Brooklyn Nets Chairman says move increased team's marketing potential "ten times" and value by "huge" amount

Chris Charlier, the Nets Chairman, told the New York-based France-Amérique, that the move to Brooklyn has "increased by ten times the marketing potential of the team" adding "If we sell the franchise today, we would have a huge increase in re-sale value."

"So far, everything is going well," said the Frenchman when asked about the team's success from a business aspect, "The move to Brooklyn has increased by ten times the marketing potential of the team. If we sell franchise today, we would have a huge increase in value."

There are no plans for Mikhail Prokhorov to sell the Nets and he has said his investment in the team and arena could reach $1 billion by 2015. The latest Forbes valuation of NBA teams alone puts its value at $530 million. The Nets paid $200 million in cash for 80 percent of the Nets and 45 percent of Barclays Center in September 2009.

Charlier, a French citizen, also told the French language magazine about the beginnings of the project in the summer of that year. After Bruce Ratner met Prokhorov for dinner in Moscow that July, the Russian billionaire had dinner with Charlier. He directed him to check things out. He was and is Deputy CEO of ONEXIM.

"He talked to me for the first time about his plan to buy an NBA franchise, the New Jersey Nets, and the possibility of moving it to Brooklyn. I told him that I thought that the idea was very interesting," Charlier recounted. After that, he flew to New York, spoke with Ratner's group and took pictures of the site at Atlantic and Flatbush. On returning to Moscow, he gave Prokhorov his recommendation. "I told him we had to do it," he's told NetsDaily, Once the deal was done, Prokhorov appointed Charlier as chairman of the Nets board. " I accepted without hesitation," he said.

Charlier, a banker by training, now describes his duties this way: "I do everything so that the project is economically viable and implement the ideas of Mr. Prokhorov:." He adds that marketing, highlighting the rapper Jay-Z as the face of the franchise, the construction of luxury amenities inside the Barclays Center and strategy development with sponsors are the "responsibility of the Chairman of the Board."

• Christophe Charlier, a Frenchman at the heart of the Brooklyn Nets (Google Translate) - Michael Oliveira da Costa - France-Amérique