Glen Taylor's Plan to Lose Big

After the Timberwolves underachieved the past two seasons, owner Glen Taylor revised his business plan for the team: He planned to lose more.

He traded Kevin Garnett—who had become synonymous with the franchise and its future—to the Boston Celtics last summer for four players and two draft picks, and let go three other veterans for nine young players.

The early results this season have been abysmal—and right on plan, Taylor says. Through December 20, the Wolves had the worst win-loss record in the league at 3-21. Approximately 1,000 season-ticket holders did not renew this season, and overall attendance for home games has dropped to an average of 15,185, below the league average of 16,872.

Taylor expects the team to lose a record $15 million this season. Then he hopes that fan excitement about watching young players develop their potential will change the financial picture, and that the high draft picks allotted to losing teams might change results on the court. Is this a business plan, a way of waiting for luck to change, or both?

{Q}   How is the Wolves’ poor start affecting business?

{A}   Even if we had kept Kevin here, we knew we were going to be hurt somewhat in the renewal of season tickets. Now, our hopes are that the really young guys continue to im-prove. That will help attendance this year, but more importantly next year.

{Q}   What does that mean in terms of revenue lost this season?

{A}   We know we’re going to lose money this year. I had to buy out some contracts. I’m paying Troy Hudson’s and Juwan Howard’s salaries this year and next, even though they’re not playing for me. The terms of their two salaries are about $11 million, but I would estimate that we could lose up to $15 million on the season.

{Q}   How long can the business sustain such losses?

{A}   We are one of the better-financed teams in the league in the sense of the borrowing. We had, at one time, gotten our team down so we had no debt. No one likes to lose money. We know we’re going to lose money this year. We anticipate that we may lose some next year. The year after that, our goal is to make money.

{Q}   How much do you anticipate losing next year?

{A}   I would say right now, $5 million to $10 million—let’s say $7.5 million. We have built in so that we could lose that much.