tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20743459.post6893348198291554154..comments2024-03-28T05:19:17.215-04:00Comments on Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report: Newark Mayor Booker: "I believe the project in Brooklyn is not going to work"Norman Oderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07618087999719667586noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20743459.post-34913577569312276522009-04-24T19:28:00.000-04:002009-04-24T19:28:00.000-04:00I'm surprised that mayor booker thinks there w...I'm surprised that mayor booker thinks there will be a national bidding war for the nets when ratner eventually puts them up for sale.<br /><br />Booker cites seattle and kansas city as potential bidders, both of which i find extremely far-fetched. <br /><br />Washington legislators, in far better economic & budgetary times than they currently face, repeatedly rejected bills to fund a new arena in seattle. And they did so knowing full well that the sonics would leave town as a result. It's highly unlikey that the legislators will change their minds on this one. <br /><br />As for kansas city, it does have the sprint center, which opened in late-2007. However, kansas city has already proven itself to be a terrible location for both nba and nhl franchises.<br /><br />The nba's kansas city kings lasted just 11 years ... 1974-85 ... before leaving for the far greener ($$$$$) pastures of sacramento. The kings' attendance in k.c. was well-below the league norm. They averaged more than 10,000 fans/game only once during those 11 seasons, despite playing in the state-of-the-art, centrally located kemper arena.<br /><br />The nhl's kansas city scouts lasted all of 2 seasons ... 1974-76 ... before they flew the coop to denver and later to the garden state, where they became the nj devils in 1982 and have remained ever since. <br /><br />Other cities that have been mentioned as potential bidders for the nets include las vegas, st. louis and san jose. But again, none of these cities have state-of-the-art arenas like newark does. Nor do they have television markets that are comparable to the metro-ny area, which means that local broadcast rights would be worth millions of dollars less per season than in newark. <br /><br />Las Vegas has the additional problems of legalized gambling, heavy competition for the entertainment dollar and a high percentage of the fan-base working evening hours in the hospitality industry, when 95% of nba games are played. When the utah jazz played 10 regular-season games in vegas during the 1983-84 season, the stands were virtually empty. <br /><br />Mayor Booker's talk of a bidding war for the nets may simply be an attempt to pressure/persuade ratner into putting the team up for sale as soon as possible.CRUZ COUNTRYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09387134609817547810noreply@blogger.com