NBA

Nets owner confident sale will lead to Brooklyn

The New Jersey Nets are moving to a new arena in Brooklyn, and Bruce Ratner believes the remaining obstacles won’t be a problem.

Ratner, the Nets principal owner, confidently predicted in a telephone interview Friday with The Associated Press that a blockbuster deal that includes selling the team to Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov was the final piece to building an $800 million arena and moving the team to the New York City borough.

Ratner sees no problem in selling almost $600 million in tax-exempt bonds by a Dec. 31 deadline and he does not believe a pending legal challenge to the state’s use of eminent domain to assemble land for the arena will succeed.

He predicted ground will be broken on the new Barclay’s Center by the end of the year.

“I feel very good, actually totally different,” Ratner said. “I feel really good.”

Months ago, experts had doubts that the cash-strapped Forest City Ratner Cos. and Nets Sports and Entertainment would be able to get Ratner’s $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards Project off the ground with the economy faltering, particularly in the real estate market.

In need of financing, Ratner started considering partnerships as early as last year and had Goldman Sachs start to look at potential investors seriously this summer.

Along came Prokhorov. The 44-year-old jet-setting playboy wanted to bring the knowledge of the NBA to his homeland while getting a piece of a team.

Goldman Sachs told Ratner that Russia’s richest man would be receptive to a proposal. Things took off.

“I flew to Russia in the middle of July and met him in Moscow,” Ratner said. “We talked and had dinner. We talked for about four hours over dinner and talked about this strategic partnership. We got along well, and kind of hit it, and it became exciting for both of us.”

It’s an odd combination. Ratner is a laid-back 64-year old who is more a geek than a jock.

Prokhorov, who is 6-foot-6, was an avid basketball player in his school days who owns a share of a successful team in the Russian pro league. He is a fixture in glitzy European resorts and once was held in France for four days of questioning — but never charged — in a prostitution investigation. Even in Russia, he raises eyebrows for his penchant for private jets and a gorgeous entourage.

Ratner knows the stories.

“Everything that we have done with the NBA and in terms of making whatever partners we have, we have always wanted a person we are proud to be partnered,” Ratner said. “We are proud to be partnered with Mr. Prokhorov.”

The deal with Prokhorov is the second major move Ratner has made to get the project going.

Aware that the economic crisis had made less money available for bonds, Ratner downsized the Barclays Center, fired noted architect Frank Gehry and eliminated all office space and other extras in the building.

“Not only did it help, it was critical,” Ratner said. “What happened when the world fell apart last year, two things happened: The ability to sell suites at the same prices, and seats at the same prices, all that become a problem, as it did for all sports.”

The announcement earlier this week that the Russians were coming — to help — was the last building block.

The deal between Prokhorov’s Onexim Group and Ratner’s companies was announced Wednesday.

According to the agreement, entities formed by Prokhorov’s group will invest $200 million and make funding commitments to acquire 80 percent of the NBA team, 45 percent of the arena project and the right to buy up to 20 percent of the Atlantic Yards Development Co., which will develop the non-arena real estate.

“It is really true when Mikhail and I sat down, and I give him a lot of credit, we had a broader vision of the partnership,” Ratner said. “It was a vision of more than basketball, it was an American businessman and a Russian businessman doing a joint venture together, increasing the investment of Russia to the United States, as well as the importance of NBA and sports and part of his vision.”

There are three obstacles that stand in the way: Completing the tax-exempt bond deal, dealing with the challenge to the use of eminent domain, and getting the sale of the team approved by three-quarters of the NBA’s 30 teams, something that seems a formality with commissioner David Stern on board.

Ratner is confident about getting the bonds.

“We feel quite good about that because the markets have returned,” he said, adding that he is meeting with rate agencies and expects to have everything done within three weeks.

New York’s Court of Appeals is to hear an eminent domain challenge to the project next month. Ratner said the project is on solid legal ground.

“You have to have a situation where the court of appeals would have to reverse the eminent domain laws that have been around a very long time and that have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s not very likely,” he said.

The project on the 22-acre site includes residential and commercial real estate development, built over property that includes a rail yard, warehouses and several blocks of homes and businesses.

The arena will be the first building.

“I look at myself as someone who did this somewhat in large part with civic purposes and that is the history of our company,” he said. “So for me I am really happy trying to do something that changes the way sports is looked at by getting this arena and whole project going.”

While he will be a minority owner of the team — but own 55 percent of the arena — Ratner likes where he is leaving the Nets.

“Doing something that ensures that this team is very well funded and is able to get the very best players makes me very happy, even though somebody else might have the primary decision making,” Ratner said. “What is important is the team and not who owns what percentage. I always wanted to see this team do well. I love the Nets.”