Signs that the Eastern Conference Champs Nets are on the move

Wang Wants To Bring Nets 'Home'
Isles owner in talks to buy NBA team



By Alan Hahn
STAFF WRITER

June 10, 2003


Islanders owner Charles Wang said yesterday that he was engaged in an "ongoing dialogue" about buying the New Jersey Nets and moving them to Long Island.

"It's a possibility," Wang said of the purchase. "We will welcome the opportunity to work with the Nets and bring them here back to their home because we think there's a good fan base here and we believe they'll thrive here."

A move to Long Island would be a coming-home of sorts for the Nets, who until the past two seasons enjoyed their greatest success as a franchise on Long Island. They won ABA titles in 1974 and '76, with homegrown superstar Julius Erving at Nassau Coliseum. They joined the NBA in 1976-77 but before that season former owner Roy Boe, who also owned the Islanders, moved the team to New Jersey.

Wang, who founded Islandia-based Computer Associates and purchased the Islanders in 2000 and also owns the Dragons Arena Football League team, said he had made a previous attempt to buy the Nets before George Steinbrenner joined with major partners Ray Chambers and Lewis Katz to create the YankeeNets conglomerate in 1999.

Wang said the Nets' participation in the NBA Finals has slowed talks but he expressed his determination to bring "another professional team, a basketball team, to Long Island."

The Nets haven't publicly been put on the auction block. YankeeNets spokesman Howard Rubinstein said last night that he had "no information" about Wang's interest in purchasing the Nets. "I have not heard of that," Rubinstein said, "so YankeeNets will have no comment now."

Asked about a possible sale of the Nets, an NBA spokesman said last night, "The NBA is not aware of these inquiries and we have no involvement in the business affairs of our owners. It's not something we typically would comment on."

Wang, who has wanted a new arena to replace the 31-year-old Nassau Coliseum, said an NBA purchase was not part of that effort.

"They're not tied together in any way," he said. "We're working with many consultants for what is the best economic model, assuming there is no second team."

The Nets are also seeking a new arena to replace Continental Airlines Arena. Plans for a downtown Newark arena hit a snag over the past year. After reportedly heated negotiations, the city most recently offered to pay $210 million of the $355-million arena plan and asked YankeeNets to fund the rest. The offer, so far, has not been accepted.

Despite a trip to the NBA Finals last season, the Nets sold out only eight of 41 home games at 19,280-seat Continental Airlines Arena this season. En route to their second straight NBA Finals, the Nets sold out just two of their first six home playoff games.

Wang said he is confident the team would draw well on Long Island. "We believe the fan base is here to support it, given the population and demographics," Wang said.

A move to Long Island would also be attractive to the YES cable network, which could continue to broadcast Nets games.

Wang said yesterday that he has "faith and confidence" plans to build a new arena will soon come to fruition. Wang credited Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi for bringing a new arena closer to a reality.

"What we're doing right now is working very diligently with Tom Suozzi and Nassau County," Wang said. "The first thing we're going to look at is, what is the model, how are we going to finance it, what kind of support we need from various sectors."

Suozzi could not be reached for comment last night, but deputy county executive for economic development, Peter Sylver, who is overseeing redevelopment of the Hub area where the Coliseum now lies, said the county is behind the potential arrival of the Nets. The addition of a second major pro team would likely enhance the chances for private sector financing for a new arena.

"The Nets looked like they had a deal in Newark, but if somehow Mr. Wang is making it possible that they could come to Long Island, we would be excited about that and try to be helpful," Sylver said.

Meanwhile, Wang was encouraged by discussions about the future of the Hub. Yesterday, he endorsed the Hub as a locale for a new arena. The first of two public hearings on the future of the Hub is scheduled for 7 tonight at Hofstra University.

"To talk about what should go into this Hub," Wang said, "not only how you finance the construction to build it, but how do you sustain it. It's got to be a real business, sustainable for the long-term."

"The ideal location for a new arena would be where it is today," he said. "No question, they have the major highways and so forth. We want to work this thing out so that it is there."

 

Johnette Howard
SPORTS COLUMNIST
Wang's Just Dreaming


June 11, 2003


It would be nice to believe that Charles Wang's suddenly restated hope of bringing the New Jersey Nets back to Long Island is a genuine possibility, not just an elaborate game in which everyone is using everyone for now - figuring, hey, if a Nets move does work out in the long run, why, that would be a nice bonus, too!

