Netlinked 9/14/15: Nets’ D-League team could move to Long Island, YES Network TV rights fee to increase

The Brooklyn Nets start their 2015-16 regular season is on October 28th against the Bulls at the Barclays Center. That game is roughly 45 days away. While we anxiously count down the days until meaningful basketball is being played again, here’s what’s going on around the team now:

Right now, the Nets don’t have a dedicated D-League team, and haven’t since they were partnered with the Springfield Armor, who are now the Grand Rapids Drive and property of the Pistons. But, according to a David Aldridge report, the Nets’ front office is actively trying to bring another D-League franchise into the fold, and possibly move it to the New York Islanders’ old stadium: the Nassau Coliseum.

Single-team D-League partnerships are all the rage in the NBA right now, and the Nets were one of the earlier teams in the mix but have since been phased out of it. Having a team to implement the Nets’ objectives in terms of player development and team philosophy would be very beneficial for Brooklyn, and is something that needs to happen sooner rather than later.

In business news, Sports Business Journal is reporting that the YES Network–which is the main carrier of Nets games on television–will soon have to pay roughly $40 million to the Nets in order for the rights to broadcast the team’s games. As NetsDaily noted about the report, Brooklyn’s ratings on YES have been comically low for big-market NBA standards, but the sheer volume of homes in the New York area that watch the Nets commands an expensive right fee, which will put more money in the team’s coffers.

The final note of this edition of Netlinked has nothing to do with the Nets on the court, but is interesting nonetheless. NBA 2K16, the latest incarnation of the popular NBA video game, is set to be released in the coming weeks and there’s a very promo video–directed by Knick fan Spike Lee–which depicts a fictional NBAer who stars for the Nets but has to deal with the issues and problems that face any top pro athlete. Note how Frequency Vibrations–the player’s name–is a Net and not a Knick. Very cool video.