Avery
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<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The NBA Board of Governors on Wednesday unanimously approved the sale of the New Jersey Nets to an ownership group which plans to move the team to New York.
The league expects the sale to the group led by Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner to close next week.
``What was only an idea less than a year ago is quickly becoming a reality,'' Ratner said in statement released after the approval.
Ratner and his group will pay an estimated $300 million to buy the much-traveled team from Community Young Organization.
Ratner plans to build a 19,000-seat arena that will be part of a $2.5 billion office, residential and shopping complex.
The arena, which faces opposition from area residents who might be displaced, is expected to be completed for the 2007-2008 season. The entire project is expected to take 10 years to complete.
``We're very thankful to Commissioner David Stern and the NBA's Board of Governors,'' Ratner said. ``We are humbled by this vote and excited about the prospects of putting together a team that all Nets fans in the Metropolitan area can be proud of.''
The borough has not had a major sports franchise since baseball's Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957.
Ratner has come under criticism in recent weeks for cost-saving player moves that seemingly have hurt the Nets' chances to be successful on the court next season.
All-Star power forward Kenyon Martin was shipped to Denver last month after the Nets realized that matching a proposed offer sheet by the Nuggets would force them to pay him $23 million in salary and front-loaded bonuses before the start of the season.</div>
<div align="center">Link</div>
The league expects the sale to the group led by Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner to close next week.
``What was only an idea less than a year ago is quickly becoming a reality,'' Ratner said in statement released after the approval.
Ratner and his group will pay an estimated $300 million to buy the much-traveled team from Community Young Organization.
Ratner plans to build a 19,000-seat arena that will be part of a $2.5 billion office, residential and shopping complex.
The arena, which faces opposition from area residents who might be displaced, is expected to be completed for the 2007-2008 season. The entire project is expected to take 10 years to complete.
``We're very thankful to Commissioner David Stern and the NBA's Board of Governors,'' Ratner said. ``We are humbled by this vote and excited about the prospects of putting together a team that all Nets fans in the Metropolitan area can be proud of.''
The borough has not had a major sports franchise since baseball's Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957.
Ratner has come under criticism in recent weeks for cost-saving player moves that seemingly have hurt the Nets' chances to be successful on the court next season.
All-Star power forward Kenyon Martin was shipped to Denver last month after the Nets realized that matching a proposed offer sheet by the Nuggets would force them to pay him $23 million in salary and front-loaded bonuses before the start of the season.</div>
<div align="center">Link</div>