Think about it. Wang declined numerous requests for comment when the Islanders fired and hired head coaches last week. When he did resurface Monday, it was just in time to float word of his renewed interest in buying the Nets just 24 hours before last night's first public meeting to discuss the Hub area where 31-year-old Nassau Coliseum now sits, and the new arena that Wang is seeking from financially strapped Nassau County.

Wang surely knows one major tenant in the new arena doesn't sound nearly as enticing as two.

And the Nets? The efforts of YankeeNets, the conglomerate that owns the Nets, New Jersey Devils and Yankees, to get a new arena from the financially strapped city of Newark are now dead, except for all the finger-pointing and grandstanding about why the long and tortured negotiations failed.

Nothing - not even NBA commissioner David Stern's veiled threat that "there is no shortage of boroughs in New York" - forced Newark's hand.

So both the Islanders and Nets would like a new home. The Nets clearly have the NBA's blessing to relocate in the metro New York area.

All of the sources agreed that what does seem to be true - not just wishing or hot air - is that the Yankee- Nets ownership group, which was formed in 1999 by George Steinbrenner and major partners Lewis Katz and Ray Chambers, is fractured to the extent that one or both sides might be willing to sell its stake.

And the feeling is Steinbrenner might be even more inclined to unload his share of the Nets than Katz, who is more emotionally attached to the team.

Steinbrenner didn't respond to a request for comment last night. But when the YankeeNets agreement was struck, joining the teams under one corporate umbrella, Steinbrenner insisted on keeping a controlling interest of his Yankees and Katz kept a controlling interest of the Nets.

Even more significantly now, if either side does sell its stake, the Nets' broadcast contract with Steinbrenner's YES Network continues through 2007 despite any change in team ownership.

That means Steinbrenner could get all the programming benefits of having the Nets on YES - which is really what he was after in the first place - and none of the drag from owning an NBA team that could lose its franchise player, Jason Kidd.

If you look at it that way, no wonder Steinbrenner might sell. The future for two-thirds of YankeeNets - the part that Steinbrenner doesn't control - is fraught with a lot of uncertainties. And if there's one thing businessmen hate - especially highly impatient, heat-seeking, wheeling-and-dealing billionaire businessmen - it's cost uncertainty.

So here we are.

Wang can style himself as a civic angel in all this - the man who saved the Islanders on Long Island and will try to bring the Nets back, if only he can get that darn new arena! And he's not really being dishonest.

Steinbrenner can bluster and grab for what he wants behind the scenes. And Katz and Chambers can invite Steinbrenner's wrath by running off incredibly successful YankeeNets CEO Lou Lamoriello, whom Steinbrenner once said he wanted running both the Nets and Devils organizations or he wouldn't come aboard.

Clearly, something is going to change regarding YankeeNets. But it just might not end with the Nets coming to the Island.

The Nets and Devils won't go on much longer at Continental Airlines Arena, where both teams finished 23rd in attendance in their leagues although each made it to the league finals. The impulse to get out of there is so strong, YankeeNets even had the gall to approach the Dolan family about being co-tenants with the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Kidd, who's hardly naïve about the world he works in, seemed to have the right attitude about the Nets' ownership uncertainty yesterday. Smiling slightly, he shrugged as if nothing surprises him and said, "I don't know that it will matter [in whether he stays]. This business changes so fast. Someone's always selling something. And someone's always buying something.

"I have no control over ownership."

Or any control over what sugar-plum visions a dreamer such as Wang might profess.

 

Slightly off topic but I thought Houston NHL fnas would like to see this too.

And according to NJ fans at fanforum.com, the Stanley Cup Champs are for sale and are possibly moving to Houston. I picked this up regarding the sale fo the Devils although it does not say in it that they are moving to Houston.

ROCKY ROAD: Grant adds Yankees and Nets owners "have had a rocky time working together," and since the outset of the merger, they "have been warring over several issues: whether to buy all of the Devils or just an interest, how to manage the teams, and even the formation of [YES]." Some of the Devils owners recently "discussed a possible sale of the team with prospective buyers," and multiple sources said that the group is "in danger of breaking up." According to one partner: "If you gave people the opportunity to get out, the majority would get out"

A link to the NJ fanforum board that contains ALL the "Devils to Houston" discussion.

http://insiders3.ezboard.com/fnewjerseynetsfrm1.showMessage?topicID=189.topic

 

Did you read correctly. The BOSS is close to selling off BOTH the Nets and Devils.