>> Pssst: Latest business tycoon with serious interest and the wherewithal to buy the Twins is a Microsoft corporate partner.

One negative facing a sale is a massive reduction in revenue from a new Twins’ TV deal compared to previous seasons. There will be a cash flow problem for whoever ends up with the franchise which, insiders say, will fetch between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion. Still, people who know say a sale will get done and it’s just a matter of to whom it will be.

The Pioneer Press a year ago reported that the Ishbia brothers, Michigan mortgage moguls Mat and Justin, who two years ago bought the NBA Suns and WNBA Mercury for $4 billion, had inquired of Glen Taylor about buying the Timberwolves but that the timing for Taylor wasn’t right.

A little birdie says the Ishbias have been cocksure that they can acquire the Twins, but now there’s whispering that they could have an exclusive option to buy the Chicago White Sox from Jerry Reinsdorf, who in three weeks turns 89 years old.

>> Before the Vikings could move forward after their dismaying playoff loss to the Rams, they needed to extend coach Kevin O’Connell, which they did after an implicit threat of losing him.

Had the Vikings not signed O’Connell, it was not far-fetched that he could have ended up via a trade to the Raiders with iconic QB pal Tom Brady, the team’s new co-owner.

>> O’Connell’s contract leverage with the Vikings earlier this month couldn’t have been better timed. Despite the two disappointing, season-ending losses, the Vikings won 14 games, and the coach could have become a free agent after next season.

Going into the playoffs, O’Connell’s market value was in the $50 million, four-year range. He has one year, estimated at $5 million, remaining on his initial four-year contract.

>> O’Connell’s new contract is expected to average nearly $15 million a year over four years, meaning the Vikings are committed to him for the next five years for about $65 million.

The deal leaves O’Connell, 39, among the top half-dozen paid coaches in the NFL.

New Bears’ coach Ben Johnson, the Lions’ ex-offensive coordinator who’s never been a head coach, received a reported $13 million a year contract.

>> The timing of Johnson’s signing conspicuously coincided with O’Connell’s signing. O’Connell’s agent, Trace Armstrong, is also the agent for Ryan Poles, the Bears’ GM. No doubt O’Connell was aware of the money that Johnson was going to get.

>> Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf obviously were stunned by their team’s poor performance the last two games. They could have waited O’Connell out while a handful of other coaching jobs filled, limiting his options and then making a take-it-or-leave-it offer. If so, O’Connell would have had to decide whether to become a free agent after a year. And if the Vikings disappointed in 2025, which could happen, O’Connell would have lost leverage.

It was risky for both sides. The question would have been whether there was a team willing to trade for O’Connell and pay him what he wanted, and if the Vikings would even be interested in a trade and for whatever compensation another team could offer.

If O’Connell, this season’s NFL Coach of the Year, were to have coached the final year of his contract and the team were successful and he left, a Vikings replacement would have been a big gamble. It’s hard to win 14 games in the NFL.

>> O’Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah each had a year left on their initial four-year contracts. Adofo-Mensah’s deal is worth $2.5 million annually. He originally was hired before O’Connell. While O’Connell has received an extension, Adofo-Mensah has not.

>> The Vikings have the No. 24 pick in the draft and might have to trade back because they have so few picks. They’re still likely to get a compensatory pick for having lost Kirk Cousins to Atlanta, but that’s not expected until the end of round three.

At No. 24, if the Vikings don’t trade back, it’s a good bet their pick will be whomever is the best player available at either offensive line, defensive line or cornerback.

>> It’s been widely reported elsewhere that the Vikings have about $70 million in salary cap space for next season. But it’s really about $55 million. Cap numbers don’t mean a lot because they can be manipulated.

Although the Vikings have cap space, they also have a load of free agents. The money the Vikings have in cap space is going to go quickly.

Besides retaining and signing new players, the Vikings have to find another receiver because Jordan Addison likely is going to be suspended for the beginning of next season for his involvement in two traffic violations.

>> That was the Gophers’ greatest hockey player in history, Johnny Mayasich, and Hubbard Broadcasting magnate, Stanley Hubbard, celebrating their upcoming 92nd birthdays on a recent Caribbean cruise.

>> First-year USC men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman, 60, who was interested in the Gophers’ job a couple of times had Minnesota expressed interest, on Feb. 15 hosts the Gophers in a first-time meeting since he was a youngster and the Gophers were coached by his dad Bill.

Bill Musselman died 25 years ago at 59 from heart, kidney and liver complications. He had made the Gophers among the toughest ticket in town from 1972-75.

>> Karl-Anthony Towns, traded to the Knicks in October, has his Orono home on the market for $4.5 million after buying it for $4.52 million in 2020. Former Merrill Lynch wealth manager Peter Eckerline had bought the house from automobile dealer Denny Hecker for $3.25 million in 2009. Towns bought the house before signing a $224 million, four-year contract with the Wolves in 2022.

Overheard

>> Andre Lanoue, step dad of sharp-shooting Michigan State junior guard Tre Holloman, asked what influenced Tre’s decision to choose the Spartans out of Cretin-Derham Hall: “It really came down to the relationship he established with coach (Tom) Izzo. It was consistent, it was genuine and he really felt it was the family atmosphere he was looking for.”