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Sports Authority wants to keep Nets in New Jersey long term
by Ian T. Shearn and Dave D'Alessandro/The Star-Ledger
Thursday October 16, 2008, 7:58 PM
Jarrett Baker/Getty ImagesA deal to keep the Nets in New Jersey would include renovations to Izod Center.
Calling construction of a Brooklyn arena "unlikely at best," New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority chairman Carl Goldberg said Thursday he is interested in offering the Nets a chance to take a stake in Izod Center to keep the Nets there long term.
Such a move would include renovations to the aging arena in the Meadowlands that has already lost the Devils to Newark.
Goldberg's remarks, which came during a public session of a real estate conference in Teaneck, echoes a growing chorus of those who question whether owner Bruce Ratner can come up with financing for his proposed $950 million arena project in Brooklyn, which has been downscaled and delayed since it was rolled out more than four years ago.
"I do think the Nets will stay in New Jersey," Goldberg said.
In an interview, he said there have been no discussions about any proposal with anyone in the Ratner organization. He declined to discuss more details.
Nets chief executive Brett Yormark said the team isn't interested in any proposal to keep the team in New Jersey.
"I obviously respect Carl, but my only reaction is that we're unequivocally moving to Brooklyn," Yormark said.
Some financial experts and state and city officials who have heard the developer's private pleas for more government aid say the failing economy and frozen credit markets has created a far bleaker picture for the project, called Atlantic Yards.
Ratner is still awaiting a ruling from the federal Treasury Department about whether he can get tax-exempt financing for the arena. Having to get taxable loans for the project would increase the cost of building the arena, which is already set to be the most expensive in the country, according to sports industry insiders.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Thursday announced a hearing Oct. 24 about a deal to use so-called PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) to repay bonds for the new Yankee Stadium. The hearing could also impact a similar plan for the Atlantic Yards arena.
Earlier this month, a self-imposed deadline came and went for Ratner's investment banker Goldman Sachs, which publicly promised to have a financing secured by Oct. 1.
That followed another setback days earlier, when Ratner said ongoing legal disputes had again pushed back the groundbreaking for the arena. Originally slated to open in 2006, and most recently in 2010, the Nets' new home will now not be ready before 2011.
"The present litigation will be resolved, we expect a favorable ruling sometime in the spring, and then we'll break ground," Yormark said. "The sponsors are behind us, we continue to sell inventory at Barclays Center, and the understanding throughout the marketplace that the project will go through has not changed."
Any discussions between Ratner and the Sports Authority, as Goldberg envisions, would surely ratchet up tension and competition that already exists between Bergen County and Essex County interests. The year-old Prudential Center in Newark, where the Devils play, finds itself in stiff competition with Izod for entertainment bookings.
Neither Newark Mayor Cory Booker nor Devils owner Jeffrey Vanderbeek responded to calls seeking comment.
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by Ian T. Shearn and Dave D'Alessandro/The Star-Ledger
Thursday October 16, 2008, 7:58 PM
Jarrett Baker/Getty ImagesA deal to keep the Nets in New Jersey would include renovations to Izod Center.
Calling construction of a Brooklyn arena "unlikely at best," New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority chairman Carl Goldberg said Thursday he is interested in offering the Nets a chance to take a stake in Izod Center to keep the Nets there long term.
Such a move would include renovations to the aging arena in the Meadowlands that has already lost the Devils to Newark.
Goldberg's remarks, which came during a public session of a real estate conference in Teaneck, echoes a growing chorus of those who question whether owner Bruce Ratner can come up with financing for his proposed $950 million arena project in Brooklyn, which has been downscaled and delayed since it was rolled out more than four years ago.
"I do think the Nets will stay in New Jersey," Goldberg said.
In an interview, he said there have been no discussions about any proposal with anyone in the Ratner organization. He declined to discuss more details.
Nets chief executive Brett Yormark said the team isn't interested in any proposal to keep the team in New Jersey.
"I obviously respect Carl, but my only reaction is that we're unequivocally moving to Brooklyn," Yormark said.
Some financial experts and state and city officials who have heard the developer's private pleas for more government aid say the failing economy and frozen credit markets has created a far bleaker picture for the project, called Atlantic Yards.
Ratner is still awaiting a ruling from the federal Treasury Department about whether he can get tax-exempt financing for the arena. Having to get taxable loans for the project would increase the cost of building the arena, which is already set to be the most expensive in the country, according to sports industry insiders.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Thursday announced a hearing Oct. 24 about a deal to use so-called PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) to repay bonds for the new Yankee Stadium. The hearing could also impact a similar plan for the Atlantic Yards arena.
Earlier this month, a self-imposed deadline came and went for Ratner's investment banker Goldman Sachs, which publicly promised to have a financing secured by Oct. 1.
That followed another setback days earlier, when Ratner said ongoing legal disputes had again pushed back the groundbreaking for the arena. Originally slated to open in 2006, and most recently in 2010, the Nets' new home will now not be ready before 2011.
"The present litigation will be resolved, we expect a favorable ruling sometime in the spring, and then we'll break ground," Yormark said. "The sponsors are behind us, we continue to sell inventory at Barclays Center, and the understanding throughout the marketplace that the project will go through has not changed."
Any discussions between Ratner and the Sports Authority, as Goldberg envisions, would surely ratchet up tension and competition that already exists between Bergen County and Essex County interests. The year-old Prudential Center in Newark, where the Devils play, finds itself in stiff competition with Izod for entertainment bookings.
Neither Newark Mayor Cory Booker nor Devils owner Jeffrey Vanderbeek responded to calls seeking comment.
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