Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Are the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center arena operating company, both owned by Joe Tsai, doing well as a business? Sort of. The combo's  now valued by the website Sportico at $3.98 billion, which is more than Tsai paid--somewhere north of $3 billion . though compounded by operating losses--but only 13th in the 30-team league.  That's a decline in rank from 2021 ($3.61 billion, 4th in the league) and 2022 ($3,86 billion, 6th), while other franchises have ballooned in value.  And the Nets lag the entire league in valuation growth, by far, growing just 17% since 2020, a sign--as noted by a Sportico journalist in the podcast cited below--that the value was juiced by expectations of the superteam that dissolved. Meanwhile the team and arena have struggled, with Tsai most recently having to kick in $18 million to support arena operations in the most recent fiscal year. (In previous years, he contributed $38 million and $52 million.).  In the 2021-22 season, two f...

Esquire Australia’s October/November cover story ( link ) is an interview with Australian-born basketballer Ben Simmons, now of the Brooklyn Nets, modeling some very expensive clothing. An accompanying video below takes the visiting reporter through Simmons's high-floor apartment at the sail-shaped  Olympia DUMBO --a combo of two, actually--with great views of the waterfront. A big deal Simmons was reported by the New York Post in August to have "closed on a two-apartment combo deal on the 21st floor, creating an eight-bedroom, loft-like space for a total of $12 million." As far as I can tell, the two units actually cost nearly $13.5 million. (No property record shows Simmons' name, but rather a limited liability company, or LLC.) Is buying real estate in Brooklyn a wise idea for a basketball player who could be traded at any time? Maybe not, from a strictly economic perspective, given transaction costs and the difficulty in selling a particularly expensive residence....

From The Athletic, 6/22/23, Qatari Investment Authority close to buying stake in Wizards, Capitals, Mystics: Sources : The NBA , NHL and WNBA are on the precipice of being the first North American professional sports leagues to receive an investment from a sovereign wealth fund. The Qatari Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, is close to buying a stake in Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Washington Wizards , Washington Capitals , and Washington Mystics , sources briefed on the deal told The Athletic. A "small stake," even just 5%, would represent $200 million of a $4 billion portfolio, which includes Capital One Arena and Monumental Sports Network. By contrast, the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center operating company are worth $3.86 billion, Sportico estimated last December. From the article: “In November 2022, the NBA Board of Governors decided to permit passive, non-controlling, minority investments in NBA teams by insti...

When I wrote last week about the Barclays Center's June 2023 event calendar, as circulated to neighbors, I noted that they omitted the NBA Draft, scheduled for Thursday, June 2022 and held annually (for a while) at the arena. I also queried an arena rep about the omission, but didn't get a response. I noted that the NBA was already selling premium "experiences," with seats close in, though the past pattern was to sell upper bowl seats as well. Well, it turns out, Barclays is selling upper tickets to the (more or less) hoi polloi, at least those willing to pony up nearly $80 or more for an upper bowl seat. Ticket sales start at 10 am today. As shown in the image below, only selected sections of the arena, mostly facing the stage, are for sale.

Yes, NBA team values keep rising, even as the stock market falls, as Sportico reported 12/13/22, "NBA VALUATIONS: WARRIORS TOP $7.6 BILLION AS TEAMS AVERAGE $3 BILLION." From the article: The average is boosted by a top-heavy distribution of team values, with the Golden State Warriors ($7.56 billion), New York Knicks ($6.58 billion) and Los Angeles Lakers ($6.44 billion) all worth at least $2 billion more than fourth-ranked Chicago Bulls ($4.09 billion). The median NBA franchise is worth $2.38 billion. The Brooklyn Nets (and associated properties), as shown in Sportico's  chart , have risen in value "only" 7%, to a total of $3.86 billion, which means they've actually dropped two spots from Sportico's  2021 ranking . Among the contributions to rising values, Sportico's Kurt Badenhausen wrote, are "new revenue streams from gambling, jersey patches, and international sponsorships."  Of the latter, the Golden State Warriors gain an estimated ...

