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So, Anybody Want To Buy The Nets?
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 24, 2009
Modified Jul 24, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 24, 2009
Modified Jul 24, 2009
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Would-be Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is getting so desperate to alleviate the debt burdening his $4 billion plan to build an ugly Nets stadium and other useless eyesores in Brooklyn that he's frantically trying to sell off most of the team. Officials at his company, Forest City Ratner, publicly deny the sales effort, but the Star-Ledger reports that last week Ratner flew to Moscow to meet face-to-face with billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the chief financier for CSKA Moscow. Other potential suckers investors are rumored to include Terry Semel, former CEO of Yahoo and Warner Bros, and some other rich guys with money to burn. Meanwhile, according to Forbes, the Nets dropped 13% in value last season, and morale within the organization is reportedly abysmal due to layoffs, pay cuts, and the team's general habit of sucking. (Granted, not as much as the Knicks.) One former Nets employee tells the Star-Ledger, "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." But bleakness being Russia's specialty, maybe Prokhorov's a perfect fit?
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Atlantic Yards
brooklyn
Bruce Ratner
nets
new jersey
sell
team
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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