Pompliano: How Glen Taylor sabotaged the Wolves' Ownership Deal (thread)

[NyKnicks1714]

Sincere/serious question for Wolves fans, especially ones who do not like or want Taylor: even if every negative thing said about Taylor is 100% accurate and Arod/Lore are they unequivocal good guys here, are you confident they would spend what it takes? That they'd happily stay well above the Luxury Tax threshold if that's what it took to win?

[OkcSinceSGA]

Moderators are busy enough with me to deal with him. Only I’m allowed to stress out Domejandro and Bisme!

My reaction when I open the forum and see an OT thread with "last post by OkcSinceSGA".

Hahaha. I deserve that.

[ForeverTFC]

As a neutral observer, it’s tough to see Taylor’s side here.

Taylor’s arguments: delayed payments and cutting payroll concerns.

Delayed payments: second payment was delayed but Taylor agreed to that. Final payment was delayed because the NBA has to approve the new backer. So Taylor agreed to the 2nd payment delay and this current delay is seemingly out of the control of either party and is subject to NBA bylaws. Taylor is making it seem like this final payment delay is Lore/Arod’s fault, which doesn’t seem like the case.

Payroll Implications: does the contract state that Lore and Arod have to pay the luxury tax for the next 1-2 years? If not then Taylor has no leg to stand on. It’s a PR move. Taylor might not like it but unless there is a specific clause in the sale that says “the new owners shall pay the luxury tax in 2025” then it doesn’t really matter if Taylor doesn’t like it.

Lore and Arod met the terms of the deal. Taylor agreed to the delay on the 2nd payment. The third is being held up by the league. Taylor doesn’t get a say in whether Lore and Arod cheap out on payroll. That’s their prerogative as owners.

If this current report is right about current delay being caused by the league then I don’t see how Taylor is winning this case. Taylor’s side seems to be entirely based on “I don’t like how this is going” and not based on the actual contract.

As far as I can tell Taylor’s only case is if the final payment delay is due to Lore and Arod. If it’s due to the league then what exactly is Taylor’s reason for not fulfilling his end?

Eh, I think you're being too kind to Lore and ARod.

On the delayed payments, if they had the money and didn't need to bring in others, there would be no need for additional vetting by the NBA and so there would be no delay. So yes, the delay is because of the NBA, but it's really because they didn't have the money and had to go bring in someone else.

In regards to the luxury tax, Windhorst explained that all owners split the tax based on their ownership interest. Given Lore and Arod already own ~30% of the team, they would have to pay ~30% of the tax. However, minority leaders can't decide whether or not they want to be a tax team, the governor/majority owner has the say. So ultimately, they will have to pay the tax if the Wolves are a tax team, but unless they become majority owners, won't have the final say on whether the Wolves are or are not a tax team.

Ultimately, Taylor sold the team at a deep discount and yet Lore and ARod didn't have the money to execute on the great deal they had gotten, giving Taylor an excuse to back out of it in hindsight. There is no "good guys" here. Taylor had seller's remorse and Lore and ARod's lack of capital gave him the opportunity to back out.

[ForeverTFC]

Sincere/serious question for Wolves fans, especially ones who do not like or want Taylor: even if every negative thing said about Taylor is 100% accurate and Arod/Lore are they unequivocal good guys here, are you confident they would spend what it takes? That they'd happily stay well above the Luxury Tax threshold if that's what it took to win?

They got an NBA team at 50% off and still couldn't close the deal. I don't understand how any Wolves fan thinks this is an ownership group to back. Though I guess when your choice is a giant douhce or a turd sandwich, you gotta pick one.

[ConSarnit]

Sincere/serious question for Wolves fans, especially ones who do not like or want Taylor: even if every negative thing said about Taylor is 100% accurate and Arod/Lore are they unequivocal good guys here, are you confident they would spend what it takes? That they'd happily stay well above the Luxury Tax threshold if that's what it took to win?

Not a Wolves fan but I would say this about Lore and Arod spending:

As far as the sale goes, it doesn’t matter. Unless the contract states that the new owners have to pay the tax in 2025 it is 100% a PR move from Taylor’s side. Taylor might not like it but I doubt the contract gets to dictate how much Lore and Arod have to spend on payroll because who would possibly agree to that?

