CHICAGO -- A handshake could mean that a bond-financed public buyout of Target Center stadium in Minneapolis and new ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team is near.
Marvin Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner, who own the Target Center and the Timberwolves, last week reached a handshake deal with Minnesota businessman Glen Taylor to sell Taylor the team for an undisclosed sum of money, according to Kent Wipf, manager of media services for the Timberwolves.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has reported that Taylor and several silent partners have agreed to buy the team for $90 million. In addition, city officials said the sale would be tied to a public buyout of the debt-plagued Target Center that would be financed by $54 million of revenue bonds.
Wipf said that details of the deal are being worked out and no timetable has been set on when a final agreement will be reached.
Wolfenson and Ratner have been trying to sell the Timberwolves and the Target Center to help eliminate more than $72 million of the stadium's debt.
If finalized, the agreement with Taylor would lay to rest other offers to buy the team that have surfaced in the last few months. In May, Wolfenson and Ratner said they were considering a $152.5 million offer from a New Orleans group to relocate the Timberwolves to that city. However, the National Basketball Association stopped the deal when its relocation committee and board of governors refused to approve the sale.
Bill Sexton, another Minnesota businessman, also sought to buy the team but pulled out of negotiations earlier this month.
Minneapolis officials are guardedly hopeful about the tentative agreement between Wolfenson and Ratner and Taylor.
John Moir, the city's finance officer, said that city officials are reserving their praise for the deal until a definitive agreement to sell the team is reached.
"It's been up and down so many times," Moir said.
Under the buyout plan for the Target Center, the stadium would be purchased by the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, a seven-member board comprising six Minneapolis city council appointees and a chairman who is appointed by the governor.
The buyout would be financed by $42 million of revenue bonds issued by the Metropolitan Council, which is an economic development agency in the Twin Cities area, and $12 million of revenue bonds issued by the Minneapolis Community Development Agency.
The $42 million of revenue bonds would be repaid with proceeds from a 10% ticket tax and a $1 surcharge on all Target Center tickets. In addition, the state would contribute $11.25 million over 15 years to help pay the debt service on the bonds.
If necessary, special sales taxes could be levied on food, liquor, and lodging in downtown Minneapolis to help cover debt service on the $42 million of bonds, according to city officials.
The $12 million of bonds would be paid off with revenues from the Target Center, including proceeds from skyboxes, concessions, and novelties, according to city officials.
