The New Home of the New Jersey Nets
In order to keep the spirit of a city from becoming going stale, it is important to create projects and restoration programs to revitalize an area. For instance Brooklyn New York is in dire need of said projects and programs. This area, before the Barclays Center was given the green light, was old, rundown and in some cases uninteresting to tourist that know very little of the area. The new arena is currently being built on top of the old Atlantic Rail yard which traditionally is an area with high traffic, but did nothing to help the surrounding area or the city of Brooklyn. The new center is going to improve the value of the city and bring in new tourism to the area. The Barclays Center is to host the home games of the New Jersey Nets, or soon to be the Brooklyn Nets (BarclaysCenter.com). The 42+ games (with a possibility to host additional games if team makes the NBA Playoffs) is a major attraction to arena tourists around the area and fans of NBA from around the country to watch these high intensity competitive basketball games. Once the center opens restaurants, bars, hotels, and other leisure business is going to witness an increase in tourism traffic to the area. The impact of the new tourism traffic can be represented best by “The Fiscal Impact of NBA Team and Arena” developed by the Memphis Grizzlies.
The total value of new (incremental) expenditures made each year in the local economy at NBA games and by team/arena operations will be approximately $103 million. This will generate almost $2.1 million in local government revenues and $1.9 million in state revenues (Gene Pearson).
This project has virtually unlimited positive benefits for local businesses. The increase in tourism is going to be a major contributor to the funding of this major city restoration project. The Center is expected to open for the 2012-2013 NBA season (Kaminski, 1). The date for new change is rapidly approaching and is going to really help Brooklyn return to glory yesterday.
This particular project interests me as I am a big fan of the NBA. Personally I am a Cleveland Cavaliers fan. Due to their recent lack of success, I have been forced to be a fan of the entire NBA in order to fulfill my need for competitive basketball. The Barclays Center is very appealing to me as I am very interested to work in NBA arena and this brand new state-of-the-art facility. Working in an arena with new technology would be a very satisfying experience as I would expect to learn a lot about event planning that I might not have learned from an older arena. I will be keeping a close eye on this project and the success of the Barclays Center going into the future.
References Used
Kaminski, Tom. “Barclays Center Construction Progressing At Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards.” CBS Sports. CBS, 26 May 2011. Web. 29 Aug. 2011. <http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/05/26/barclays-center-construction-progressing-at-brooklyns-atlantic-yards/>.
Pearson, Gene, Luchy Burrell, Steve Redding, and Sonya Schenk. Fiscal Impact of NBA Team and Arena. Memphis, TN: The University of Memphis Regional Economic Development Center, 2001. N. pag. The University of Memphis. Web. 12 Sept. 2011. <http://planning.memphis.edu/NBAmarket.pdf>.
The Barclays Center. The Barclays Center, 2011. Web. 29 Aug. 2011. <http://barclayscenter.com/>.