Toward the actual question: I don’t think anyone really knows what Lore and Arod would do regarding luxury tax. The new article reports the Wolves have doubled their gate receipts over the past few years so maybe that acts as an avenue for L+A to pay the tax? Or they are going to be cheap. Seems impossible to know. We’ve seen multi-billionaire owners be the cheapest bastards possible so I’d say it’s impossible to predict what new ownership might do. If they make it to the finals that is also going to add revenue that might make paying the tax more palatable.

Lore and Arod should have done better PR work and came out and said “we’re willing to pay the tax if this team makes a run this year” thereby quelling Taylor’s accusation but also leaving it nebulous enough as to how much tax they are willing to pay and what constitutes a successful “run”. Seems like an easy counter to Taylor’s PR battle.

[Domejandro]

As a neutral observer, it’s tough to see Taylor’s side here.

Taylor’s arguments: delayed payments and cutting payroll concerns.

Delayed payments: second payment was delayed but Taylor agreed to that. Final payment was delayed because the NBA has to approve the new backer. So Taylor agreed to the 2nd payment delay and this current delay is seemingly out of the control of either party and is subject to NBA bylaws. Taylor is making it seem like this final payment delay is Lore/Arod’s fault, which doesn’t seem like the case.

Payroll Implications: does the contract state that Lore and Arod have to pay the luxury tax for the next 1-2 years? If not then Taylor has no leg to stand on. It’s a PR move. Taylor might not like it but unless there is a specific clause in the sale that says “the new owners shall pay the luxury tax in 2025” then it doesn’t really matter if Taylor doesn’t like it.

Lore and Arod met the terms of the deal. Taylor agreed to the delay on the 2nd payment. The third is being held up by the league. Taylor doesn’t get a say in whether Lore and Arod cheap out on payroll. That’s their prerogative as owners.

If this current report is right about current delay being caused by the league then I don’t see how Taylor is winning this case. Taylor’s side seems to be entirely based on “I don’t like how this is going” and not based on the actual contract.

As far as I can tell Taylor’s only case is if the final payment delay is due to Lore and Arod. If it’s due to the league then what exactly is Taylor’s reason for not fulfilling his end?

Keeping it real, Glen Taylor's reason is probably 95%+ financial, he is a genuinely ruthless business person.

The problem is that we don't know if Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez technically met the terms of their deal, that is unfortunately not set in stone. If the contract language states that they had to have funding/investment locked in by a certain date, then Glen Taylor may have a pathway to reneging on the contract (even if that goes against the spirit of the deal). Hopefully it gets resolved during arbitration (I am less optimistic on this than most), but when dealing with someone like Glen Taylor, you cannot afford to be sloppy during the purchasing process.

Generally when you see people criticize the two of them, the big reason for it is because they have been a mess financially during this process, to the extent that it has led to them scrambling to meet deadlines (even during extensions). It suggests broader issues financially which make me very concerned about their capacity to finance an expensive team. Neither Marc Lore or (especially) Alex Rodriguez are flush with readily disposible money, which has the potential to be immensely prolematic, long-term. For all of Glen Taylor's (many) faults, his capacity to spend definitely is not a concern that Minnesota fans have with him. I just wish that they had been more proactive in meeting earlier deadlines (rather than leaning on extensions) to avoid this entire mess; the past three years of the transition has been kind of a circus show.

As a closing note, I will say that Glen Taylor's PR push about them submitting financial proposals about cutting team salary was a response to wild accusations during Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez's initial response to Glen Taylor pulling the plug. Both sides should probably be disregarded on the PR side, it is going to continue being ugly until it is resolved.

[ConSarnit]

As a neutral observer, it’s tough to see Taylor’s side here.

Taylor’s arguments: delayed payments and cutting payroll concerns.

Delayed payments: second payment was delayed but Taylor agreed to that. Final payment was delayed because the NBA has to approve the new backer. So Taylor agreed to the 2nd payment delay and this current delay is seemingly out of the control of either party and is subject to NBA bylaws. Taylor is making it seem like this final payment delay is Lore/Arod’s fault, which doesn’t seem like the case.

Payroll Implications: does the contract state that Lore and Arod have to pay the luxury tax for the next 1-2 years? If not then Taylor has no leg to stand on. It’s a PR move. Taylor might not like it but unless there is a specific clause in the sale that says “the new owners shall pay the luxury tax in 2025” then it doesn’t really matter if Taylor doesn’t like it.

Lore and Arod met the terms of the deal. Taylor agreed to the delay on the 2nd payment. The third is being held up by the league. Taylor doesn’t get a say in whether Lore and Arod cheap out on payroll. That’s their prerogative as owners.

