RIM SHOT: Kris Humphries has a chance to star in a new reality series in Brooklyn. (
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The newly minted Brooklyn Nets are New York’s hottest ticket right now.
They haven’t even played a game yet, but there’s already a tangible aura surrounding the team.
That’s due to its part-owner — legendary rapper Jay-Z, married to the equally famous Beyoncè — and to its new home, Brooklyn’s spanking-new Barclays Center arena on Atlantic Avenue.
Fans who can’t snare a ticket to the team’s first home preseason game on Monday can see it on YES, the Yankees cable channel that — when the Nets were in Jersey — played second fiddle to the Knicks-owned MSG Network during basketball season.
In keeping with the newest team in the NBA’s newest arena, YES says it is working on a flashy grphics-and-music package to coincide with the Nets’ fresh start in Brooklyn.
Getting into the Barclays Center arena, which opened officially last month, for the first game of the Nets’ inaugural season is the equivalent of scoring a playoff ticket — expensive and hard to do at any price.
That’s why YES is gearing up for the team’s first appearance at the arena — even if the game doesn’t count.
The network is not only adding additional cameras to its Nets telecasts, but will also debut new theme music, which will be incorporated throughout the broadcasts.
Jay-Z was not called in to do the new theme music, but the channel is promising an instrumental track that’s got a “gritty, urban feel” — in keeping with the team’s new identity.
According to a YES spokesman, the new graphics will not be ready for the network’s two preseason games (Monday and Oct. 19). They should be ready by Nov. 1, for the season opener (against the Knicks), during pre- and post-game segments on YES (the game itself airs on TNT).
YES will also air a one-hour season preview show Monday before the preseason opener.
The first YES Nets telecast to feature the new look and sound will air Nov. 3, when the team takes on Toronto.
All of these changes, however, won’t affect the team’s broadcasting roster.
Ian Eagle returns as primary play-by-play man, joined by analysts Mike Fratello and Jim Spanarkel (Ryan Ruocco will do some play-by-play).