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September 24, 2009
Get your morning rush: Oligarch to bail out Ratner
Yesterday, the saga of Atlantic Yards got weirderer when developer and Nets owner Bruce Ratner announced that the playboy Russian financier/oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov would step in with some cash to bail out the floundering project in exchange for a majority share of the team.
The NY Times, Richest Russian’s Newest Toy: An N.B.A. Team
Mr. Prokhorov’s deal also stands out because there is little foreign ownership of any kind in major American sports. Last May, Chinese investors reached a deal to purchase 15 percent of the N.B.A.’s Cleveland Cavaliers. And the majority owners of Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners are Hiroshi Yamauchi, a former executive of Nintendo, the Japanese video-game company, and Nintendo USA, the company’s American subsidiary.
The agreement between Mr. Prokhorov and the Nets amounts to a rescue package for the developer Bruce C. Ratner, who purchased the team in 2003 for $300 million with the intent of taking it out of New Jersey, where it has had a tenuous fan base, and moving it to Brooklyn.
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Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the local group that has fought Mr. Ratner’s development plans, criticized the deal on Wednesday, with a spokesman, Daniel Goldstein, contending that the “only reason Ratner would make this deal is because he is in dire financial shape.”Mr. Goldstein said that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and others who supported the project were, in effect, agreeing to the use of “massive taxpayer subsidies to enrich a Russian oligarch.”
Atlantic Yards Report, Unanswered questions remain about the Prokhorov deal, "certain contingent funding commitments," and subsidies for foreign billionaires
Over the original shock and awe of the deal, Norman Oder questions the lack of details:
Ratner and his ownership group bought the Nets for $300 million in 2004. If 80% of the team goes for $200 million, that's a $40 million loss. Then the arena's a gift. There's got to be more to it, but we don't know what "certain contingent funding commitments" have been pledged.
NY Post, Russian buyer for New Jersey Nyets
The Post reports that the deal "ensures" that the Nets will make the move to Brooklyn... um, if Ratner can get the land — and secure arena financing.
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!
A billionaire Russian playboy is buying the Nets in a buzzer-beating deal that all but ensures the team moves to Brooklyn by 2011.
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The deal does have an out clause for Prokhorov -- it's contingent on Ratner acquiring land for the arena. The state's seizure of the land has been hit with numerous legal challenges, and the case will be argued before New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, next month.
NoLandGrab: What the article doesn't say is that the courts will be hearing an eminent domain case. Yes, the plan is to use eminent domain for a team and arena to be owned by a Russian oligarch. What's the big deal if we exchange an American oligarch for another?
The NY Daily News, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has deep pockets to offer Nets
The press is making a big deal about how Prokhorov will have to pass the NBA team owners' vetting and approval process, but the Daily News's Mitch Lawrence points out that with the league president backing the deal, approval is assured:
Subject to getting approval from 75% of the league's owners, Prokhorov will become the league's first owner from outside the U.S. or Canada. Rest assured, he'll get the votes, because David Stern was seen smiling yesterday when someone mentioned the former nickel magnate taking over the nickel-and-dime operation over in the swamps.
"That's the latest phenomenon - having international investors in pro sports leagues," Stern said. "If you look at the Premier League in England, they've got Russians investing in it, along with Europeans and even people from the United States. When you look at what's going on in the world now, soccer and basketball are the most popular sports. So it's going to be good to see, from our standpoint. He is going to want to help bring our game and our brand to Russia and help develop that there, and that's very good. Plus, he's going to want to help us over here."
The Star-Ledger, Politi: Fans should walk away from 'crazy' NJ Nets and possible new owner now
According to columnist Steve Politi, now that the Nets lead the league in crazy, fans should make their way to the nearest exit:
The new owner of the Nets is a hard-partying Russian oligarch who boasts that his mission in buying the team is to bring “NBA technology” — whatever that is — back to his native country.
Mikhail Prokhorov is a mysterious billionaire who was once arrested in his French ski chalet under the suspicion of soliciting prostitution, later explaining after the charges were dropped that he just “likes beautiful people.”
So what does it mean? Well, for starters, the Nets once again lead the league in crazy.
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Bruce Ratner bought this franchise to make his real estate deal in Brooklyn a reality. Now, five years and countless millions in losses later, he has to sell the same team to make that happen.
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If you plan on plopping down your disposable income for the Nets, supporting the team that has taken the words “New Jersey” off its road uniforms and is giving away reversible jerseys that support opposing players, you’re nearly as crazy as the franchise itself.