If this current report is right about current delay being caused by the league then I don’t see how Taylor is winning this case. Taylor’s side seems to be entirely based on “I don’t like how this is going” and not based on the actual contract.

As far as I can tell Taylor’s only case is if the final payment delay is due to Lore and Arod. If it’s due to the league then what exactly is Taylor’s reason for not fulfilling his end?

Eh, I think you're being too kind to Lore and ARod.

On the delayed payments, if they had the money and didn't need to bring in others, there would be no need for additional vetting by the NBA and so there would be no delay. So yes, the delay is because of the NBA, but it's really because they didn't have the money and had to go bring in someone else.

In regards to the luxury tax, Windhorst explained that all owners split the tax based on their ownership interest. Given Lore and Arod already own ~30% of the team, they would have to pay ~30% of the tax. However, minority leaders can't decide whether or not they want to be a tax team, the governor/majority owner has the say. So ultimately, they will have to pay the tax if the Wolves are a tax team, but unless they become majority owners, won't have the final say on whether the Wolves are or are not a tax team.

Ultimately, Taylor sold the team at a deep discount and yet Lore and ARod didn't have the money to execute on the great deal they had gotten, giving Taylor an excuse to back out of it in hindsight. There is no "good guys" here. Taylor had seller's remorse and Lore and ARod's lack of capital gave him the opportunity to back out.

I don’t think anyone here is a good guy but it seems like Taylor’s argument breaks down upon investigation.

Late on second payment: Taylor agreed to it

Late on final payment: not a good look for Lore and Arod but if the hold up is coming from the league that’s not their fault. We have no idea how long that process takes.

Tax payments: if Taylor was worried about this he should have written it into the terms of sale. He might not like it but it’s not relevant to the sale.

The entire thing boils down to: who is causing the third payment to be delayed? It seems like Lore and Arod have an investor and it is being held up by the league. It seems pretty cut and dry that if their were a hard cut off date for missing that payment then Taylor is going to win. If it’s murky because the NBA needs more time then I have no idea.

It seems like this could be resolved easily. Taylor comes out and says “we had a hard cut off date for the final payment. Lore and Arod needed full league approval by date X. They missed it so I’m keeping the team.” The fact that he has not said this makes me believe their must be more we don’t know.

[HartfordWhalers]

The odds of a former politician and CEO billionare is actually a good guy are slim to none, but the article sounds very one-sided with lots of assumptions and speculations passed on as facts, so reader beware.

As this isn't a billionaire vs workers type of conflict, but rather a billionaire vs billionaire conflict I'm inclined to think the worst of both sides.

By most accounts it actually isn't.

[ConSarnit]

As a neutral observer, it’s tough to see Taylor’s side here.

Taylor’s arguments: delayed payments and cutting payroll concerns.

Delayed payments: second payment was delayed but Taylor agreed to that. Final payment was delayed because the NBA has to approve the new backer. So Taylor agreed to the 2nd payment delay and this current delay is seemingly out of the control of either party and is subject to NBA bylaws. Taylor is making it seem like this final payment delay is Lore/Arod’s fault, which doesn’t seem like the case.

Payroll Implications: does the contract state that Lore and Arod have to pay the luxury tax for the next 1-2 years? If not then Taylor has no leg to stand on. It’s a PR move. Taylor might not like it but unless there is a specific clause in the sale that says “the new owners shall pay the luxury tax in 2025” then it doesn’t really matter if Taylor doesn’t like it.

Lore and Arod met the terms of the deal. Taylor agreed to the delay on the 2nd payment. The third is being held up by the league. Taylor doesn’t get a say in whether Lore and Arod cheap out on payroll. That’s their prerogative as owners.

If this current report is right about current delay being caused by the league then I don’t see how Taylor is winning this case. Taylor’s side seems to be entirely based on “I don’t like how this is going” and not based on the actual contract.

As far as I can tell Taylor’s only case is if the final payment delay is due to Lore and Arod. If it’s due to the league then what exactly is Taylor’s reason for not fulfilling his end?

Keeping it real, Glen Taylor's reason is probably 95%+ financial, he is a genuinely ruthless business person.

The problem is that we don't know if Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez technically met the terms of their deal, that is unfortunately not set in stone. If the contract language states that they had to have funding/investment locked in by a certain date, then Glen Taylor may have a pathway to reneging on the contract (even if that goes against the spirit of the deal). Hopefully it gets resolved during arbitration (I am less optimistic on this than most), but when dealing with someone like Glen Taylor, you cannot afford to be sloppy during the purchasing process.

