The Courts At Mayo Clinic Square Are First Class All The Way | Photos

Upon moving into Target Center back in 1990 (team’s second year of existence), the Minnesota Timberwolves began holding practice on a court located in the Life Time Athletic Club, situated underneath the downtown Minneapolis arena. The team used the court and surrounding private areas for training, along with facilities located upstairs in the Target Center locker-room corridor. The franchise’s front office also existed within the walls of the aging arena.

Through the years, this situation grew cramped and logistically inconvenient, making the Timberwolves practice facility pretty close to obsolete.

In June of 2015, the Wolves remedied these issues when opening a brand new $25 million practice facility and team headquarters, located directly across the street from Target Center.

The 107,000-square-foot Mayo Clinic Square is a joint venture between the Wolves and WNBA Lynx (both owned by Glen Taylor) and the iconic Minnesota based hospital. Mayo Clinic operates a sports medicine clinic in the shared structure, with the teams and clinic collaborating on player injury treatment and prevention. The clinic is also open to non pro basketball patients.

The Courts at Mayo Clinic Square (the NBA/WNBA section of the building) features 75,000-square-feet of basketball operations and front office space, shared equally by the Timberwolves and Lynx.  The complex includes two courts, five locker-rooms, two film rooms, weight and training areas, player lounges, coaches and executive offices, a nutrition center and broadcast studio.

The window shades remain up when no activity is taking place on the courts, with the shades coming down once the Wolves or Lynx take the floor.

The four-story building (connects to Target Center via second floor skyway) includes first floor restaurants and a second floor Wolves/Lynx promotional space.

Entrances to the Wolves/Lynx HQ and Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine office are present on the third floor, with the private fourth floor encompassing the height of the courts and the upper tier of the basketball side of the layout.

Wolves and Lynx art, signage and memorabilia are present throughout the second and third floors.

With a much needed $130 million renovation underway at Target Center, by the start of next season, the Wolves and Lynx will be flush with state-of-the-art amenities and creature comfort.

Now, if only the long suffering Wolves could figure out a way to match the exploits of their WNBA counterparts, who have won three of the last six WNBA titles.