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October 16, 2008
Sports Authority wants to keep Nets in New Jersey long term
The Star-Ledger
By Ian T. Shearn and Dave D'Alessandro
New Jersey is trying to sweeten the pot to keep the Nets, but CEO Brett Yormark insists that the team is headed to Brooklyn after the courts rule their way. Meanwhile, the clock already ran down on Goldman Sachs's self-imposed deadline for the arena financing:
Calling construction of a Brooklyn arena "unlikely at best," New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority chairman Carl Goldberg said Thursday he is interested in offering the Nets a chance to take a stake in Izod Center to keep the Nets there long term.
Such a move would include renovations to the aging arena in the Meadowlands that has already lost the Devils to Newark.
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Nets chief executive Brent (sic) Yormark said the team isn't interested in any proposal to keep the team in New Jersey."I obviously respect Carl, but my only reaction is that we're unequivocally moving to Brooklyn," Yormark said.
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"The present litigation will be resolved, we expect a favorable ruling sometime in the spring, and then we'll break ground," Yormark said. "The sponsors are behind us, we continue to sell inventory to Barclay's Center, and the understanding throughout the marketplace that the project will go through has not changed."
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Earlier this month, a self-imposed deadline came and went for Ratner's investment banker Goldman Sachs, which publicly promised to have a financing secured by Oct. 1.
UPDATE:
Atlantic Yards Report, Offer to keep Nets at Izod Center seems like regional posturing
Norman Oder comments on the article:
A Newark Star-Ledger article yesterday, headlined Sports Authority wants to keep Nets in New Jersey long term, was a little perplexing. Does New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority chairman Carl Goldberg, who called the planned Brooklyn arena "unlikely at best," think the Nets ownership would take a stake in the Izod Center and commit to the Meadowlands?
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The Nets, if they stay in New Jersey, would be far more likely to move to Newark, but there's no recent confirmation that such discussions are ongoing.
Posted by lumi at October 16, 2008 8:42 PM