Generally when you see people criticize the two of them, the big reason for it is because they have been a mess financially during this process, to the extent that it has led to them scrambling to meet deadlines (even during extensions). It suggests broader issues financially which make me very concerned about their capacity to finance an expensive team. Neither Marc Lore or (especially) Alex Rodriguez are flush with readily disposible money, which has the potential to be immensely prolematic, long-term. For all of Glen Taylor's (many) faults, his capacity to spend definitely is not a concern that Minnesota fans have with him. I just wish that they had been more proactive in meeting earlier deadlines (rather than leaning on extensions) to avoid this entire mess; the past three years of the transition has been kind of a circus show.

As a closing note, I will say that Glen Taylor's PR push about them submitting financial proposals about cutting team salary was a response to wild accusations during Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez's initial response to Glen Taylor pulling the plug. Both sides should probably be disregarded on the PR side, it is going to continue being ugly until it is resolved.

Doesn’t it seem like Taylor was the sloppy one? Couldn’t this all go away with one press release?

“Lore and Arod failed to secure financing by cut off date X. Due to this failure I am keeping the team”

If there was a hard cut off date for payments then that gives Taylor a very clear and easy out.

The contract either states there is a hard cut off date or it remains flexible. If there is a hard cut off date then Taylor doesn’t have to do anything as Lore and Arod f*cked up. The fact that this is dragging on seems to imply the final payment date must be somewhat fluid (flexibility for league approval, etc), which I assume favors Lore and Arod.

[Johnny Bball]

Great read OP.

The sale was in tiers because it was Taylors request, not the new buyers.
A-rod and Lore had a backup partner in place for Carlysle that own minority shares of other NBA teams and had the funding.
NBA was reviewing new members at the above backup partner and the process of that that should have triggered an extension of 90 days.
Taylor is screwed his existing partners for the capital gain and took it all himself from the new buyers purchasing shares. Getting sued.
Taylor quietly bought out one small limited partner before this tiers sale with that money to ensure he still owned majority over the new buyers, because by taking all of the capital gain it to place him under their shareholdings.
Taylor screwed his partners on the interest they are getting on their money.
Taylor screwed his partners and the new buyers on the sale.
Connelly was exclusively the new buyers idea and Taylor didn't like the salary agreement.
Taylor has offered to sell the team a dozen times never following through.
Taylor was likely never going to sell the team.
Connelly likely exercises his option and leaves.
New Buyers weren't going to demand the team be under the tax, that was from the business plan part of their filing to the NBA that had them at the tax, which is apparently standard.
Likely takes years, goes to arbitration then court and Taylor loses. Or dies first.

Well, that Shrink guy from the other thread was wrong about almost everything conceivably possible.

Wow, even if you mindlessly accept everything this guy says, you are going even farther!

Here are a few things that the article skips over.

- Taylor isn’t “getting sued” by minority owners. The lawsuit was already ruled on and Taylor won. You should be skeptical that the author spent so much time on this area, claimed lots of research, and missed this?!?

- The spending for Tim Connelly and the lavish suite does not show Lore and ARod have money. As majority owner Taylor paid the bulk of that salary, and Lore and ARod only paid 20% one year and 36% the next. As for luxury suite that Lore and ARod wanted, 100% of that was paid for by Taylor. Lore and ARod have only been good at spending Taylor’s money.

- And questions about Lore and ARod’s ability to pay have been out there for nearly three years. That’s been skipped over in this article as well. The fact that every payment has been delayed, and they have had to find financing at all doesn’t make sense of the argument is that they have the money.

For the record, I don’t feel I have a dog in this fight, but I urge people to be skeptical of everything they read. There is a media battle going on for the hearts and minds of the public, so I ask people to read everything critically before leaping to conclusions. The things I pointed out make me go … hmmmm.

This is exactly what I mean Texas Chuck... "mindlessly". Everything comes with a behind the keyboard cheap shot. Like this guy is just about the truth No wonder the other thread got shut down, people just hot for no reason.

Who cares about a suite lol. Its literally the one thing I didn't mention.

Questions about their ability to pay after Taylor was the one that set the tiered payment schedule in the first place....?

Like hell you don't have a dog in this fight. And I am skeptical and was, and that's why I believed nothing that came out early because it was Taylor's own propo. The irony of you telling me that....

[Domejandro]

It seems like this could be resolved easily. Taylor comes out and says “we had a hard cut off date for the final payment. Lore and Arod needed full league approval by date X. They missed it so I’m keeping the team.” The fact that he has not said this makes me believe their must be more we don’t know.

