MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor asked investors if they would be interested in buying the Minnesota Vikings, the Star Tribune reported Sunday.

William Bieber and William Popp, members of a Timberwolves ownership group, told the newspaper they received letters from Taylor a couple of weeks ago.

Popp was quoted as saying the letter he received explained that if the group were to go ahead and seek a purchase, it would have to sign a standard confidentiality agreement.

"I called and talked to Glen,'' Popp said. "It's preliminary. There's some talking. Glen wants to keep the Vikings in town and we'll do everything we can to help. But it still has to be a viable business.''

Vikings owner Red McCombs, who bought the team in 1998, has denied that he is negotiating to sell the team.

Vance Opperman, a venture capital investor, said he also received an invitation from Taylor to look into purchasing the Vikings. Opperman, an investor with the Minnesota Wild, said he also received a separate invitation to explore a Vikings purchase with the Wild's ownership group.

Opperman said he turned down both groups because he has little interest in football, the newspaper reported.

Messages left Sunday by The Associated Press at Taylor's office and for a Timberwolves spokesman were not immediately returned. Wild spokesman Bill Robertson said he could not comment.

Bob Naegele Jr., the chairman of the Wild, told the Star Tribune on Sunday that his investment group has not made a bid to purchase the Vikings.

Naegele, who attended the Wild's preseason game in Grand Forks, N.D., declined comment on whether the group planned to pursue the team, the paper reported on its Web site.