Am i the only one that thinks its foolish to pay 12mill more yearly to play at another arena for only 2 or 3 years? And dont even tell me more fans would show up at games there than at the Izod. Maybe a little bit more but it wouldnt make up the extra $$ they have to pay to play there for a few years. ITS BAD BUSINESS!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Claud @ May 1 2008, 06:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Am i the only one that thinks its foolish to pay 12mill more yearly to play at another arena for only 2 or 3 years? And dont even tell me more fans would show up at games there than at the Izod. Maybe a little bit more but it wouldnt make up the extra $$ they have to pay to play there for a few years. ITS BAD BUSINESS! </div> First, you negotiate that number with the NJSEA, which they seem open to doing. Second, if Ratner can start getting some of his corporate clients commited to luxury boxes in Newark before the move to Brooklyn he will get a lot more money. Also, the more fans they get there the more valuable all the branding and sponships become. Don't underestimate how many more fans could come to Newark. With the access to the trains there could be many more Brooklyn/NYC fans attending the games. Better to steal those fans while the Knicks are rebuilding than to find yourself competing for fans with a strong franchise in a few years.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NetsDaily)</div><div class='quotemain'>Ratner Denies Newark Talks In a statement on Thursday, Nets owner Bruce Ratner emphatically denied any talks with parties looking to buy the Nets and move them to Newark. “”The team is very simply not for sale and any stories that suggest or insinuate that we would be interested in listening to those conversations are flat out false,” Ratner said. “We are focused on breaking ground on the Barclays Center in Brooklyn later this year and building all of Atlantic Yards, nothing else.” Ratner: Nets Not For Sale - Tom Canavan - AP</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (J-HoAgZ @ May 1 2008, 11:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Is this Brooklyn thing ever gonna get done or am I getting hyped over nothing?</div> I've always gone on the assumption that it will not happen. If it does, fine, but if it doesn't Ratner will sell the team immediately. The only question in my mind is if the NBA owners would allow the sale to connections that want the team to stay in NJ and play in Newark or if they would force the sale to out of towners. My feeling is that Stern would be thrilled if there were no team in NJ.
Booker vs. Markowitz <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>"After years of obscurity mired in the Meadowlands, the Nets are ready for a slam dunk in the Brooklyn big leagues. Who knows, maybe the Devils want to lace up and come here too! If my esteemed colleague Cory Booker in Brooklyn's 'western suburb,' a.k.a. Newark, New Jersey, is looking for a professional basketball team, maybe he should ask the Knicks," Markowitz said in a statement. Booker responded by saying he would continue to pursue his "personal dream" of bringing the Nets to the $375 million Prudential Center "no matter how unrealistic." "I yield to...Marty Markowitz, my esteemed colleague in the "eastern suburb" of Newark a.k.a Brooklyn, and would like to officially challenge him with the remaining shreds of my athletic pride to a one and one basketball game to battle for the Nets!" Markowitz' website said one of his campaign promises was to bring the first national sports team back to Brooklyn since the Dodgers left. "I accept Mayor Booker's challenge and must remind him that I am only 5-foot-5," said Markowitz. "I'll accept the challenge only if I can have a ringer play against him."</div> Link Are Booker and Vanderbeek bringing the Nets to Newark a realistic opportunity? Or is this whole thing just a joke for the media to report on.
