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June 14, 2009
Nets expected to thrive with 'Brooklyn' brand
Newsday
By Alan Hahn
The proposed Atlantic Yards project has apparently shrunken down to just an arena and one other building. Promised public benefits continue to be shed. What keeps Ratner & Co. motivated? If they can move the Nets to Brooklyn, their team's value increases and they get to keep all the profits from the state-owned arena!
The "Brooklyn" brand is expected to be an instant merchandising success. The change in address alone will increase the value of the franchise - Forbes ranks the Nets 26th in value ($295 million) in the 30-team NBA; the Knicks ($613 million) are No. 1 - but Forbes senior editor Kurt Badenhausen says the move into a more viable arena will be the biggest asset.
"They will control all of the revenues at the arena," Badenhausen said. "Right now, they share a significant amount of the revenues at the Izod Center with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority."
There remains some skepticism in the grandiose plans by Nets owner Bruce Ratner, the mega-developer who in 2003 introduced the idea of building an arena within a major infrastructure at Atlantic Yards and relocating the Nets to Brooklyn. The $4.2-billion development plan recently changed after architect Frank Gehry removed himself from the arena project. The architecture firm of Ellerbe Becket was brought in to produce a new design, one that would be far more cost-effective (read: scaled down) than Gehry's original - and visually stunning - creation, which had a whopping $950-million price tag.
Posted by steve at June 14, 2009 9:31 AM