LAS VEGAS – Alex Rodriguez remembers a very specific lesson that longtime New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner taught him over the years.
In a way, it'll shape his approach when it comes to running the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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Rodriguez and Marc Lore — the new, finally finalized, co-owners of the Timberwolves and winners in a four-year battle for control of that team and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx — spoke at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas on Friday. And when asked about how his ownership style might emulate Steinbrenner's, Rodriguez drew a quick parallel.
“He had his line that the only thing more important than winning is breathing,” said Rodriguez, the former baseball slugger who hit 696 home runs over 22 seasons with the Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers. “I'm kind of sick like that.”
Rodriguez and Lore will make changes, as all new owners do. They unveiled one Friday: a new ticketing platform called Jump — which, among other things, will allow fans to bid on tickets when fans with better seats vacate early. Want courtside seats if they're vacated early? Click, bid and they could be yours for a sliver of face value.
There's talk about a new arena, as well as mending fences with former Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett — who has been largely estranged from the franchise in recent years, much to the dismay of longtime Minnesota fans. Rodriguez and Lore said they want to fix that.
“As a startup founder, it’s all about innovation," Lore said. "It’s about being disruptive, not doing things the conventional way. You know, we’ve got a clean slate here to rethink how things are done, not just accept where they are.”
It was more than four years ago that now-former Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was asked about selling by Lore, the former e-commerce chief for Walmart, and Rodriguez, whose playing days ended in 2016 after a career that was tainted by performance-enhancing drug use he later admitted to — and is likely the biggest reason why he remains well short of the votes needed for enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
“As you guys know, I’ve made some incredible mistakes and I hurt myself more than anything," Rodriguez said. "That’s on me. But I’m very thankful that I was able to course-correct and make some radical changes in my life to put me in a position to be lucky enough to be Marc’s partner in this endeavor.”
Taylor and the Lore-Rodriguez group quickly agreed on a $1.5 billion deal, and NBA prices have skyrocketed ever since. They could flip the team immediately for a massive profit if so inclined — which, evidently, they are not.
“If you know Mark and I, we just never give up and we come from the bottom," Rodriguez said. “We fought hard for this, we did it the right way.”
Private equity mogul Bill Chisholm agreed earlier this year to acquire the Boston Celtics for a record initial valuation of $6.1 billion — a number that may go even higher before that deal closes. And last month, businessman Mark Walter, who has the Los Angeles Dodgers among the many franchises in his sports empire, agreed to purchase the controlling stake of the Los Angeles Lakers in a deal that set the value of that franchise at $10 billion.
Given those prices, Rodriguez and Lore found quite a bargain.
“This is not a hobby,” Rodriguez said. “This is the most important thing in my life, outside of my family, my close ones. There’s nothing that even comes close to it.”
Steinbrenner spent and spent big with hopes of making the Yankees a perennial contender. The NBA salary rules are a bit different than baseball, but Rodriguez believes he and Lore have a plan to be a contender and a sustainable one.
It’s not a far-fetched notion, given that the Timberwolves have one of the game’s biggest young stars in Anthony Edwards and are coming off back-to-back runs to the Western Conference finals.
“George gave himself as many possibilities as possible,” Rodriguez said. “The passion for winning, the passion of our players, the passion to our fan base ... we want to make our fan base proud.”
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