I'm coming a bit late to Jeremy Gordon's review-essay published 9/30/22 in The Nation,  A Higher Court , with the subheading "The messy politics of the NBA."  Then again, his combo review concerns books published in June and May of 2021, respectively, concerning the unusual 2019-20 NBA season, from contretemps in China to the response to COVID (playing in the empty Disney World bubble) to the impact of Black Lives Matter protests on a mostly-Black league.  Gordon's summary: Two new books tell the story of the 2019-20 season and its discontents. Matt Sullivan’s Can’t Knock the Hustle is about the [Brooklyn] Nets season that year, but it frequently expounds on the shifting political and economic priorities of the NBA over the past decade and how the players’ ambitions have collided with the realities of the machine. Bubbleball by Ben Golliver is a chronological account of the bubble experience, written by a reporter with a firsthand perspective on how its simmerin...

Warriors Part Owner’s Uyghur Comments Fuel More NBA China Controversy , Yahoo reported 1/18/22: Warriors minority owner and billionaire venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya drew unwanted attention after saying on The All-In podcast that “nobody cares” about the genocide of Uyghur people in China ’s Xinjiang region—an ongoing human rights issue criticized by the U.S. and other countries worldwide. “Of all the things I care about, it is below my line,” Palihapitiya said on the podcast. The Human Rights Project called his comments “revolting,” while the Campaign for Uyghurs said the comments “were unacceptable and contribute towards an environment of apathy towards one of the greatest atrocities of our time.” Then he apologized, and the Warriors said his views “certainly don’t reflect those of our organization.” But this was a "gaffe" in the sense that he spoke an uncomfortable truth, that few care, and that the NBA relies on the China market. And if it came to the Brooklyn N...

The Women’s Tennis Association Set a Standard For Crisis Response , author Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his newsletter 1/15/22, contrasting it with the NBA's response to a parallel China contretemps. He noted that, upon "the disappearance of the top-ranked Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, just after she accused a senior Chinese goverment official of sexual assault," the governing Women’s Tennis Association, despite a huge, ten-year deal for tournaments with the Chinese government, "decided to suspend all future tournaments in China and Hong Kong until Shuai’s allegation was properly investigated. And the NBA? By contrast, when in October 2019, then Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey retweeted “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” the Rockets lost all cooperation and content in China, Morey had to apologize, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver initially  said : “We recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many ...

A 12/22/21 announcement from the Brooklyn Nets, BROOKLYN NETS VS. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS GAME POSTPONED : The NBA has announced that tomorrow’s Brooklyn Nets game at Portland Trail Blazers has been postponed due to the number of players in Health & Safety Protocols. The Dec. 23, 2021 game against the Trail Blazers will be rescheduled and we are working with the NBA to confirm a new date. That would be the third straight game, though NetsDaily yesterday summarized the situation as Good News, Bad News: Nets plan to play on Christmas but with 10 players in protocols .  (Those "protocols" mean either a positive or inconclusive test, or, if unvaccinated, exposure to someone positive--and requires two negative COVID tests at least a day apart to exit. The AP notes that the league and players are discussing "whether to change the current protocols about returning to play after a positive test — something that typically has taken 10 days or more in most cases." Most w...

Sports Should Take a Holiday Vacation , New York Times Sports columnist Kurt Streeter wrote presciently 12/16/21, citing "a new wave of coronavirus infections sweeping the globe," notably changing policies and postponing games in the NFL, NBA, and NHL, plus college basketball and European soccer. "What should the sports world do?" he wrote. "Take the holidays off. No games. No practices. No fans jammed in stands mask-less, passing along Omicron with every high-five and throaty cheer." As Streeter noted, "[p]layers won’t like it," nor would "[leagues and team owners and sponsors... because of their insatiable desire to make money, money and more money." Indeed, we're faced instead with more ad hoc policies and, perhaps, the resumption--as Streeter suggests--of daily testing. He calls for required vaccination for all players (hey, Kyrie Irving!) and required vaccination from fans and the wearing of masks.  (Well, NYC requires both, wi...

