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December 18, 2009
Russian Passes Background Check, and Vote Looms on His Bid for Nets
The New York Times
by Richard Sandomir
Mikhail D. Prokhorov has survived the N.B.A.’s background examination, helping the billionaire Russian oligarch take another step toward acquiring 80 percent of the Nets and 45 percent of the proposed Barclays Center in Brooklyn. He is said to be Russia’s richest man.
“There were multiple investigations of him by interested parties and there was nothing that was disclosed that would cause us not to move forward with his application,” N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern said Thursday.
The positive results of the vetting process were made known to the league earlier this month.
Oh, please, was there ever any doubt that Prokhorov would pass the NBA's muster? Anything short of his being a baby-killer would've made him A-OK, as finding a replacement for the current disastrous ownership regime (we mean you, Bruce Ratner) had to be Job One at the NBA.
Prokhorov must still submit all the documents required by the league’s advisory finance committee, which will then make a recommendation on his application to the Board of Governors. Stern said the league would continue to look into Prokhorov until a vote by the full ownership late next month or in early February.
Sure. Has anyone seen Stern's glasses?
He needs to be approved by 23 of the league’s 30 owners. A spokesman for Prokhorov had no comment.
The N.B.A.’s decision to make known its clearance of Prokhorov’s background came a day after his company, Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holdings, closed on the deal to pay Forest City Ratner Companies, which is developing the Barclays Center as part of the Atlantic Yards project, $200 million for his stakes in the team and the arena.
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Related coverage...
GlobeSt.com, Ratner, Onexim Finalize Atlantic Yards Deal
Since the agreement was originally announced in late September, a couple of the hurdles facing the massive project have been cleared. The New York State Court of Appeals last month upheld a lower-court ruling that okay’d the state’s use of eminent domain to seize properties not already controlled by FCRC, and on Wednesday the state’s highest court ruled against the plaintiffs in another Atlantic Yards-related case. The lawsuit brought by State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery and others sought to annul the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s June 23 sale of property and development rights for its Vanderbilt Yard facility to FCRC. A spokesman for the group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, one of the plaintiffs, says a decision on whether to appeal the ruling hasn’t been made yet.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Broadside: Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn Bridge Park Projects Proceed Rapidly
The other element, which won’t take place until next year, is to open the door for the 80-percent sale of the New Jersey Nets to Russian magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, a name that will probably become well known in the coming years in Brooklyn.
The rest of the financing will be a small subsidy from the city and private sector capital.
NoLandGrab: Right, what's another $130 million or so in subsidies? Those young whippersnappers can darn tootin' pay for their MetroCards. When Holt was their age, kids were working in sweatshops, not riding around on cushy buses and subways.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The View from the Cheap Seats
Nets' owner Bruce Ratner announced that an agreement has been reached with Mikhail Prokhorov regarding his stake in the Nets franchise and the proposed arena in Brooklyn. The final hurdle is approval by the remaining NBA owners who have already indicated they'd sign off on the deal. No decision has been reached on Prokhorov's request that the Nets be allowed to play with seven players on the court and shoot at a nine foot basket.
The Eagle also has Ratner's press release.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Atlantic Yards Is Not Now, and Never Was, About Affordable Housing
Russia's richest man makes it clear what Atlantic Yards is about and it ain't affordable housing.
Money-losing arena anyone?
Posted by eric at December 18, 2009 9:56 AM