No, Governor, Nets aren’t coming back to New Jersey

Three weeks ago, at the end of a discussion of her first 100 days as governor of New Jersey at Newark’s Performing Arts Center, Mikie Sherill faced a series of rapid-fire questions from NJ.com political editor Brent Johnson. The subjects ranged from personal issues to state policy. But then a little more than an hour into the video, she faced an odd inquiry about the Brooklyn nee New Jersey Nets, long gone from Newark’s Prudential Center and before that the Byrne/Continental/IZOD Center.

Would she be interested in bringing the Nets back from Brooklyn where the team moved in 2012 after 35 years in N.J.? Yes, indeed, she told Johnson.

Advertisement

“I mean, would I support it? I ask about it all the time,” Sherrill said. “I love the idea. So, I have been pressing for that. I haven’t made a lot of headway yet; you know, maybe in my second 100 days.

“But I do think there is some work being done for some — I don’t know if I’m allowed to say too much about it — but some people are working on some different sports coming into the Rock.”

For some New Jersey fans, that would be a dream come true. No more commuting across two rivers! New York Knicks fans would like it too, having been tweeting for years that the city is too big for two teams.

To say that’s realistic, however, is wrong. The Nets are comfortably ensconced in the borough, about to play their 14th season at Barclays Center, the billion dollar arena that is now in the third year of a five-year, $140 million renovation. So has the governor and the Nets been in touch? Nope, according to the Nets.

Advertisement

“There have been no conversations with ownership or leadership and the governor or her administration and we have no plans to bring the Brooklyn Nets back to New Jersey,” a league insider told ND in what amounts to a blanket denial.

Why did the governor who’s still celebrating her political honeymoon make a commitment about what is decidedly not a big issue other than for a small minority of basketball fans? No idea, said the insider, calling the comments “very odd … “They’re perfectly happy in Brooklyn.”

What about the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/no-governor-nets-aren-t-032734058.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-05-22 03:27:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.