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January 24, 2007
Brooklyn's O'Malley, Others Paved Way for Ratner
The NY Sun
By Evan Weiner
In a way, the announcement that Barclays Bank will be awarded naming rights for Bruce Ratner’s proposed Brooklyn arena, ends a 50-year sports business saga in the borough that began with Walter O’ Malley’s stadium bid. The arena will be built not far from the hole in the ground that O’ Malley, the president and owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wanted for his proposed stadium. In early 1957, when it became clear he wouldn’t secure the kind of deal he wanted from Mayor Wagner and his envoy, Robert Moses, the astute businessman began eyeing the West Coast. This year, Ratner moved a step closer to bringing a major professional sports club, the Nets, to Brooklyn — with a great assist from Mayor Bloomberg.
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O'Malley's wanderlust started with the move in 1953 of the Boston Braves to Milwaukee, where three years earlier Milwaukee city officials had resolved to build a stadium with the hope of landing a major league baseball team.That decision by Milwaukee elected officials is far more significant than the Dodgers and Giants moves. The local government changed the rules for stadium and arena funding and signaled the start of competition between cities for sports franchises. Cities were now willing to put up money for venues — something unheard of until that time.
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Ratner’s move from New Jersey to Brooklyn will be neither historic nor ground-breaking. It’s just another franchise move in a deal that’s really about the real estate business, not sports. But professional sports have always been about business — the business is just bigger than it was when Walter O’Malley waved good-bye to Brooklyn 50 years ago.
Posted by lumi at January 24, 2007 7:39 AM