March 20, 2009
Growing economic concerns and lawsuits be damned, the New Jersey Nets are going to Brooklyn.
America’s New Jersey’s New York’s Jay-Z’s? favorite sports team is taking the show on the road, with the move to Brooklyn in the 2011-2012 season seeming to be imminent. From Bloomberg,
“It will happen,” Yormark said in an interview for Bloomberg Television’s “For the Record,” which will air tonight. “We’ll be there for the ‘11-’12 season. We’ve pre-sold 20 percent of our suites. We’ve got eight of our 14 founding partnerships already completely signed. Next week, we’ll announce our ninth.”
“The table has been set,” Yormark said. “We feel very confident about the financing. We feel very confident about just the project in general, and once we get through this final piece of litigation, we’ll be in the accelerated mode to break ground and get ready to open.”
In January, Ratner said he may scale back some of the costlier designs for the arena, a $1 billion project designed by architect Frank Gehry. The arena is part of a proposed $4 billion development that includes residential and commercial buildings and would be located near a rail yard.
The Nets still must clear a few hurdles before their 2011 move, namely in the form of an eminent domain lawsuit over demolition of properties in the Brooklyn area. The other hurdle? the economy. Obviously the Nets have looked at the possibility of the New York economy being able to sustain their franchise (along with the millions of other sports teams that call New York home), and they’ve deemed it profitable. Hopefully, they’ve given themselves some wiggle room based on the economic situation, because they certainly aren’t bringing a lot of the New Jersey fan base when they move,
With the recession deepening, the Nets said Friday that next year’s season-ticket holders would be able to pay for their tickets in 10 monthly installments, with the Nets picking up the last payment. Season-ticket holders who lose their jobs will have their money refunded, the team said.
“At the end of the day, we know we’re a want, not a need,” said Fred Mangione, the Nets’ senior vice president for ticket sales and marketing. He said ticket prices would either stay the same or be cut by as much as 10 percent.
So, to review…the Nets are moving to an area that has millions of people (plus!), but during a time when economic recession is rampant. They also are struggling to sell tickets as it stands right now, or else they wouldn’t be catering to fans with their monthly installment plan system. Furthermore, the team’s senior VP of marketing basically says, “We know you don’t love us, but if we cut you guys a break, can you at least appease us for a little while?” Finally, they’re coming into an area with the idea of a grandiose sports arena, and the promise of economic development (Hmm…that sounds vaguely familiar). But why oh why would the Nets be so bull-headed about moving to Brooklyn, seemingly in the face of disaster? It’s almost like they know something we don’t know…Or banking on some sort of draw, a revenue stream of sorts. But who could it be?
Bloomberg — Nets’ Yormark says team move to Brooklyn ‘will happen’ in 2011
New York Times — Nets offer payment plan for season tickets
2 comments
Brett Yormark says the Nets are moving to Brooklyn, so it must be true!
This was a really great article and i really liked reading it . Its really interesting and i hope there is more to come. keep up the good writing.
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