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By the time Barclays Center opens in 2012, it will be the last in a series of new sports facilities built in the New York region. Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, Giant/Jets Stadium, Red Bull Stadium plus the renovations at Madison Square Garden were conceived in good times, built in bad times, and not doing as well as their owners had hoped.
According to Dr. Robert Boland, an NYU sports management professor, that doesn't bode well for an 18,000-seat arena in an area that hasn't had a sports team in 53 years. Indeed, he suggests Mikhail Prokhorov's projections of profits in the 2012-13 season seem unrealistic, although he concedes the Nets' increasingly global nature could help. It's part of his argument that the NBA is so desperate for a cash infusion that they turned a blind eye to the source and stability of Prokhorov's wealth to approve him.
"He’s a guy who the League never would have approved in good times," Boland said. "They’re afraid of him."
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