanbase or media market. If you were a Nets season ticket holder before, chances are you still are after the "move". If you're a NJ Nets fan, you likely are still a Brooklyn Nets fan. And if you're a NY Knicks fan, you're likely still a Knicks fan.

And moving to the other side of the river has to be so much more profitable that you recoup the cost of a billion dollar arena.

Again you aren't changing a market. You aren't really moving a team. It would be like The Wolves moving to St. Paul.

Of course it was more profitable. They went from a 29 year old outdated stadium to a state of the art one that was the centerpiece of the Atlantic Yards development.

[Klomp]

Don't forget that the Warriors relocated from Oakland to San Francisco!

[Worm Guts]

Teams have moved , I don’t think it’s absurd to be concerned with it. I think it’s probably the biggest defense of Taylor, he seems to legitimately care about the team staying in Minnesota. The Wolves probably wouldn’t be here if he didn’t buy them when he did.

[younggunsmn]

It just keeps getting better.
Michael Bloomberg, an all-star dbag if there ever was one.

Guess if he buys in you won't be able to get a large soda at the game anymore.
Maybe George Soros and Alex Jones should buy in too so we have the whole spectrum of dbags in our group of owners.

You've got AROD, all time cheater and liar in all of sports.
Marc Lore, Galaxy Brain enterpeneur who wants to build a Utopian city where you don't get to own the land you build on.
And Bloomberg, scumbag authoritarian who bought the Mayors office and tried to buy the Presidency and whose main claim to fame is trying to ban large sodas which was a step too far for even the New York court system.

If these 3 guys end up owning the team I would rather it be contracted so I can just go find another team to cheer for.
And I'm dead serious when I say that.
Because these tools are either going to move the team or shake down the taxpayers for every last cent they can.

Regional sports network. What a joke. Ummm, those are all going bankrupt or dying outside of the huge markets like LA and NY.

When this team is average or worse (like for 33 of the past 35 years), they often have trouble finding enough viewers watching on TV to fill the arena. That's just a fact. Even when they are really good there MIGHT be 100k people watching a BSN telecast.
The Twins tried this with Victory Sports and it was an absolute disaster.
The Tiwns cut their payroll by about 15% this year, after a 2nd round playoff appearance, from a one year drop in bally revenue ALONE because their contract was up.
The TImberwolves are still under contract, but their time is coming to face the music there too and it isn't going to be pretty.
Their current local TV revenue stream is incredibly OVERVALUED.
Owning/Operating their own network isn't going to change that.

The old model was to force the cable carrier to carry your channel at an exhorbitant fee that you got to charge to every subscriber whether they watched or not, or even cared about basketball.
That model is dead or breathing its last breath and with so much more competition for viewers from all the streaming options, i'd be surprised if there are even any cable companies left in 5-10 years.

I'm hoping Taylor wins this and he can move on and sell the someone else.

A "consortium of owners". Oh that will work out well.
I remember when the Vikings consortium of owners traded for Herschel Walker lol.
If Lore is too poor to even get to 51%, which is becoming more and more apparent, he has no business controlling an NBA team.

[younggunsmn]

So that’s a no on reporting of a new NYC group?

Couldn’t find it with an internet search, but like I said for the start, I’ve been reading stuff everywhere. If it makes you feel better, it was never reporting, it was speculation.

You can find a little on a third team in LA, which is the same situation, with LA and NYK being by far the two biggest market, but again, it’s all speculation.

Still, your “Magic expansion talk protects teams from relocation” take is untrue.

No you sound like a guy trying to justify his feelings on “they are from NY”

Sure my point isn’t valid, we just have to use extremely stupid examples and ignore all context that’s says relocation out of Minneapolis isn’t comparable at all.

Moving this team to a better market would immediately double or triple the value, depending on the market.
We are like 29th in terms of franchise value, and most of that is because of our market.

Relocation is the #1 way for any new owner to make money on their investment.
It's a very real possibility.
Everybody bags on Taylor, much of it deservedly, but for 30 years there has not even been one whisper of contraction or relocation, thanks to him. That will all change the minute he loses majority control.

[BlacJacMac]

Couldn’t find it with an internet search, but like I said for the start, I’ve been reading stuff everywhere. If it makes you feel better, it was never reporting, it was speculation.

You can find a little on a third team in LA, which is the same situation, with LA and NYK being by far the two biggest market, but again, it’s all speculation.

Still, your “Magic expansion talk protects teams from relocation” take is untrue.

No you sound like a guy trying to justify his feelings on “they are from NY”

Sure my point isn’t valid, we just have to use extremely stupid examples and ignore all context that’s says relocation out of Minneapolis isn’t comparable at all.

Moving this team to a better market would immediately double or triple the value, depending on the market.
We are like 29th in terms of franchise value, and most of that is because of our market.

Relocation is the #1 way for any new owner to make money on their investment.
It's a very real possibility.
Everybody bags on Taylor, much of it deservedly, but for 30 years there has not even been one whisper of contraction or relocation, thanks to him. That will all change the minute he loses majority control.

Most of it is our arena. We're like the 15th biggest market in the US.

--edit--

We're 15th when you consider all sports. We're 13th in just the NBA.

[Mattya]

No you sound like a guy trying to justify his feelings on “they are from NY”

Sure my point isn’t valid, we just have to use extremely stupid examples and ignore all context that’s says relocation out of Minneapolis isn’t comparable at all.

