Nets Ownership Still Facing Opposition On The Road To Brooklyn
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 07:14PM 
November 10, 2010: Opponents of the development in Brooklyn, NY, that includes the Barclays Center venue that will be home to the NBA's Nets, claimed a victory when a state Supreme Court judge ruled on Nov. 9 that the project's environmental study should be re-examined.
However, the project's developer, Forest City Ratner Cos., said that the decision would not affect construction of the Barclays Center, which has already begun. The 18,000-seat venue is scheduled to be completed for the 2012-13 NBA campaign. Deals also have been signed to host tennis and boxing events there. "Nothing was announced that's going to impact construction," a spokesman for FCR told Bloomberg.
The $4.9 billion development in Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards will also include residential and commercial properties.
Among the companies that have signed on as partners and/or sponsors at the Barclays Center are Haier America, ADT, EmblemHealth, MetroPCS, Cushman & Wakefield, MGM Grand at Foxwoods, Jones Soda Co., Phillips-Van Heusen, Anheuser-Busch, Willis Group Holdings and High Point Solutions. Financial firm Barclays has a $400 million, 20-year naming rights deal for the arena.
Justice Marcy Friedman on Nov. 9 ruled that New York's Empire State Development Corp. had violated the State Environmental Quality Review Act when it considered a 10-year time frame for completion of the project, despite contract documents which demonstrated a 25-year schedule. The judge said ESDC should have determined whether the study was needed after Forest City Ratner acquired additional air rights and the timeframe for the project’s completion was extended by 15 years from its initial projected completion.
Justice Friedman has sent the case back to ESDC for reconsideration, requiring the ESDC to provide a "detailed, reasoned basis for [its] findings."
“[The ruling] has laid bare the pattern of lies and deception by ESDC and Forest City Ratner that underlie this project,” Candace Carponter, the legal director for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, a group that opposes the development, said in a statement. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council said they would continue to lead opposition to the 22-acre project.
The Nets this season moved from Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ, to the Prudential Center in Newark, where the team will play its home games until Barclays Center is opened. The team, coming off a 12-70 season, has a new majority owner, Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, who owns 80% of the team and 45% of the sports-entertainment arena.
In addition to the Nets, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, the sales and marketing arm of the planned Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and a sibling division to Nets Basketball, has signed deals that would bring to the venue professional tennis and boxing, college hoops and hockey and a bevy of concerts.
Prokhorov's goal is to make the soon-to-be based Brooklyn franchise a global brand. The team played pre-season games in China against Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets and will face the Toronto Raptors in London in a two-game series in March. Ownership has also filed a petition with the NBA to change the team's name.
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