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September 11, 2007
NJ Nets to stay on WFAN through Brooklyn move
amNY, via Newsday.com
By Eric Lebowitz
WFAN Sports Radio signed a contract extention for radio broadcast of NJ Nets games.
This amNY article about the deal smacks of carefully crafted pr, including the contention that the team will move in time for the 2009-2010 season and this incredibly strained description of the project:
Atlantic Yards development, which will include landscape projects, a boutique hotel and middle-income housing.
NoLandGrab: Developer Bruce Ratner usually touts the "affordable housing" — gawd forbid that fans might think that an arena would be located in a low-income housing project. However, on the flip side, the developer can't be caugh tdead admitting that the project consists primarily of luxury housing. And "landscape projects?" We assume they are talking abou the publicly accessible privately owned open space.
Apparently WFAN is counting on the increased value of the broadcast rights, should the Nets ever move to Brooklyn:
The Nets have long struggled to draw good crowds in East Rutherford, ranking 19th in NBA home attendance last year with 16,972 fans per game.
But closer proximity to the rival Knicks and a brand-new arena figure to augment Nets attendance considerably and attract new fans.
This in turn would make the team's broadcast rights more valuable, said Neil Davis, the Nets' chief financial officer in charge of Brooklyn-area sponsorship sales.
...
"I think WFAN saw the value in that."
Posted by lumi at September 11, 2007 8:12 AM