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December 3, 2009
It’s half-off at Brooklyn arena, but Islanders 'could' join Nets
The Brooklyn Blog [NYPost.com]
Barclays Bank could be getting two horrendous teams for half off what it originally agreed to pay for naming rights to the planned Brooklyn arena.
New arena financing documents released yesterday leave the door open to the NHL’s Islanders joining the NBA’s Nets at the planned Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, and they also indicate that a once-record $400 million naming-rights deal the British bank agreed to pay over 20 years has been chopped to $200 million.
Barclays would now pay $10 million a year to the arena’s owner over the 20-year deal as part of a renegotiated agreement, according to a 772-page statement prepared by Goldman Sachs for the $900 million arena project sent out to potential investors.
...A source close to the deal said it is a far cry from the $20 million a year over 20 years that Barclays was once set to pay.
The Nets will "definitely be getting much closer to $10 million a year than $20 million,” the source said.
...The Goldman Sachs document says the Nets – who set an NBA futility record Wednesday by starting a season 0-18 -- are expected to be in the new arena by the middle of 2012, and for the first time indicates the Islanders could be leaving Long Island to join them.
“The New York Islanders could potentially become a tenant” at the Barclays Center, the document says.
But there’s one problem: When Ratner spiked Gehry’s original arena plan for a cheaper design, the size of the arena’s playing area was a casualty, and, as planned, it’s no longer wide enough to host pro hockey games.
NoLandGrab: Sure, the "Islanders could potentially become a tenant" if they quit playing hockey for a sport that would actually fit in the arena, like roller derby or a dog show. Is there anything they won't claim in trying to buck up Ratner's high-risk arena bonds?
Posted by eric at December 3, 2009 11:55 PM