News broke today that Bruce Ratner, owner of Forest City Enterprises and co-owner of the Nets and Barclays Center, will be selling his 55 percent share in the arena.
Ratner almost sold the arena earlier in October when the current owner of the Dodgers, Guggenheim Sports and Entertainment, was reportedly in talks with him and Mikhail Prokhorov as part of a “combined assets” deal that would cost roughly $1.7 billion. Clearly, Ratner wants to rid himself of the arena, even though it has been–by some statistics–the most popular American arena.
Also, with the NHL’s New York Islanders slated to become a tenant in the building for next season in addition to the Nets, Barclays is probably going to be it’s most valuable in just a year or so.
But Ratner’s company, which developed the entire Atlantic Yards complex surrounding Barclays–including apartments and offices–has seen a lot of issues with the ongoing construction. Also, with the Nets losing over $140 million last season–the most in professional sports–both the team and arena are risky propositions from a financial standpoint.
Still, though, the Nets’ payroll is only going down and the Barclays Center is only going to get busier. It is comprehensible for Ratner to want to cut his losses, but whoever does buy his share may be getting a steal, depending on the valuation used for the arena.
The sale isn’t expected to affect the Nets at all.
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