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Afternoon Edition

April 2, 2025

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The four-year Timberwolves saga is nearly over, as Glen Taylor conceded the franchise to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, at a valuation of less than a quarter of what the Celtics just sold for.

— Alex Schiffer [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]], and David Rumsey [[link removed]]

Glen Taylor Finally Surrenders Timberwolves to Alex Rodriguez, Marc Lore [[link removed]]

Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore are finally taking control of the Timberwolves from Glen Taylor.

A four-year saga neared its conclusion Wednesday after ESPN reported Taylor would not appeal a February arbitration ruling in favor of the duo. The NBA will now start the transfer process, almost a week after commissioner Adam Silver said Taylor was “considering various options” as well as having discussions with Lore and Rodriguez.

The Rodriguez/Lore group will have 100% of the team going forward, ESPN reported [[link removed]].

The baseball legend and diaper magnate originally agreed to buy the team and the Minnesota Lynx from Taylor in 2021 for $1.5 billion with a multistage acquisition plan that would gradually make them majority owners. But Taylor abruptly pulled the team off the market in March 2024, alleging Rodriguez and Lore missed a payment.

The duo countered that Taylor was having “buyer’s remorse” after the Phoenix Suns sold for $4 billion in December 2022 to Mat Ishbia, more than double what Lore and Rodriguez agreed to pay. Taylor was also reportedly concerned over Rodriguez and Lore allegedly planning to cut the T-Wolves’ payroll, though Taylor himself has long avoided the NBA luxury tax.

The Timberwolves traded away star player Karl-Anthony Towns [[link removed]] to the Knicks before the start of the season, but they still went into it with the NBA’s second-highest payroll of $202 million, weighed down by Anthony Edwards’s five-year, $245 million extension and Rudy Gobert’s five-year, $200 million deal.

As Taylor tried to hang on to his teams despite the 2021 agreement, the parties went into mediation and then arbitration. In June 2024, the Rodriguez/Lore group reportedly added [[link removed]] former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg to their investment team along the way. Earlier this year, a group of arbitrators ruled [[link removed]] in favor of Rodriguez and Lore.

Silver said Thursday the sale was “on hold” until Taylor weighed his options to appeal the arbitrators’ ruling. Now only a board of governors vote awaits, a likely formality.

Despite Silver criticizing the “stepped” sale process, the Celtics have agreed to a similar deal, where a group led by Bill Chisholm would buy a majority stake in the team this summer, and Wyc Grousbeck would stay on as CEO and governor through 2028. Silver called the similar structure in Minnesota “ not ideal [[link removed]]” and said that “once the dust clears on this deal, it may cause us to reassess what sort of transactions we should allow.”

Last week, Silver said the NBA was “still digesting” the Celtics sale and called the approval stage “preliminary” as the owners have not yet weighed Chisholm’s agreement to buy the Celtics. It may end up being a very similar transaction to the Wolves deal.

“The Grousbeck family and the buyer are still working through those arrangements on how exactly that would work with CEO roles and governor roles,” Silver said Thursday.

The Timberwolves are currently 44–32, seventh in the Western Conference. The team has clinched a playoff berth. Both the NBA and the Timberwolves did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 83-year-old Taylor, a businessman and politician, bought the Wolves for $94 million in 1994.

SPONSORED BY AMAZON WEB SERVICES

The NFL’s Secret Scouting Weapon, Revealed

The NFL Draft is no longer just about gut instincts—teams are using advanced data to find the next great stars. In the latest episode of FOS Explains [[link removed]], multimedia reporter Derryl Barnes breaks down Combine IQ, the AWS-powered tool [[link removed]] that gives scouts (and now fans) unprecedented insights into player performance. See how this high-tech dashboard helped uncover talents like Puka Nacua and why it’s set to change the future of football analysis.

Watch the full episode now [[link removed]].

Money Talks, Dodgers Win: L.A.’s Historic Start Fuels Payroll Debate [[link removed]]

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

It didn’t take long for the defending World Series champion Dodgers to make more history, and the complaints about the club’s outsized might are quickly resurfacing.

