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September 23, 2009
Russian Billionaire Signs Deal to Become Nets Owner
The New York Times
by Charles V. Bagli
A Russian billionaire, an amateur basketball player the size of an N.B.A. power forward, signed a tentative $200 million deal Wednesday that would make him the principal owner of the New Jersey Nets and an investor in the team’s new home, an arena planned for Brooklyn.
Mikhail D. Prokhorov, the richest man in Russia and president of Onexim Group, would become the first foreign owner of an N.B.A. team who is not Canadian. Prokhorov, who once owned a stake in the CSKA Moscow basketball team, wrote on his blog Tuesday that he intended to improve Russian basketball by using N.B.A. training methods and sending Russian coaches to the United States for internships.
“We are delighted to join in this exciting project and to participate in the landmark development of global sports in this entertainment arena in the heart of New York City,” Prokhorov said in a statement. “I have a long-standing passion for basketball and pursuing interests that forward the development of the sport in Russia.”
Prokohorov, 44, has bragged that he will be “the only N.B.A. owner who can dunk,” according to one executive who has spoken with him.
The deal comes as the developer Bruce C. Ratner, who owns the Nets, is rushing to complete the financing for an $800 million arena at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn and start construction by the end of the year. Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, has been eager to bring in a major new investor because the team loses tens of millions of dollars a year and the arena project has been hobbled by costly legal challenges and three years of delays.
NoLandGrab: It's pretty clear from the terms of the deal that there was no way in hell Ratner was going to pull this off without a massive outside investment — and whether he still can with that investment remains to be seen.
Posted by eric at September 23, 2009 2:50 PM