This is gonna be a disaster.. Forget LeBron is 2010, we are gonna have to find an arena to play in first.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ May 1 2008, 08:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (J-HoAgZ @ May 1 2008, 11:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Is this Brooklyn thing ever gonna get done or am I getting hyped over nothing?</div> I've always gone on the assumption that it will not happen. If it does, fine, but if it doesn't Ratner will sell the team immediately. The only question in my mind is if the NBA owners would allow the sale to connections that want the team to stay in NJ and play in Newark or if they would force the sale to out of towners. My feeling is that Stern would be thrilled if there were no team in NJ. </div> And yet, you want the Nets to stay in New Jersey, lose more money and risk being moved to Kansas City or Las Vegas. One...more...time: there is NO way, repeat NO way, for the Nets to "partner" with a cash-starved Vanderbeek and erase $40 million in annual losses. He needs the best deal possible from the Nets. He also wants to see Brooklyn die and IZOD closed. Vanderbeek barely had enough money to finish the arena and if the corrupt mayor of Newark, Sharpe James, hadn't given him almost two/thirds of what he needed to build the place, it wouldnt exist. (Imagine the city of Newark, with all its problems, financing a hockey arena.) The most profitable franchises in the NBA own their own arena and/or their own cable network. Why do you think the Knicks and Rangers can pay such outrageous salaries? Cablevision owns the Knicks, Rangers, Madison Square Garden and MSG outright. New York state would help build the Nets build the arena with low interest financing and then the Nets would sell it to the state for $1.00 and a 99-year-lease. The Nets would pay no property taxes, but instead provide payments in lieu of taxes, based on arena revenues. It will get every dollar of every parking fee, concession sale, etc. It's a sweetheart deal, which favors the Nets. If the arena idea dies, Ratner will sell--and the NBA WILL approve a sale--to the highest bidder. The Nets have the heaviest debt load (as a percentage of value to debt) of any professional sports franchise in the US, according to Forbes. It is losing $40 million a year, according to the filings of Forest City Enterprises, Ratner's publicly traded parent company, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The highest bidder might be from New Jersey, but it is more likely to be from Kansas City or Las Vegas, which are desperate for a team. The league is NOT going to demand he sell to someone in the NY area, particularly in NJ where the team hasnt been able to draw flies. To protect their reputation, the owners will let him sell to whoever writes him and FCE the biggest check. The Record speculated about this a couple of weeks ago. Sorry you guys missed it. And if you think I'm bullshitting, take a good look at the Sonics, who are losing money in Seattle because of their arena deal and who will be moving to a much smaller market in Oklahoma City. Who was the owner most vocal in saying OKC was more viable that Seattle, one of the great gateway cities of North America? Lew Katz, the former principal owner of the Nets and now the second largest individual stockholder. Get real. This is about money, period, not about some tradition of New Jersey Nets basketball.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NetIncome @ May 2 2008, 11:23 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ May 1 2008, 08:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (J-HoAgZ @ May 1 2008, 11:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Is this Brooklyn thing ever gonna get done or am I getting hyped over nothing?</div> I've always gone on the assumption that it will not happen. If it does, fine, but if it doesn't Ratner will sell the team immediately. The only question in my mind is if the NBA owners would allow the sale to connections that want the team to stay in NJ and play in Newark or if they would force the sale to out of towners. My feeling is that Stern would be thrilled if there were no team in NJ. </div> And yet, you want the Nets to stay in New Jersey, lose more money and risk being moved to Kansas City or Las Vegas. One...more...time: there is NO way, repeat NO way, for the Nets to "partner" with a cash-starved Vanderbeek and erase $40 million in annual losses. He needs the best deal possible from the Nets. He also wants to see Brooklyn die and IZOD closed. Vanderbeek barely had enough money to finish the arena and if the corrupt mayor of Newark, Sharpe James, hadn't given him almost two/thirds of what he needed to build the place, it wouldnt exist. (Imagine the city of Newark, with all its problems, financing a hockey arena.) The most profitable franchises in the NBA own their own arena and/or their own cable network. Why do you think the Knicks and Rangers can pay such outrageous salaries? Cablevision owns the Knicks, Rangers, Madison Square Garden and MSG outright. New York state would help build the Nets build the arena with low interest financing and then the Nets would sell it to the state for $1.00 and a 99-year-lease. The Nets would pay no property taxes, but instead provide payments in lieu of taxes, based on arena revenues. It will get every dollar of every parking fee, concession sale, etc. It's a sweetheart deal, which favors the Nets. If the arena idea dies, Ratner will sell--and the NBA WILL approve a sale--to the highest bidder. The Nets have the heaviest debt load (as a percentage of value to debt) of any professional sports franchise in the US, according to Forbes. It is losing $40 million a year, according to the filings of Forest City Enterprises, Ratner's publicly traded parent company, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The highest bidder might be from New Jersey, but it is more likely to be from Kansas City or Las Vegas, which are desperate for a team. The league is NOT going to demand he sell to someone in the NY area, particularly in NJ where the team hasnt been able to draw flies. To protect their reputation, the owners will let him sell to whoever writes him and FCE the biggest check. The Record speculated about this a couple of weeks ago. Sorry you guys missed it. And if you think I'm bullshitting, take a good look at the Sonics, who are losing money in Seattle because of their arena deal and who will be moving to a much smaller market in Oklahoma City. Who was the owner most vocal in saying OKC was more viable that Seattle, one of the great gateway cities of North America? Lew Katz, the former principal owner of the Nets and now the second largest individual stockholder. Get real. This is about money, period, not about some tradition of New Jersey Nets basketball. </div> Thank you. Brooklyn is a great deal for the nets franchise. If it doesnt happen, then that my friends will really reallly suck. The swamps and Newark is pretty much the same. So i want them to finish this project ASAP.