The Star-Ledger, Billionaire nears deal to buy Nets
They don't call him a marketing genius for nothing — NJ Nets CEO Brett Yormark puts a bright face on the fact that the franchise has alienated its local fan base and has to strike a deal with a Russian oligarch to stay afloat:
"For years we've dreamed of globalizing this franchise, and we're going to get there," Nets CEO Brett Yormark said last night. "We're marketed heavily in China now, we have Barclays' connection to Europe, and now you have this established person from Russia who brings tons of resources and knowledge of basketball, a passion and a commitment.
"All that creates a great environment where chasing championships will be the norm," Yormark said. "I think our New Jersey fans will be excited about it, and it will carry over into Brooklyn."
ESPN: NetsAreScorching, Breaking News: Prokhorov/Ratner Sign Letter of Intent to Partner on Atlantic Yards Development
Well folks, this is pretty huge. We’ll see where things legally stand once the Oct. 14 hearing in Albany regarding the use of eminent domain for the project passes, but considering it’s only been about a week since the “richest man in Russia” was linked to the Nets and this deal was announced, things are clearly moving at an accelerated pace with the end of the year still being the supposed finish line for Brooklyn to happen.
ESPN: NetsAreScorching, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn: Some Additional Reaction
Q&A with Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Daniel Goldstein:
NAS: How critical does the hearing on Oct. 14th in Albany become now to the future of the AY opposition?
DDDB: No more or less critical today than it was yesterday. Ratner has legal hurdles and financial hurdles. The legal hurdles didn’t change today, and while the financial hurdles may have changed a bit, this is clearly not where Ratner wanted to be. His potential deal with Prokhorov, if it survives scrutiny seems to be a desperate deal of last resort that doesn’t go far enough for Ratner. On top of that, today’s announced deal brings even more moving parts in while diminishing Ratner’s control.
ESPN: NetsAreScorching, Reflection on Russian Billionaires and Ownership
I think the good far outweighs the bad here, and that’s before we bring Brooklyn into the equation. Opponents of the move will say it’s never going to happen - they’re going to throw more lawsuits out there to delay the process and upend the development. They might succeed. But again, Prokhorov isn’t looking to come into the NBA to be a second class citizen. If the NBA approves Prokhorov as many expect, it will be a clear signal that David Stern and others want basketball in Brooklyn more than anything - even if that means bringing in a Russian oligarch with a questionable past who might become a headache a la Mark Cuban.
MetroNY, Russian oligarch has deal for Nets
Who is this pouty Russian playboy financier that everyone is talking about?
Prokhorov
The 6-foot-7 basketball fan is worth $9.5 billion in Forbes’ estimation.
› WHO: Mikhail Prokhorov, 44
› WHAT: Self-made billionaire, industrialist. Single. Once ran Norilsk Nickel, largest producer of nickel in world. Now runs Polyus Gold, largest gold mining operation in Russia. His Onexim Group is buying a controlling stake in the Nets.
› REGRETS: Being detained by police in chic French ski resort of Courchevel on suspicion of providing prostitutes to his guests. No charges were filed.
› HOBBIES: Kickboxing
› NICKNAME: Proko. At least that’s what Nets fans seem to be calling him in blog posts.
DDDB.net, Parsing Pre-Prokhorov Statements from Team Ratner
As a reminder that you can't believe ANYTHING Bruce Ratner and his henchmen say, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn takes a look back to statements made a few short weeks ago.
DDDB.net, Atlantic Yards Affordable Housing? Fuhgodabouddit.
We meant we are so pleased that our tax dollars, public and private land taken by eminent domain abuse will be used to make Prokhorov a member of the NBA and will forward the development of the sport of basketball in Russia.
High five?
Pravda.ru, Mikhail Prokhorov Buys New Jersey Nets to Build Them New Arena
For whatever it's worth, Pravda.ru speced the planned Nets arena for a seating capacity of 32,000 — it's more like 18-19,000. The article also conflates the details of a rumored deal with the one officially announced yesterday.
GlobeSt.com, Ratner, Russian Fund Strike Arena Deal
Meanwhile, the project faces a December deadline to break ground on the arena or jeopardize the tax-exempt status of the bonds. Ratner alluded to this timeframe in a statement issued last week after the Empire State Development Corp. approved the modified design for the Barclays Center. "We now need to work aggressively to break ground by the end of the year," he said in last week’s statement. "We look forward to achieving these goals."
Bleed Scarlet, Head games
The unapologetic thief, Bruce Ratner, announced plans yesterday to sell the Nets to a Russian billionaire. Still holding out hope that legal challenges will run out the clock on this one.
The Boston Herald, Russian billionaire to buy 80 percent of the NBA’s Nets
Posted by lumi at September 24, 2009 7:46 AM