For what it is worth, Glen Taylor has pretty much directly said this. This article goes over Glen Taylor's perspective (to be clear, don't take this for gospel, it is just important context to respond to your point).
https://www.startribune.com/glen-taylor-interview-timberwolves-sale-marc-lore-alex-rodriguez-patrick-reusse/600354754/

Spoiler:

"The deal is not done. There are deadlines to be met. As always, the NBA must be satisfied with new ownership, as well as its financials."

The Lore-Rodriguez tandem already had been given an extension. That was reached on March 27 — this Wednesday.

"They missed it," Taylor said.

This was in a short phone interview with Taylor from his home in Mankato on Thursday. A couple of hours earlier, the Timberwolves sent out a news release that the NBA team and their partners, the Lynx, were no longer for sale.

"Lore and ARod now own 36 percent," Taylor said by phone. "I will work with them, as I do with my other limited."

There have been "NBA insiders" stating that the relationship between Lore, ARod and Taylor had "deteriorated" in recent weeks. Not enough so that Lore declined to make a pitch to Taylor for an investment in another company in February.

On Thursday, Taylor was asked about those reports. "I don't know if that's accurate," he said. "Lore told me he has been busy 24/7 with other projects. And ARod — he has a lot of people to meet when he's at a game.

"The deadline had been pushed back, and they missed it. That's what led to this."

2:42 his lawyers directly state that they failed to complete the process on time.

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

Note: This is a fluff piece, but Glen Taylor directly commits to paying as much as it takes to keep the team together.

This has been an ongoing issue, here is an interview from 18 days before the deadline.

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

[HartfordWhalers]

Stake your favorite crypto and earn rewards as high as 500% APY

Sounds really good. I trust OP's source.

[boomershadow]

I don't necessarily think anyone is on the good guy team here. These are billionaires fighting for control of a business.

That said, somebody posted the part of the contract where it says like any need for league review will automatically trigger a 90 day extension, and the last minute change in some of the financial backing needed to be reviewed and approved by the league, right?

[HartfordWhalers]

I don't necessarily think anyone is on the good guy team here. These are billionaires fighting for control of a business.

That said, somebody posted the part of the contract where it says like any need for league review will automatically trigger a 90 day extension, and the last minute change in some of the financial backing needed to be reviewed and approved by the league, right?

This keeps getting posted, but for what its worth, most financial reporting has otherwise. Forbes, ESPN etc all have not just Arod but also Lore as worth under 1b. Which certainly matches what we have seen and has implications if they win in court. To be fair, Lore had himself as worth 4b based off a company that is losing money, changing its business model, raising money in a down round, relying on him for a considerable amount of that money being raised and never valued at 4b in total least of all just his share.

These are (likely) just scrappy hundred millionaires, fighting an evil billionaire for the toy/leveraged investment primary control they thought they were buying. It is an underdog story as old as time itself.

{None of which weighs in on if they did breach the contract or where still in the cool, find new partners and try again stage}

[thinktank]

As a Wolves fan, I thought this was plain to see.

However, it seems like Taylor supporters (don’t call them that), are having a tough time with this… development. So tough, that I’m told we can’t talk about it on our forum.

It was plain to see. Give them their receipt here.

I just don’t understand why this topic is off-limits in our forum.

Get a grip. If a topic riles you up, don’t participate.

[thinktank]

Well, that Shrink guy from the other thread was wrong about almost everything conceivably possible.

Maybe. Or maybe this guy's source is Lore's people.

Funny how with each report that comes out, whatever side one was already on, its taken as full validation. Meanwhile all the reporting that has come out supporting the opposite is immediately dismissed.

I have no rooting interest here--save I want Minny to get to keep their team, and all of the reporting taken as a whole don't look great for the Lore group. Even if Taylor is also being difficult.

But many of you don't care about truth, just about being proven "right". To shrink's credit throughout this saga, his posts have all about trying to get to what's real rather to what he wants. If that makes him wrong, I'd like to be wrong in similar fashion more often. Rather than claiming to be right by reading selectively.

I strongly disagree with your contention in that last paragraph given the thinly veiled insults that accompanied them. For me, as others have said, this was mostly plain to see from the start, without having any axe to grind.

Yes. The insults have been fun. LOL. Some people cannot keep it above board.

