The Return of Jay-Z
by Net Income on Mar 12, 2010 12:20 AM EST
in Brooklyn
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Jay-Z showed up at more Knicks and Lakers games this season than he did at Nets games. There were rumors he wasn't happy with the sale of the team--and the dilution of his and other minority investors' stakes. A few weeks after Mikhail Prokhorov bought the team, the Russian billionaire reportedly told people he wanted to meet with the hip-hop mogul, but there's been no subsequent reporting on whether the two ever did meet. Prokhorov understands how important Jay-Z is to the franchise...and not just as a free agent recruiter. Shawn Carter is as much a part of the team's global branding as a Russian owner or Chinese power forward...maybe more so.
On Thursday, he couldn't have had a bigger role. He brought Beyonce' and the two of them added some celebrity flare. The official program listed him simply as "cultural icon". He was one of only six people who took part in the photo-op before the actual ground breaking. He not only spoke last but was repeatedly spoken about. The Rev. Al Sharpton likened hispioneering presence in the owners' box at Barclays Center to Jackie Robinson's in the batter's box at Ebbets Field. Bruce Ratner spoke of how the two walked the arena footprint back in 2003 and how they were mobbed. It was, he said, an "honor" to have Jay-Z as a partner.
Later, in an interview with WFAN, Ratner said he expected Jay-Z to have a larger role in the future, while sidestepping a question about whether he still holds a significant stake in the team. "He will stay that involved and even more so," said Ratner. "So he's just been a wonderful partner and I'm fortunate to have met him and fortunate that he's had such a strong involvement with us." The question now is how strong that involvement will be, starting with free agency and his friendship with everyone's No. 1 target, LeBron James. Jay-Z told SNY he's a friend first, but "if we can offer the best opportunity for him, then that's great. If not , then, we just got to watch him from somewhere else."
- Jay-Z and The Nets Break Ground In Brooklyn (with Video) - Shaheem Reid - MTV News
- Jay-Z Interview (Video) - Chris Shearn - YES Network
- Jay-Z Interview (Video) - Brooklyn Sal - SNY
- Jay-Z Interview (Video) - Jaclyn Sabol - New Jersey Nets
- Ratner breaks ground! Jay-Z celebrates! Others protest! - Stephen Brown - Brooklyn Paper
- Barclays chief and Jay-Z break ground in Brooklyn - James Quinn - London Telegraph
- Barclays breaks ground with 18,000-seat basketball stadium in Brooklyn - Andrew Clark - London Guardian
- A hoop dream that could boost Barclays - Stephen Foley - London Independent
- Jay-Z Helps Put Brooklyn Nets On The Map - Jonathan Eiseman - Vibe
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Increased ownership stake - Increased activity?
Is there any chance that Jay-Z increases his ownership stake, to say, 10%? I’d imagine if anything like this was to happen, it would be once the team had actually moved to Brooklyn. I just think that it could be a good idea for all parties, but of course, it would probably involve Proky selling (a small) part of his stake, which I guess is highly un-likely.
Anyway, just a thought.
'The Crossover' - a Nets and Knicks podcast. http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=268817312
There is NO chance
Prokhorov’s Onexim Group will own 80% of the team on completion of the deal. The remainder will be held by the original partners, whose stake will be diluted accordingly. Jay-Z reportedly owned 1.47% before the purchase. If you assume his stock has been diluted on a 5 to 1 basis, then his stake would be less than 1%. He apparently owned a similar stake in the arena. Onexim now owns 45% of the arena, meaning Jay-Z now may have slightly more than half of what he once held.
On the other hand, there are lots of ways to make him happy since he is a promotor and the arena will need to find ways to fill its stands on the more than 150 dates they won’t be playing.
That’s all just (slightly) informed speculation.
Forget Jay-Z
I lobby for more Beyonce.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
Sharpton was off a bit.
I wouldn’t liken Jay Z’s ownership stake, regardless of what it is, to that of Jackie Robinson. A lot of African Americans have held larger stakes in teams so he’s nothing new.
The best comparison to Jackie Robinson would be bob Johnson. He’s the one who truly broke the barrier because he owned a mority of the team and had control over it. That was a first. No matter how bad an owner he was, he did break the color barrier as far as ownership was concerned.
New collective bargaining agreement is simple. Give small markets a larger share of the national tv revenue sharing pie, limit MLE's to teams under the lux tax threshold, allow owners to terminate one deal every other year provided players have played at least 3 years on it and limit raises to 5 and 10%
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