Yormark says Barclays deal was crucial to arena project (duh); note how FCR not only renegotiated but sweetened the pot

I don't have access to Comcast, but the NetsDaily summary of an interview with Nets CEO Brett Yormark quotes him as saying, if Barclays had pulled out of the Brooklyn arena naming rights deal, "we wouldn't be here today."

Remember, the once-announced $400 million deal was reduced to $200-plus million, still crucial funding for arena construction.

And not only did the state simply give away naming rights, that benefit to Forest City Ratner (and now Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim group) was never counted as a subsidy, not even by the New York City Independent Budget Office.

Renegotiating the deal

No wonder Forest City Ratner and Yormark were so willing to renegotiate the deal. Barclays, Yormark once told favored interviewer Alexis Glick, had never wavered--though that was before starchitect Frank Gehry left the project.

Two other signs of FCR's effort to sweeten the pot:

• the subway/LIRR station naming rights agreement, paid for by the developer (not Barclays), to add Barclays Center to the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street complex
• the groundbreaking event extravaganza in March, aimed to boost Barclays, with Prokhorov barely mentioned