Moving this team to a better market would immediately double or triple the value, depending on the market.
We are like 29th in terms of franchise value, and most of that is because of our market.

Relocation is the #1 way for any new owner to make money on their investment.
It's a very real possibility.
Everybody bags on Taylor, much of it deservedly, but for 30 years there has not even been one whisper of contraction or relocation, thanks to him. That will all change the minute he loses majority control.

Most of it is our arena. We're like the 15th biggest market in the US.

Yea isn't it weird how all these smaller markets aren't getting moved to NY or LA.

Meanwhile we wonder why we are 29th in terms of team franchise value, but that has seen a drastic increase in the past 2 years for some strange reason while still in Minneapolis.

[karch34]

You can believe NBA regrets relocating Sonics to OKC or not. But it’s last time it happened.

You can hate Bloomberg because of soda tax or think he’s given five times Taylor’s net worth to philanthropy.

I don’t care. ARod and Lore have been key in changing culture. Taylor didnt know who Connelly was or why he’d come here once he did. We pissed away better part of KG tenure with illegal deals that crippled draft capital. We traded assets to buy out coaching mistakes. I will side with the new guys who think big and have shown results. Not the incumbent who hired and kept wrong choices too long, was sued by minority owners and McHale, is hated by KG one of the most loyal people to ever play the game, and who said installments was his idea until he said it was their idea.

Always a chance any team sold relocates so not impossible but highly unlikely. We’ve had a breath of fresh air after many years so yeah I’m going to be for the new guys that had a big effect on that.

Last I’m saying on it as that’s my view, others entitled to theirs, but no one knows for sure.

[younggunsmn]

Gee I don't know maybe also has something to do with having freezing cold and icy roads which makes people not want to leave their houses all winter.
Also a mid market having to split people's seasonal disposable income with a pro hockey team (you know state of hockey and all), something most markets our size don't have to deal with, they're the only show in town.

A new arena is going to change very little on that front. What will we move up to 23rd or 24th then?
This isn't Silicon Valley or NYC or DC, where the real centers of money and power lie.
This is Meme-sota where the national analysts joke about it snowing in May.
With a one party wannabe-California government giving every business in the state serious second thoughts about staying here.

The team's valuation went up because of the exclusivity in a hyperinflating world, not because of any perceived ability to generate more revenue in this market.
It's one of 30. In the entire world.

Pro Sports franchises are status symbols for the mega wealthy. Always have been, always will be.

I'm old enough to remember rumors of this franchise being moved every single year, before it was even 5 YEARS OLD, because the owners did not have enough money. Before Taylor stepped up to the plate.
He's done a lot of dumb things over the years, but there has never been a worry about the financial statuse of the team under his watch.

These 3 idiots end up with the team, the first thing they are going to do is shake down the taxpayers for a new arena.
And if they don't get their way, they are going to threaten to move it because they can't make money here.
And the worse off Lore and Arod are financially, the more desperate and true that threat will be.

The Bloomberg supposed investment and the Regional Sports Network (something they don't have the financial means to make happen even if it wasn't a ridiculous idea) reek of desperation.
They had 2 Investment firms balk at what should have been a slam dunk deal for them.
Maybe they actually got a look at Lore's books.
His stake in the TImberwolves is likely his only significant stable investment.

If you don't like Taylor, Lore and Arod are not the solution to the problem.
They are just a bigger problem.
The Pohlads suck big time too (Carl made his fortune forclosing on farmers during the depression), but at least that greedy old man had grandkids who liked sports to take over the team.

[Mattya]

Gee I don't know maybe also has something to do with having freezing cold and icy roads which makes people not want to leave their houses all winter.
Also a mid market having to split people's seasonal disposable income with a pro hockey team (you know state of hockey and all), something most markets our size don't have to deal with, they're the only show in town.

A new arena is going to change very little on that front. What will we move up to 23rd or 24th then?
This isn't Silicon Valley or NYC or DC, where the real centers of money and power lie.
This is Meme-sota where the national analysts joke about it snowing in May.
With a one party wannabe-California government giving every business in the state serious second thoughts about staying here.

The team's valuation went up because of the exclusivity in a hyperinflating world, not because of any perceived ability to generate more revenue in this market.
It's one of 30. In the entire world.

Pro Sports franchises are status symbols for the mega wealthy. Always have been, always will be.

I'm old enough to remember rumors of this franchise being moved every single year, before it was even 5 YEARS OLD, because the owners did not have enough money. Before Taylor stepped up to the plate.
He's done a lot of dumb things over the years, but there has never been a worry about the financial statuse of the team under his watch.

These 3 idiots end up with the team, the first thing they are going to do is shake down the taxpayers for a new arena.
And if they don't get their way, they are going to threaten to move it because they can't make money here.
And the worse off Lore and Arod are financially, the more desperate and true that threat will be.

The Bloomberg supposed investment and the Regional Sports Network (something they don't have the financial means to make happen even if it wasn't a ridiculous idea) reek of desperation.
They had 2 Investment firms balk at what should have been a slam dunk deal for them.
Maybe they actually got a look at Lore's books.
His stake in the TImberwolves is likely his only significant stable investment.

If you don't like Taylor, Lore and Arod are not the solution to the problem.
They are just a bigger problem.
The Pohlads suck big time too (Carl made his fortune forclosing on farmers during the depression), but at least that greedy old man had grandkids who liked sports to take over the team.

We are blaming the cold and not the losing for people not showing up? It gets more silly by the day.