British Soccer Is Prokhorov Model for Nets' World Domination

When the Nets played the Raptors this weekend, scattered around the O2 Arena were stars of the British Premier League, soccer's most starstruck. It was no accident. The league is sponsored by Barclays, the Nets' UK connection, and its worldwide presence, led by Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, is a model for Mikhail Prokhorov in his desire to build the Nets into the world's team.

"Look at the British Premier League...or like what we have in the Spanish Football league, We now have the example of two or three teams, they are really now global brands," he told CNN. "NBA, as a brand, is a global brand, but if you look at any NBA team, for the time being, it's not a global brand.

"It's some kind of discrepancy...and so, my goal is to create, from New Jersey Nets, a global brand."

He admits it's going to take some time, telling BBC, "Much has been done but until our posters are on the walls of fans from New York to New Zealand, from Brazil to Beijing, we're not done."

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