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Sports Business Journal has behind-the-scenes look at Barclays Center

By Net Income
Elsa

Sports Business Journal is commemorating the Nets' arrival in Brooklyn this week with a series of (subscription only) stories on the Barclays Center, with a special focus on Brett Yormark.

In the main story, writer Don Muret provides the latest numbers on season ticket holder and suite sales. STH numbers are approaching 11,000 full-season tickets sold, he writes, while "about 80 percent" of the 101 total suites seven of the nine "Vault" units available are sold. The special loge boxes, with their free food and (non-alcoholic) drinks, are sold out.

Muret also got exclusive access to the post-game meeting Yormark ran following the preseason opener vs. the Wizards. Of particular interest was the incident in which Bruce Reznick, aka Mr. Whammy, wound up being denied access to his hex spot under the opponents' basket during free throws. David Anderson, the arena GM admitted, "We didn’t know Mr. Whammy existed, so our security officer was trying to tell Mr. Whammy to stay in his seat." After a discussion involving several Nets and arena officials, he was back in business (although on October 19, the 76ers complained about him for supposedly blocking an exit!)

In a column on Yormark, SBJ's executive editor Abraham Madkour noted how at a sports business seminar in 2009, with Yormark on stage, he asked how many of the 350 sports business executives in the room thought Barclays Center would get built, "fewer than 20 hands went up." Yormark, he writes, responded by saying it would get done and promised to host that same panel at the arena what it opened. "Yormark, the Nets and the Barclays Center will serve as host of our 2013 Sports Facilities & Franchises conference in June. He delivered on that promise, too," Madkour writes.

Finally, in the SBJ article on NBA licensing revenues, Terry Lefton writes of how the Nets are helping record sales.

The Nets as a team and the Nets’ jersey are top-sellers on NBA.com, and statistics from online retailer Fanatics.com show the club’s year-to-year sales increase during the off-season (July 1-Oct. 23) was an astounding 3,034 percent.

Next highest? the Los Angeles Clippers at 367 percent.

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