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October 30, 2008
Bruceski's Netskis
Gumby Fresh
With wads of cash, Russian oligarchs have been sniffing around for new opportunities. But what does that have to do with Atlantic Yards, American sports culture, Barclays Bank, the price of oil, and baths in Midwood?
Here's an excerpt, but we recommend clicking through to get Gumby's perspective, which leads him to ruminate, "I can't help but think that the end-game for Atlantic Yards is looming."
But Bruce, if he had the faintest sense, would not have allowed the faintest hint of a rumour, true or not, that he planned to seek foreign capital to see the light of day. It's not so much that the sports fans of the Greater New York are not a xenophobic bunch (I'm thinking of you, drunken fans on the Mets' Loge level). But they're comforted by the idea that the extortionate seat and concession prices they bear are essentially being recycled within their community by local ownership.
There's appropriate symmetry to the move. Barclays Capital, which, at least for the next month or so, owns the naming rights to the arena, is also looking for Russian cash, and displaying a similar lack of tact when doing so. Barclays, see, wants to keep paying humungous bonuses to senior management, and cannot do so if it is forced to go to the UK taxpayer for more equity. But it needs to raise more equity so as to benefit from UK guarantees of its debt and deposits.
Posted by lumi at October 30, 2008 5:41 AM