NBA AND NIKE CHOOSE SILENCE AS ENES KANTER TAKES ON CHINA , Sportico reported 10/29/21: Last week [Boston Celtics center Enes] Kanter posted a series of videos on Twitter where he called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “brutal dictator,” and asked the Chinese government to free Tibet and close down “the slave labor camps and free the Uyghur people.” Kanter also took his messages onto the court via custom sneakers designed by Chinese activist-artist Badiucao. On Monday, Kanter was back on Twitter, this time accusing Nike for producing sneakers in labor camps. The next day, he invited Nike’s president Phil Knight and NBA legends Michael Jordan and Lebron James to visit the factories. Just as with then Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey's 2019 tweet (since deleted) in support of pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong, Kanter's current team has faced a backlash, with games pulled from streaming in China. Notes Sportico: Born in Switzerland to Turkish parents, Kanter has been a vocal critic...

As announced 7/15/21 by the NBA and by Barclays Center , "NBA Draft 2021 presented by State Farm will be held at Barclays Thursday, July 29 at 8 pm. Note that "State Farm" is apparently part of the branding. Tickets--the number unclear--will go on sale on Monday, July 19 at 10 a.m. But there should be a lot of TV trucks. "ESPN platforms will exclusively televise the NBA Draft for the 19th consecutive year and for the first time it will air on both ABC and ESPN," the Barclays release stated. Translation (h/t NetsDaily ): both rounds on ESPN, first round on ABC. Barclays has hosted the draft from 2013-2019, with a hiatus to virtual for the pandemic. Yes, there is exclusive event merchandise . Yesterday, the Barclays Center circulated to neighbors an updated event schedule--see below.

NBA is next up for a big rights increase, and $75 billion is the price , CNBC's Jabari Young wrote 3/22/21: After the National Football League celebrated its history-making 11-year contract worth more than $100 billion , attention shifted to the NBA’s deal, which runs through the 2024-25 season. Early thinking within league circles suggests the NBA will seek a $75 billion rights package, up from its current $24 billion deal, which pays $2.6 billion per year. That's on top of "a $1.5 billion streaming deal with Chinese-based company  Tencent Holdings ." Note that "The NBA declined to comment due to privacy concerns about the financials of its media deals."  I'm not sure that's "privacy concerns" so much as "our policy of commenting publicly when it serves our interests." More money for the league means more valuable franchises and more revenue sharing. It's all going up. (Note to readers: don't worry, this is all adding up...

Well, the Brooklyn Nets' blockbuster trade for start shooting guard James Harden, creating a superteam at significant sacrifice, continued to generate much discussion and buzz yesterday after General Manager Sean Marks addressed the media , leaving many commentators with more optimism than not. As the New York Times distilled it:  With James Harden, the Nets now have an elite trio of ball-dominant playmakers. Yet there are key differences in how Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving thrive that could allow this grand experiment to work. The New York Post's Brian Lewis addressed an obvious question: Q: GM Sean Marks said in November he wouldn’t mortgage the future, but here we are. Why were they willing to make the deal now? A: The need was greater for both Brooklyn and Houston. While Marks can say this had nothing to do with Irving’s personal issues, Harden provides the most expensive insurance policy in NBA history against Irving getting hurt, going AWOL or being dealt. And after ...

The Brooklyn Nets, which will be playing their one pre-season game at Barclays Center on 12/13/20 , will start their season on 12/22/20 against the Golden State Warriors, as noted in the tweet below, and by NetsDaily .  Both that debut home game, as well as the Nets' Christmas Day game in Boston against the Boston Celtics, will be nationally televised, a reflection of the expected strength of a team with superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving back from injuries. The 2020-21 @NBA season begins in Brooklyn. Y'all ready? pic.twitter.com/S7KmUp0Ydz — Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) December 2, 2020 Pandemic questions The game is not open to fans, and presumably subject to safety protocols. That said, as CBS reported yesterday: The NBA tested 546 players for COVID-19 during the period from Nov. 24-30, and the results were not overly positive. Of those 546, 48 tested positive, the NBA and NBPA announced in a joint statement Wednesday. That is a positivity rate of 8.8 percent, b...

