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October 24, 2009
Nets to Newark: AP, Daily News, NY Post
Here is coverage of the "Plan B" for the Nets if the proposed Atlantic Yards project falls through.
AP via Daily Record - Battling NJ sports arenas could be near agreement
A more peaceful coexistence could be on the horizon for two northern New Jersey arenas that have battled each other for entertainment bookings for the last two years.
A memo written earlier this month by a chief economic adviser to Gov. Jon Corzine outlines an agreement under which Newark's Prudential Center and the Izod Center in East Rutherford would essentially divide up sports and entertainment dates.
The plan also would open the door for the NBA's New Jersey Nets to move temporarily from the Izod Center to Newark as the team awaits a planned move to New York City's Brooklyn borough.
The memo, first detailed in The Record of Bergen County, was obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
In it, Jerold Zaro, chief of the Office of Economic Growth, characterized the competition between the arenas, which sit about 12 miles apart, as "counterproductive."
"The two venues were actually bidding against each other for various events, thereby driving up costs incurred by New Jersey in attracting events," he wrote.
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Meanwhile, the Nets' move to Brooklyn has been delayed by lawsuits over the proposed project to build a new arena there. The team also could incur an $8 million penalty for opting out of its current lease at the Izod Center, which runs until 2013.
Nets CEO Brett Yormark and Devils chairman and managing partner Jeff Vanderbeek did not comment Friday on Zaro's memo. Authority Chairman Carl Goldberg said Thursday an agreement that would keep the two arenas in operation was within reach.
New York Post - 'Newark' Nets get called for traveling
By Fred Kerber
The Nets might be playing their home games next season at the Prudential Center in Newark while their proposed arena is built in Brooklyn. It's all contingent on Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov completing his purchase of the team, and that only will happen with a move to Brooklyn. So the Nets are considering a move to Newark -- "strongly considering," one team official said -- during construction in Brooklyn.
"We may consider an agreement to play our home games at the Prudential Center, through the time we move to our new home," said CEO Brett Yormark in a statement that claimed the Nets would be in Brooklyn in 2011-12.
For this season, at least, the Nets will remain in the Meadowlands' Izod Center, hardly the Garden of Eden.
Daily News - New Jersey Nets may move to Prudential Center until Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards project is complete
By Julian Garcia
In a statement handed out at Friday night's preseason game at St. John's, Nets CEO Brett Yormark said the Nets could abandon their outdated East Rutherford arena for the two-year-old Prudential Center in Newark while they wait for the Barclays Center to be built in Brooklyn. Yormark said that once the Brooklyn deal is finalized, "we may consider an agreement to play our home games at the Prudential Center through the time we move to our new home...in the 2011-2012 NBA season."
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The two games in Newark averaged 14,255 fans. On Wednesday against the Knicks, there were 15,721 fans on hand, including several business associates of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who has agreed to buy 80% of the team from current owner Bruce Ratner.
The Nets have a lease at the Meadowlands that runs through the 2013 season and would have to pay an $8 million penalty if they were to leave early for anywhere other than Brooklyn. However, the Record of Hackensack reported Friday that officials from the Meadowlands and the Prudential Center were close to a deal that would result in the Nets moving to Newark next season with no penalty. In the agreement, the Meadowlands would host more entertainment events, such as concerts, in exchange for allowing the Nets to leave.
Posted by steve at October 24, 2009 6:03 PM