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Brooklyn - New York's Newest Sports Capital

By Net Income
Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE

For 57 years, Brooklyn was without a professional sports team. Now, in a matter of months, two clubs, one in the NBA, one in the NHL, have agreed to call Brooklyn home, the Nets for 37 years, the Islanders for 25. Although they haven't had their best years lately, the two will play in America's most modern sports venue ... the Nets next week, the Isles in 2015, if not earlier.

How it happened is the second day story, with the key protagonists Bruce Ratner and Charles Wang getting a lot of credit for taking risks that paid off. Although Wang said he planned on abiding by his lease, he wouldn't rule out an earlier arrival. As the Nets learned, selling tickets while a lame duck isn't easy. Said one Nets insider, "Don't be surprised to see them play in Brooklyn in 2013."

For Nets fans, there is likely to be minimal effect -- Mikhail Prokhorov and his Russian team made certain of that.. The Nets will not have to share locker space with the Islanders. There is enough room under sections 22 - 26 for an Islanders' "campus." And the changes to the arena layout, designed for basketball, won't have to be major, the parties agreed.

For the franchise, the effect is huge and positive. The Nets investors, who control varying stakes in the team, arena and larger Atlantic Yards, find their stakes in all three with greater value Thursday morning than 24 hours earlier. The Nets were already on their way to being one of the NBA's most profitable teams. Now the investment in the arena is likely to be highly profitable as well.

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