Preludepunk27 wrote:http://www.northjersey.com/sports/nets/booker_brooklyn_nets.htmlBooker: Sale of Nets is imminent
Friday, May 15, 2009
Last updated: Friday May 15, 2009, 4:19 PM
BY JOHN BRENNAN
Newark Mayor Cory Booker predicts that a sale of the Nets is imminent — but he worries that investors in Kansas City and Seattle may prove fierce competition to his goal of seeing the Nets move to the Prudential Center.
Speaking on Newark radio station WBGO-FM last night, Booker took a call from “Bob,” a former Teaneck resident who inquired about the likelihood of the Nets moving to Brooklyn. The Nets have insisted, in the face of widespread criticism based on the shaky lending environment, that they will break ground on a Brooklyn arena this summer and move into it in the fall of 2011.
Booker — saying he was “going to go way out on a limb here and let you know maybe more than I should” — replied that he is “confident now more than ever that the deal in Brooklyn is just not going anywhere. I think there’s going to be a comeuppance very soon where the team is going to go up for sale. That’s my prediction. I really do believe it.
“I’ve watched the deal very closely. I know people involved in the deal, and it does not look like it’s going anywhere in Brooklyn.”
But in a statement following a favorable legal ruling today, Nets principal owner Bruce Ratner said, “One thing has never changed — our commitment to bringing the Nets to Brooklyn.” Ratner added that he was confident “the project will break ground this year.”
A sale wouldn’t guarantee that the Nets continue to play in the metropolitan area, Booker conceded.
“This is my fear — that there are going to be people competing from Kansas City to Seattle, and Newark is going to have to get in that game. There’s a lot of very good investors who are already stepping up that want to look to purchase the team should it be put up for sale.”
Booker said the arrival of the Nets in Newark would be “a significant game change” in terms of attracting further investment in downtown. He appeared on the call-in show “Newark Today” along with Joseph DiVincenzo, the Essex County executive.
DiVincenzo reiterated his demand that Governor Corzine direct the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to close the Izod Center.
“There’s no question that Izod should close,” DiVincenzo said, claiming that the Meadowlands arena is a net annual money loser for state taxpayers. Sports authority officials dispute that accounting.
The Nets, who will play the next two seasons at the Izod Center, also have a lease option to remain there for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons if the Brooklyn project is further delayed. A Nets spokesman did not respond immediately to a request for comment today.
Opponents of the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project — which includes the Nets’ proposed arena as a cornerstone — suffered a legal setback in the ruling today that Ratner cited. A four-judge Appellate Court panel unanimously denied the opponents’ petition to prevent New York state from using eminent domain if necessary to acquire the remaining land parcels at the 22-acre project site.
The court rejected claims that a seizing of their property would be illegal because the site would not be available for use by all members of the public. The potential profits to be achieved by the developer, Forest City Ratner Cos., the court said, do not override the public benefits of the project that have been touted by state officials.
“The court’s logic is faulty,” said Matthew Brinckerhoff, the plaintiffs’ attorney.
He added that the case would be sent to the state’s highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.
“The private benefit to [developer Bruce] Ratner was never compared with the alleged public benefit, because no one knew or cared to ask Ratner whether he would make billions, tens of billions, or hundreds of billions. There is ample evidence that the public benefits are minor compared to the enormous benefits to Ratner.”
Candace Carpenter, attorney for the Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn activist group, agreed with Booker about the prospects of the Nets moving to that borough.
“Forest City Ratner may claim, like the boy who cried wolf, that they will break ground soon,” Carpenter said. “But they won’t — they are unable to do so.”
E-mail: brennan@northjersey.com
If the Nets move to Seattle they should be called the Super Nets! Acknowledge both the Sonics and the Nets legacy. Me and my friend have talked about it. We rather see the Nets stay in NJ or atleast close to it. If not a move to Seattle and being called the Super Nets would be a great move for both teams and both histories.