With the 72-game 2020-21 NBA season set to start before Christmas-- reason : money and TV contracts--the question remains: will fans be allowed in arenas? That should vary by state, with certain states--New York, likely--more strict. Nevertheless, the NBA has circulated a survey to fans regarding their posture toward coronavirus precautions and what might make them feel comfortable at arenas. There's an inevitable tension in trying to "make health and safety the top priority when fans are able to return to the arena," because the Barclays Center, like many venues, packs people together--which has led to the recognition that the arena needs more ways to enter and exit. As noted by NetsDaily, games would initially begin without fans, but the league hopes that suites--the most expensive seats--could have 25% to 50% capacity.  Note that, rather than re-create an expensive, unwieldy "bubble," as done for the NBA playoffs, games would be played in teams' home ar...

NBA commissioner Adam Silver explains when 2021 season could begin , SNY reported 9/22/2020. It won't be Christmas, previously the "earliest" estimate. His "best guess," for now, is January, and with a full 82-game season, but who knows. “And further, the goal would be to play games in home arenas in front of fans, but there’s still a lot that we need to learn in terms of rapid testing for example. Would that be a means of getting fans into our buildings, will there be other protections?” Silver told CNN's Bob Costas. For now, of course, no large gatherings are possible in New York City, but the Barclays Center has been surveying fans to see what procedures would make them feel safe. Would it be possible to let in a smaller crowd, say 25% or 30% of capacity? Stay tuned. From NetsDaily's summary : One suggestion rumbling around the league is that NBA games could start again around Martin Luther King weekend in the middle of January. MLK Day next year is J...

With a community proposal to use the Barclays Center for public school uses and an agreed-on NBA plan to use arenas, including Barclays , for voting-- the atrium , at least--it's worth a look at an 8/24/20 Sportico article, SOFI STADIUM BUSINESS SUITES HINT AT THE FUTURE OF MULTI-USE BUILDINGS : As teams get more creative selling access to their increasingly expensive stadiums, SoFi Stadium [in Los Angeles] is uniquely promoting a benefit for its suite owners: year-round access to their luxury boxes. In a rare if not unprecedented offer for a major American sporting venue, therams.com mentions holding business meetings and private parties as potential off-day uses for their boxes, which can come with “365-day access to SoFi Stadium.”  Perhaps more on point is access at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoneix, where "Suns global partner PayPal has special access to its corner box even when the building is empty, where it has created a so-called 'innovation center.'...

After a dramatic, impromptu two-day strike , the NBA will return today, with a preliminary plan--albeit without a budget behind it--to go farther than #blacklivesmatter slogans on the court/jerseys and a ten-year, $300 million fund. It strikes me as a not unreasonable outcome, given the forces at hand, including a mix of owners with different political philosophies, and an imperative to not cause league/team/player losses. It's surely less than a lot of the players would have liked, but has moved the needle more than any other sports league. Indeed, Nation columnist Dave Zirin thinks its significant: And lastly, they now have remarkable leverage to use their platform, go back out on strike, do whatever they feel like they need to do. The situation is on a knife’s edge. Folks shouldn’t act like this story has been written. NFL is next.... (3/3) — Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) August 29, 2020 The statement NBA, NBPA issue joint statement on social justice and racial equality...

A day after an impromptu NBA strike --triggered by the Milwaukee Bucks after a police shooting in Kenosha, near their home site, and spreading to other leagues--players voted to resume the season, albeit with questions about the endgame. Wrote Shaun Powell on NBA.com this morning: A hectic 24 hours that included, in no specific order: A Bucks walkout, Michael Jordan, heated debates, the resounding voice of Doc Rivers, political demands, the NBA Board of Governors, reform demands, Zoom calls and a conclusive desire to finish what was started, all resulted in an about-face and overnight second thoughts that put the NBA playoffs back in play . The players who pressed pause on the season didn’t get everything they wanted -- improbable, considering the justice system doesn’t move so swiftly -- but enough to convince them that returning to basketball and the platform afforded to them at the Walt Disney World campus made the most sense. And here we are, with the restart of the restart s...