Barclays Center

Infobox Stadium
stadium_name = Barclays Center


location = Brooklyn, New York, USA
broke_ground = 2008
opened = 2010 (scheduled)
owner = Forest City Enterprises
operator = New Jersey Nets
(a Forest City subsidiary)
surface = 22 acres (entire complex)
construction_cost = $3.5 billion (entire project)
architect = Frank Gehry
former_names = Nets Arena (unofficial)
tenants = New Jersey Nets The team name will likely be changed after the move takes place] (NBA) (2011–)
seating_capacity = 25,000 (estimated, depending on configuration)The Barclays Center is a proposed sports arena to be built partly on a platform over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-owned Atlantic Yards at Atlantic Avenue in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is part of a proposed $3.5 billion sports arena, business and residential complex. The site is intended to serve as a new home for the New Jersey Nets, currently based at Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The MTA site is convert|8.3|acre|m2|abbr=on|lk=on; the Atlantic Yards project site would be convert|22|acre|m2|abbr=on|lk=off.

The arena, scheduled to open in 2011, along with the rest of the complex, is a project of Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner, who acquired the Nets in 2004, with the purpose of moving them from New Jersey to this site near the Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street New York City Subway station and the Long Island Rail Road terminus in Brooklyn, one of the most transit-accessible locations in the city. The move would mark the return of major league sports to Brooklyn, which has been absent since the departure of the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957 (their proposal for the world's first domed stadium at the "Atlantic Yards" to replace the unprofitable Ebbets Field had been turned down by the city in the past). It has been discussed that the Barclays Center may be the NBA All-Star Game site in the 2013–2014 season.Fact|date=March 2008

Design

Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the arena would host the Nets, along with concerts, conventions and other sporting events, competing with Madison Square Garden and the Prudential Center, among other facilities. The arena's roof would feature a park open only to residents of the Atlantic Yards complex, ringed by an open-air running track that doubles as a skating rink in winter with panoramic vistas facing Manhattan year-round.

The arena will also be able to host hockey games with an NHL sized rink. Brooklyn is geographically the western end of Long Island, and many on other parts of the island have roots there, suggesting that the New York Islanders could play games there (perhaps permanently)Fact|date=July 2008. The Nets and Islanders shared Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum from 1972 to 1977.

Naming rights

It has been reported that London-based Barclays Bank has agreed to pay the team $400 million over the next 20 years for the naming rights of their future Brooklyn home. On January 18, 2007 it was announced that the arena would be called Barclays Center, becoming the third major league sports venue to be called a "center" in the NYC metro area. The New Jersey Devils hockey team now play in Newark, New Jersey at the new Prudential Center, and the former home of the Devils and the current home of the Nets, Continental Airlines Arena, changed its name to the Izod Center. [ [http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=65958 NY1: Nets' New Arena Reportedly To Be Called "Barclays Center" ] ]

On September 10th, 2008, it was reported by the " [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/nyregion/10yards.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all New York Times] " that Barclays' contract for the naming rights ends at the end of November 2008 if the developer, Forest City Ratner, has not closed on the land and financing it needs to build the arena.

ee also

* KeySpan Park, a minor league baseball stadium in Coney Island, Brooklyn, opened in 2001
* Richmond County Bank Ballpark, a minor league baseball stadium in St. George, Staten Island, opened in 2001
* Prudential Center, a new arena in Newark, New Jersey for the New Jersey Devils
* Red Bull Arena, a new soccer stadium in Harrison, New Jersey for the New York Red Bulls, currently under construction, scheduled to open in Summer of 2009
* New Yankee Stadium, a new baseball stadium in The Bronx for the New York Yankees, currently under construction, scheduled to open in April 2009
* Citi Field, a new baseball stadium in Queens for the New York Mets, under construction, scheduled to open in April 2009.
* Meadowlands Stadium, a new football stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the New York Giants and New York Jets, scheduled to open in 2010.
* West Side Stadium, a failed proposal for a stadium and business complex over the MTA's "Hudson Yards"

References

External links

* [http://www.barclayscenter.com Barclays Center] , official website of the Barclays Center
* [http://www.brooklynnets.com Brooklyn Nets vs. The Residents] , participatory art project by Tim Hailey
* [http://www.bball.net Bring Basketball to Brooklyn!] , official Brooklyn Nets Arena website (under construction)
* [http://www.fansforfairplay.com/ Fans for Fair Play] , a sports perspective on the Ratner proposal
* [http://www.dddb.net Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn] , a pro-democratic development community group