Even though the New Jersey Nets tend to get overshadowed by their tri-state brethren New York Knicks, don’t think for one second that the Nets fan base isn’t strong. It was only a decade ago when they were the best team in the East and went to two straight Finals. And long before that, they were one of the ABA teams that came over to the NBA as result of the 1976 merger, so their history is rich as well. All of that being said, the realization that the team will be relocating doesn’t sit well with many Nets fans, even though Brooklyn isn’t far away. It’s just the fact that the team will no longer be based in New Jersey.
Apparently Newark, New Jersey native Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t too thrilled about the Nets relocating either because he’s already spearheading an effort to bring an NBA team to Newark. The Nets are based in East Rutherford, but played at the Prudential Center in Newark last season. The Prudential Center is a fairly new facility and has been viewed as a more desirable venue than East Rutherford’s IZOD Center. Either way, Nets fans should be excited by the fact that even though the Nets are still in Jersey, someone is already trying to bring a team back. And not just anybody: Shaq. Sure, it will be different because they technically won’t be the Nets but it’s better than the alternative.
What helped make the Nets move to Brooklyn become a reality is Jay-Z. The fact that he’s from Brooklyn and has an unmatched stranglehold on pop culture, the move seemed like a no-brainer. Even though Jay’s stake in the team really isn’t that much, him being who he is makes up for that. The same goes for Shaq. Because he’s from Newark and has appeal, it makes the effort more likely.
Shaq recently sat down with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith to discuss his new book and this plan of bringing a team on Newark. From NJ.com,
“I would love to own an NBA team,” O’Neal told Stephen A. Smith of ESPN’s SportsCenter. “Hopefully we can bring a team back to my hometown of Newark, New Jersey, and we have some talks going on now.”
But naturally, something like relocating an NBA team doesn’t come without hurdles. When the Nets announced that they were going to move to Brooklyn, the Knicks reportedly requested that they did not use “New York” in their team name and the Nets obliged. Now, Nets majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov has some issues of his own:
“The main obstacle here is that the Nets and Mr. Prokhorov would not be very happy,” said sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, referring to Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov. “They’re making an enormous investment in Brooklyn. They don’t want to share the New York market with a third team.”
Knicks owner James Dolan would also likely object, Zimbalist said, and the two men have much more sway with the NBA than Booker and Shaq.
If a third team were allowed into the market, Zimbalist said, it would probably have to pay “tens of millions” of dollars in indemnification fees to compensate the Knicks and Nets for the loss in market share.
Whether or not Shaq ends up owning this team remains to be seen, but I think it will happen. His pockets are deep enough and he’s plenty powerful. The biggest problem will probably be timing. The NBA certainly isn’t going to add another franchise and who knows how long it will be before a team is truly ready to move to New Jersey? Either way I think it’s just a matter of time.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
