John Sparks, who has been running San Antonio's AT&T Center since it opened in 2002, has been hired by the Nets to run Barclays Center, Sports Business Journal reports. Sparks will replace Alex Diaz, who left to run Madison Square Garden's properties. Sparks will be responsible for the start-up, operations and management of the arena.
Barclays will be the third NBA arena Sparks has opened, after the AT&T Center and Philips Arena in Atlanta.
Sparks was most recently vice-president and general manager at AT&T Center, which is owned by Bexar County, Texas, but operated and maintained by the Spurs. Like Barclays Center, AT&T Center was designed by Ellerbe Becket, the Kansas City architects. Previously, Sparks spent two years as Director of Operations at Philips Arena.
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