[thinktank]

Sincere/serious question for Wolves fans, especially ones who do not like or want Taylor: even if every negative thing said about Taylor is 100% accurate and Arod/Lore are they unequivocal good guys here, are you confident they would spend what it takes? That they'd happily stay well above the Luxury Tax threshold if that's what it took to win?

It’s out of our control so why speculate?

[thinktank]

Great read OP.

The sale was in tiers because it was Taylors request, not the new buyers.
A-rod and Lore had a backup partner in place for Carlysle that own minority shares of other NBA teams and had the funding.
NBA was reviewing new members at the above backup partner and the process of that that should have triggered an extension of 90 days.
Taylor is screwed his existing partners for the capital gain and took it all himself from the new buyers purchasing shares. Getting sued.
Taylor quietly bought out one small limited partner before this tiers sale with that money to ensure he still owned majority over the new buyers, because by taking all of the capital gain it to place him under their shareholdings.
Taylor screwed his partners on the interest they are getting on their money.
Taylor screwed his partners and the new buyers on the sale.
Connelly was exclusively the new buyers idea and Taylor didn't like the salary agreement.
Taylor has offered to sell the team a dozen times never following through.
Taylor was likely never going to sell the team.
Connelly likely exercises his option and leaves.
New Buyers weren't going to demand the team be under the tax, that was from the business plan part of their filing to the NBA that had them at the tax, which is apparently standard.
Likely takes years, goes to arbitration then court and Taylor loses. Or dies first.

Well, that Shrink guy from the other thread was wrong about almost everything conceivably possible.

Wow, even if you mindlessly accept everything this guy says, you are going even farther!

Here are a few things that the article skips over.

- Taylor isn’t “getting sued” by minority owners. The lawsuit was already ruled on and Taylor won. You should be skeptical that the author spent so much time on this area, claimed lots of research, and missed this?!?

Are all the exclamation points really necessary?!?!!

“The team’s second largest shareholder, a real estate developer named Meyer Orbach, actually sued Taylor for doing this.”

Did that not occur?!?!?!

[Texas Chuck]

Maybe. Or maybe this guy's source is Lore's people.

Funny how with each report that comes out, whatever side one was already on, its taken as full validation. Meanwhile all the reporting that has come out supporting the opposite is immediately dismissed.

I have no rooting interest here--save I want Minny to get to keep their team, and all of the reporting taken as a whole don't look great for the Lore group. Even if Taylor is also being difficult.

But many of you don't care about truth, just about being proven "right". To shrink's credit throughout this saga, his posts have all about trying to get to what's real rather to what he wants. If that makes him wrong, I'd like to be wrong in similar fashion more often. Rather than claiming to be right by reading selectively.

I strongly disagree with your contention in that last paragraph given the thinly veiled insults that accompanied them. For me, as others have said, this was mostly plain to see from the start, without having any axe to grind.

Yes. The insults have been fun. LOL. Some people cannot keep it above board.

It's not an insult. It's an observation. For instance you have been #teamLore the whole way. Which is whatever. I understand being frustrated with the governor of the team (Dallas went through Perot Jr who was a disaster) so I understand you think anything will be better than Taylor. Great. Good for you.

But because of that you haven't been open to any reports that suggest any issues with Lore, you have continually cited a personal level of expertise that is both irrelevant and unsubstantied and jumped all over any reporting that suggest Taylor bad Lore group good.

We could pretend this wasn't how you were posting, but that would be insulting to you. It would show we weren't paying you attention and reading your posts. But we are.

If you are insulted by us noticing your approach, that's odd. Because its clear you feel its the right approach for you on this topic. And that's your business. But some of use don't have your rooting interest and are trying to get at what's real. That's all.
And this article in the OP is sketchy at absolutely best, but reads like a plant. I mean our choices are he took a planted story or he simply doesn't understand what he's reporting on. Neither is great, and neither should give one call to claim victory.

But again, you get to choose who and what to believe. But us noticing that isn't insulting you. It's just paying attention.

[Johnny Bball]

Personally, I'm team math and logic.

Anyone can choose to answer this simple sample question if they like.... you buy shares of a team for $1.50 at the start. Your $1.50 shares are now valued at $2.94. You can offer to anyone to sell a share anywhere from $1.50 to $2.94 without technically losing a single dollar, because your deal is buying every share for $1.50 average price at every tier in the sale, vs the current value. But "ALL through the process" you can't find money and financing, or sell stakes, even by offering what is basically instant free money (or double the collateral if you like) and "are having trouble getting the money"?

Riiiiiiight? Something isn't right.