The Dodgers’ 3–1 win Tuesday night over the Braves pushed their record to a perfect 7–0, matching the 1933 Yankees for the best start by a club in its World Series defense. Los Angeles is still six wins from equaling the best season start in MLB history, shared by three clubs, but armed with a luxury-tax payroll now at $399 million [[link removed]] that is similarly unprecedented, few limits are apparent for the franchise.

“Still on the table,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts joked about the prospect of an undefeated, 162–0 season. “I’ve still got the under.”

The five straight wins for Los Angeles in the U.S. add to a pair of victories last month over the Cubs in the MLB Tokyo Series [[link removed]].

Scrutiny over the Dodgers’ spending and aggressive talent acquisition dominated much of MLB’s offseason [[link removed]]. Now, nearly a week into the full cadence of the 2025 season, Los Angeles continues to be a focus of attention—including among other MLB owners.

“Are their baseball people and their owners smarter than all the others? I don’t think so,” Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick said recently. Arizona’s luxury-tax payroll of $216 million ranks 11th in MLB. “The regular season is not necessarily an even playing field, and I think it should be—more even than it is. I believe in those who are brighter than the next guy being more successful than the next guy. But when you see one team with a payroll that is five times their competitor, the chances over time of that team at five times over the less financially supported team, they’re going to win.”

The disparity has already led betting odds and analytics experts to heavily favor the Dodgers [[link removed]] to repeat as champions this year.

SEC, Big Ten Secure $3M Payouts From Women’s March Madness [[link removed]]

Gary Cosby Jr./USA Today Network via Imagn Images

The national champions have yet to be decided in both the women’s and men’s March Madness tournaments, but the SEC has already emerged as a winner.

After securing a record $70 million payout [[link removed]] in the men’s tournament from 35 units, the SEC has earned another $3.4 million from 30 units in the women’s tournament, the most of any conference. The Big Ten finished second with $3.18 million in payouts from 28 units despite sending 12 teams to the Big Dance compared to the SEC’s 10.

This is the first year the NCAA offered prize money for successful tournament teams in the women’s tournament. The men’s tournament has enjoyed payouts for decades. This year’s total payout is $15 million, which amounts to around $113,636 per unit. Each unit in the men’s tournament is worth approximately $2 million.

FOS graphic

The women’s tournament pool will increase to $20 million in 2026 and $25 million in 2027 before settling into a 2.9% yearly increase [[link removed]].

The ACC, which was represented by eight teams, earned $2.16 million, while the Big 12, which sent seven teams, secured $1.7 million. The Big East earned $681,000 despite having just two teams because of UConn’s Final Four run.

There were 132 units available in the tournament. Each team that qualifies for March Madness earns a unit, and every additional game a team plays is worth another unit. Only the championship game does not count, so the Final Four schools are already locked in to five units.

For example, William & Mary earned two units [[link removed]]—one from securing an automatic qualifier by winning the Coastal Athletic Association tournament and another from winning its First Four game over High Point.

SPONSORED BY AMAZON WEB SERVICES

AWS Powers NFL’s Next-Gen Scouting

The NFL Scouting Combine [[link removed]] has entered a new era, powered by AWS technology. Gone are the days of simple stopwatches and clipboards. Now, with NFL Combine IQ [[link removed]], every prospect’s movement is tracked, analyzed, and visualized in real time, turning raw athletic data into actionable insights.

The NFL Next Gen Stats Combine IQ, powered by Amazon QuickSight [[link removed]], distills complex metrics into a single, easy-to-understand number. This innovation allows teams, analysts, and fans to compare prospects with unprecedented depth and simplicity.

From the practice field to the front office, AWS is revolutionizing how talent is evaluated in the NFL. Discover [[link removed]] how this cutting-edge technology is transforming the scouting process and shaping the future of football.

This Year’s Masters Features Smallest LIV Golf Contingent Yet [[link removed]]

Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Next week will be the third Masters since the inception of LIV Golf, and the tournament will have its smallest field of players yet from the controversial tour.

