sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1635005 EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New Jersey Nets might be moving to Long Island. If they do, Jason Kidd might not want to join them. The Nets' star point guard told ESPN the Magazine's Ric Bucher Thursday night that if the franchise is sold and moved to Long Island, he will request to be traded. Kidd, who currently lives in New Jersey, told Bucher he would be willing to play in New Jersey or Brooklyn, but not on Long Island. This twist comes one day after the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority made a proposal to the team to share $100 million in improvement costs to upgrade the Continental Airlines Arena, and two days after three investment groups submitted preliminary bids for the franchise. The bids were filed Wednesday by groups led by Charles Kushner, Charles Wang and Bruce Ratner. Each was for more than $200 million, according to published reports. Kushner is the only one of the three who plans to keep the team in New Jersey. Wang, the owner of the NHL's New York Islanders, would move the team to Long Island. Ratner would move the team to Brooklyn by 2008 if he succeeds in building a new arena. On Thursday, NJSEA chairman Carl Goldberg commented that "The sports authority's interest is keeping the teams in New Jersey," and unveiled a plan designed to work with the Kushner group to keep the Nets in their current location in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Goldberg said an "investment" in luxury suites and enhanced concession space at the arena in East Rutherford would make it a far more attractive home for the Nets, boosting the team's annual revenues by $18 million to $22 million. The additional revenues would also be shared by the team's owner and the sports agency, which is trying to wean itself off public subsidies, Goldberg said. Despite winning NBA Eastern Conference championships the past two years, the Nets have lost money playing at the 22-year-old arena, which lacks many amenities that generate revenues at newer facilities. An upgrade of the Meadowlands arena all but precludes development of an arena in Newark, where plans to build a new home for the Nets and the NHL's New Jersey Devils have stalled over financing issues. Goldberg said a joint upgrade of the arena would be similar to a deal reached last month between the sports agency and the New York Giants football team. With help from the National Football League, the team and the agency plan to finance up to $300 million in upgrades to Giants Stadium. Officials said the deal would help the agency meet its lease obligation to provide the Giants with a state-of-the-art facility, and could boost New Jersey's NFL bid to host the Super Bowl as early as 2008. --------------------------------------------------- Question. Do Nets fans keep rooting for the Nets if they move to Long Island?
It's not like there are that many Nets fans in NJ anyway. People from South Jersey are all Sixers fans, and people are North Jersey are all Knicks fans. That's how you can have playoff games that aren't sold out...
Cato and Eddie Griffin, along with Moochie for Kidd? JUST KIDDING..... Didn't Kidd also demand a trade due to the coaching situation or something? He's been a squeaky wheel of late.
Question. Do Nets fans keep rooting for the Nets if they move to Long Island? I believe the Nets were last in attendance the first year they went to the Finals.
What they need to do is take over the ticketing themselves and make a killing on the convenience charges.
What is the deal with players demanding trades just because their team decides to hire a new coach/move to a new location, etc. You signed the contract. Deal with it.
It's like the Rox moving to one of the suburbs vs. downtown.....so what? What an idiot. And besides, if he hangs out in the Hamptons with the rest of the tony folks, wouldn't he want to be CLOSER?
Well Jason Kidd better get ready to pack his bags......... Word in NY has it that Charles Wang and Sanjay Kumar (Isles owners) are close on an arena deal with Nassau County officials for a new arena next to the ole' Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. And if they get there new arena, they will defintily have an upper hand in getting the Nets. And it would be great for the league too. LI fans are much more passionate about there teams like the Isles then Jersey fans are with there teams. And could you imagine the rivalry that would develope between LI (Nets) and the City (Knicks). Talk about turf wars. Just see the NHL's Rangers-Isles rivalry and you will know what I mean..... And what the hell is wrong with LI? LI is so much of a better place to be then Jersey to begin with. Think about it, he could live in the Hamptons or soemwhere else peacfully away from the city, his kid T.J. could attend school in Great Neck, they have one of the best school systems in the nation. Even look down the road to high school for TJ Kidd, Great Neck North and South were both rated as one of the best high school's in the nation. There both top notch schools for the kid to attend once he grows up. He and his family would be much better off in LI, further away from the corruption of the city. If the Nets were to move to LI, it would only be better for the team and its players. Better area, better fans, better arena,........it only gets better for the Nets. But then again, I wouldnt want to face the commuter nightmare that is the L.I.E. either...........
here is some helpfull info from excerts form Local Tri-state papers on each bids chances......... It looks like you can rule out Brooklyn.........the Wang bid (LI) is probably the favorite........ GOING FORWARD: In N.Y., Charles Bagli notes it "may be weeks before a winner emerges," as all parties will spend two or more weeks "reviewing the team's financial books" before submitting final bids. One source said, "Price is not the issue. It's the ability to get it done." Kushner spokesperson Caryl Bixon-Gordon in a statement said, "We've made our presentation, and we're hopeful. It will be great for basketball, for the Nets and for New Jersey" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/9). One source close to Wang said of the auction, "It involves serious people with serious money. And we're serious people with serious money." YankeeNets sources said they expect Wang will submit a $250 million all-cash offer for the team. Another source added of Ratner's (Brooklyn bid) chances , "In the end, I'm not sure they'll be in the running. They've been looking for financing, they have no arena and no city subsidies. It'll be between Long Island and New Jersey." (NEWSDAY, 10/9).
A player has no right to demand who his coach is, but I think a player has every right to be upset about the team moving locations. He signed a contract to play in New Jersey. Even though it's not that far away, it's far enough. How would you like it if you took a job in Houston, under the pretense that you'd be working here, and then your boss suddenly moves the offices to Dallas? But your family is here, your life is here. Your home is in Houston. So you'd just quit your job and find another job here, right? He's not allowed to just quit. I don't know why he's demanding a trade somewhere, it's kind of the same thing to have your team move somewhere against your will and then be traded to a team for the highest bidder. And yeah, he's a very very rich man with the best job in the world, but that doesn't mean he can't be upset about having to leave his home. I just don't get wanting to be traded. Maybe it's his way of trying to keep the team from being moved. P.S. Jason Kidd is overrated.
His excuse for not wanting to be traded is that if the team moves to Long Island, he'll have to move his family again. That's one of the main reasons why he didn't go to San Antonio, so he wouldn't have to move like when he was traded from Dallas and Phoenix. ... Of course, if he got traded, he'd end up having to move anyway... I guess Jason's not the brightest crayon in the box.
Actually, it's more like moving from one suburb to another. Yeah, but Dallas is 240 miles away from Houston. This would be more like you took a job in Houston only to have your boss move the offices to The Woodlands. The two arenas aren't even 40 miles apart. By the way, Brooklyn is a good 20 miles from East Rutherford. Will he have to uproot his family to go there, too? I wonder if we're going to see a rash of Dallas Stars demanding trades soon. I mean, they moved their practice facility from Valley Ranch to Frisco. That's like 30 miles away. I imagine Modano is livid at having to uproot himself like that. You know, I bet this was the real reason Kidd was traded from the Mavs. He didn't want to have to uproot his family when the Mavs ditched Reunion for the AAC.
