Brett Yormark said it hit him, finally, during a 6 a.m. tour of the Barclays Center Monday. "‘We’re here. We almost completed the journey.’”

"Stories like this ultimately happen. What enabled this project to endure was that it was meant to be," said the Nets and Barclays Center CEO. "It was too good not to be told."

Yormark assured Stefan Bondy that the arena will be "100 per cent" ready when Jay-Z takes the stage a week from Friday, which coincidentally or not is also Yormark's 45th birthday. "I think the moment’s even bigger than I expected," says Yormark." I think this is so big that many of us won’t have a moment like this again."

• Brett Yormark's moment - Stefan Bondy - The InterNets