There are 12 LIV players set to compete at Augusta National Golf Club, down from 13 last year and 18 in 2023.

Jon Rahm Bryson DeChambeau Brooks Koepka Joaquin Niemann Tyrrell Hatton Cam Smith Sergio Garcia Dustin Johnson Patrick Reed Phil Mickelson Charl Schwartzel Bubba Watson

This year’s LIV contingent is nearly identical to last year’s, minus Adrian Meronk, who won LIV’s 2025 season-opening event—and its $4 million first-place prize—in February, but is No. 192 in the Official World Golf Ranking, which LIV events don’t earn points for.

LIV has seven former Masters champions who receive lifetime invites, and three other major championship winners from the past five years, which also qualifies for an invite to Augusta. Hatton, who joined LIV ahead of the 2024 season, remains inside the top 50 rankings, and Niemann received a special invite for a second consecutive year.

The Masters field, currently set at 96, could expand by one if an otherwise uninvited player wins the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open this weekend, but winning LIV’s event in Miami does not automatically earn a Masters invite.

Back Together Again

“It’s disappointing for all of us. Those guys, I want to watch play,” said ESPN’s Curtis Strange—one of many golf pundits who lamented the fractured state of pro golf on various Masters preview calls this week.

“I miss watching them play,” Strange said. “They made their decision, and that’s O.K. But I think that the public and the TV people and all of us fans of the game would like to see those guys play more often on our tour. Not to let them back, don’t get me wrong, but I wish they were playing on our tour, not over there.”

Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee pointed out that LIV players are largely not part of the discussion about who will win, because fans don’t see them as much. “It’s tough to really guess at how they’re really playing,” he said. “So it does add an element of mystery and excitement coming into the Masters.”

CBS on-course reporter Dottie Pepper said it’s exciting to get to cover the players they used to see week-to-week on the PGA Tour. “Those are the opportunities that we don’t have all the time because of where golf is,” she said. “But you approach them as professional, and thorough, and genuinely wanting to know what’s going on with them right now.”

SPONSORED BY PROFESSIONAL FIGHTERS LEAGUE

Flipping the Script on MMA

The Professional Fighters League is launching a new World Tournament format in 2025, shifting to a single-elimination structure that aligns more closely with major global sports leagues. With a growing international presence in Europe and the Middle East, and an upcoming expansion into Africa, PFL continues to position itself as a leading force in MMA. [[link removed]]

Backed by investors from across sports and finance, and with media rights deals spanning 190+ countries [[link removed]], the league is focused on scaling its reach while maintaining a competition model where advancement is earned in the cage.

Read more about PFL’s growth and strategy here [[link removed]].

STATUS REPORT Three Up, One Push

Chicago Bears

Chicago ⬆⬇ Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren said the team’s focus for building a new stadium [[link removed]] “now is both downtown and Arlington Heights.” The NFL franchise had been seeking a $4.7 billion dome downtown [[link removed]], but challenges in finding public funding has slowed the process.

Andre Agassi ⬆ The eight-time Grand Slam winner has signed with TNT Sports for its U.S. coverage of the French Open, which will begin in May, as part of a 10-year, $650 million media-rights deal [[link removed]].

Big3 ⬆ The 3-on-3 pro basketball league [[link removed]] cofounded by rapper Ice Cube has released its 2025 schedule [[link removed]], which will see eight new teams play a 10-week schedule touring each of their “home markets” across the country.

Megha Ganne ⬆ The Stanford golfer took the early lead at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, carding a first-round 63, breaking the previous tournament record by three strokes. The event is playing its first two rounds at Champions Retreat Golf Club in Evans, Ga., before concluding at the home of The Masters on Saturday.

Conversation Starters SEC rules say a new inning can’t start after 4:30 p.m. CT on Sundays. Kentucky, which was leading Texas A&M 10–5 in the bottom of the eighth, stalled before the final inning, leading to a heated exchange between dugouts. Check it out [[link removed]]. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on The Herd that the World Cup is “104 Super Bowls in one month.” Watch it here [[link removed]]. Advertise [[link removed]] Honors [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Shows [[link removed]] Written by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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