Nets owner Bruce Ratner may have forced himself into a position that Johcould appreciate. He bought the Nets with the notion of it being a profitable venture. To become a profitable venture, they need to move to a new arena in Brooklyn. For the Nets to move to Brooklyn, they need to pay for the construction of that new arena. For Ratner to pay for that new construction, he may need to sell off a sizable portion of the team that he hoped to ride into profitability.
That's what reports in both the Star-Ledger and Post are saying on Friday, and both reports agree that the years of losses he's accrued has made a sale necessary if he wants to raise enough capital to build the arena in Brooklyn. There seem to be several potential investors, some of whom already own pieces of the team, but the still uncertain move may make it hard to get a deal done quickly.
The Empire State Development Corp. needs to sell $650 million in tax exempt bonds before the end of the year, but hasn't issued any of them yet. They hope to do so in September, but until that's done any investor would be buying part of the team without a guarantee that there would be a change in the team's location.
That said, the Nets have done a lot to make themselves a more attractive asset. They've cut salary to the bone, both by trimming the roster of high-priced (i.e. talented) players and the front office of 25 percent of its workforce. They also forced assistant coaches to take pay cuts and are forcing Fridays off on other employees to save even more money. One former employee spoke to the Star-Ledger about the situation around the Nets.
"They've really created an environment where you don't want to stay there anymore. It's gotten really bad, especially for those of us who have gone through five owners in 10 years. It's just so damn bleak."
The Nets deny that they're trying to sell off the team, but something's gotta give. Ever since the move to Brooklyn was announced, the team has been allowed to fall into disrepair because its ownership sees it as nothing more than a justification for a real estate project.
When the talks about Brooklyn began, there was reason to believe that the good, well-run Nets franchise of the early part of the decade could seriously give the Knicks a run for their money if they had a better arena. Now, though, the Nets are just as far away from being good as the Knicks, and they still don't have anything close to the appeal of Madison Square Garden in their favor. Sell the team or keep the team, someone's gotta start paying attention to the team again.
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Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
