They addressed theater-style lighting for Target Center, the return of Kevin Garnett, a new ticketing app and the potential for a new arena.

New Timberwolves owners Marc Lore, left, and Alex Rodriguez, shown during a November game, talked of their plans during a news conference Friday in Las Vegas. (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

LAS VEGAS – Tucked away in a separate space at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV is a large conference room. If you walked in there Friday afternoon, a podium with a large screen in the background greeted you with highlights of the Timberwolves and Lynx. A DJ was playing music on several speakers that dotted the room, and eventually, media, team officials, coaches and players, including Anthony Edwards, populated the space.

This was the setting for Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez to hold their first news conference-style media session (after doing interviews with the Minnesota Star Tribune and others) since taking over as controlling owners of the Wolves and Lynx.

Lore and Rodriguez spoke to the assembled crowd and then met with local reporters after the session. Here are some takeaways from their comments:

Lore and Rodriguez would like to install theater-style lighting in Target Center similar to what the Lakers and Knicks have for their home games. That style of lighting (a personal favorite of your traveling Wolves beat writer) can add a different ambience to the game and create a more special feel than the same bright lights all around the arena can provide.

“Really create a very dramatic feel,” Rodriguez said. “And kind of start our ownership with a different feel.”

Added Lore: “We’re pushing to get that for the season.”

Because Target Center is owned by the city of Minneapolis, the Wolves will have to work with the city to make that happen.

Lore and Rodriguez fielded a question about the potential for repairing the franchise’s relations with Kevin Garnett, now that Glen Taylor, with whom Garnett has publicly feuded over the past several years, is no longer running the team. It sounded as if nothing was imminent, but Lore and Rodriguez would like to mend that fence.

“He’s the [greatest of all time] in Minnesota, and we have a tremendous respect for KG,” Lore said. “We would love to get close to him, and we know the fans want to see that and we want to see that, too.”

The Wolves announced a partnership with a company Rodriguez and Lore co-founded called Jump, which will power a new Wolves app for an improved ticketing and marketing experience.

“It’s a dynamic, real-time, integrated ticketing exchange, sort of next [generation] ticket exchange, and a full fan experience,” Lore said. “And that’ll be the first of many things that we do to show that we’re being leaders, not just following.”

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One of the innovations Lore touted with Jump is the ability for fans to upgrade their seats midgame. For instance, if there are open seats closer to the floor and fans from the upper bowl want to move down, they could do so in a “reverse auction” process through the app.

“You can dynamically move to any seat in the arena in any time,” Lore said. “So if somebody leaves in the fourth quarter, that seat opens up in a reverse auction; somebody can just buy that seat for $5 or $10 and just move to it. … That’s just one aspect [of what Jump will provide], but it’s filled with little nuggets like that and really cool stuff we look forward to implementing.”

There wasn’t much new from Lore and Rodriguez regarding their desire for a new arena, something they have talked a lot about in recent weeks. Rodriguez reiterated that an arena can be an “anchor” for a community, and a new arena that is more in line with modern economics (for instance, Target Center has more upper bowl than lower bowl seating, opposite the modern approach) can keep the team competitive from a financial standpoint.

Lore and Rodriguez envision an entertainment district that can surround the arena, similar to setups in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

“Back in the day, you could probably say [a new arena] was a vanity,” Rodriguez said. “It was a nice treat to have. Today, it’s a necessity. If you want to compete year in and year out, a new arena is what our fans deserve. We’re in the very, very early stages. We’ve done a great deal of work over the last three years, but an arena in Minneapolis for our fans will be absolutely awesome, and we have great role models in our own market.”

Lore told the Star Tribune that their plan is to privately fund the new arena, and their desire is to keep it in Minneapolis.