ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 24, 1994                   TAG: 9405240091
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS                                LENGTH: Short

NEW ORLEANS GOBBLES UP TIMBERWOLVES

The Minnesota Timberwolves are moving to New Orleans five years after joining the NBA as an expansion team.

Harvey Ratner and Marv Wolfenson, the club's owners, said Monday a group led by Top Rank of Louisiana will pay $152.5 million for the team and move it to New Orleans for the 1994-95 season.

The NBA must approve the transaction, but that is expected.

Hoping to keep the team in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Legislature has approved and Gov. Arne Carlson has signed legislation authorizing a public buyout of the Target Center, the team's arena. Ratner and Wolfenson also own the Target Center.

Several groups, including one in Minnesota, expressed interest in buying the team. But Wolfenson said at a news conference that no local investor came through.

Retired NBA star Magic Johnson said Monday he was trying to buy the team, along with a group including singers Prince and Janet Jackson. A group led by Bill Sexton, a retired Bloomington, Minn., insurance executive, also reportedly was interested in buying the team.

Investors in Nashville, Tenn., and San Diego also were interested in buying and moving the Timberwolves.

Keywords:
BASKETBALL 


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