Will the Liberty Move to the Barclays Center?

[Wbbfan1]

The CEO of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center is resigning — and the news comes less than 2 months after Alibaba billionaire Jospeh Tsai bought both in a record $2.35 billion deal

Former CEO David Levy's replacement suggested in a statement that Levy did not mesh well with the Nets' culture.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Dillon77]

Would seem like a natural given that the team trains in Brooklyn and many members live there, according to this recent article (and others I've read). Not surprisingly, all team members loved playing in an NBA-caliber arena again.

"Though the Brooklyn portion of the schedule is over, assimilation has already begun. Members of the team live in Brooklyn and the team holds their practices at St. Joseph’s College in the Clinton Hill area. Discussions are ongoing about the team playing more games in the borough. Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale has also been rumored to be a possibility."

New York Liberty Praise Brooklyn, Barclays Center In Sunday Return

 

[eebmg]

and Barclay's is a beautiful and super convenient arena with Subway access placing you right at the front door. That is why the past Sunday loss to the Storm at Barclays hurt so much. A very nice and noisy crowd was into the game and to see what the Liberty did in the second half was

 

[Trappa]

I’ve heard rumors about Nassau Coliseum too, which looks less likely now that the Russian billionaire is keeping it.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

I posted this back in April:

Also -- and I simply cannot stress this enough -- the WNBA needs to explore particular ownership groups, as they did with the Las Vegas Aces and the Connecticut Sun before that, as their respective costs are not just relative, but lower than those of other franchises.

• With Las Vegas and Connecticut, the owners of the WNBA franchises (Mohegan Sun for CT, MGM Resorts International for LV) also own the respective arenas in which those franchises play (Mohegan Sun Arena for CT, Mandalay Bay Events Center for LV).
• And since both of these are attached to/part of casinos/resorts, there is already the "infrastructure" in place -- e.g., food/beverage/concessions, security, etc.
• In addition, the ownership group is not paying rent for the arena (as other franchises have to do), as it would be paying rent to itself.
• As a result, not only are the costs of operation for these two franchises is significantly less that the costs of operation for other WNBA franchises, but the ability to make a profit is much easier.
• And even if attendance is not a huge percentage of capacity, if the attendees for WNBA games stay at the resort, spend time in the casino, etc., the franchise can recover any costs that way.

LINK

I have had MANY discussions with @ucbart and @EricLA about this topic.

Having the WNBA franchise ownership also own the arena/venue is incredibly important. It makes the ability to make a profit easier (see above). But if you have the financial resources to own the venue, chances are you also have the ability to absorb losses (thereby reducing any risk of relocation).

If Joseph Tsai owns the the Barclays Center, I cannot imagine the Liberty playing anywhere but there as the home venue.