Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is off to a flying start at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. (Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post)
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is getting a nice bump in his “Net” worth.
The 6-foot-8-inch Nets owner has seen the value of his investment more than double since he bought the team two years ago, thanks to the move into the more financially friendly Barclays Center.
As the Nets gear up for the first season in the soon-to-be-completed Barclays Center, the team is now worth roughly $575 million, according to one sports investment banker. That’s 60 percent more than they were valued just last season by Forbes.
In addition, the team may post its first profit in a decade, The Post has learned.
The Nets are projected to generate $140 million in revenue and earn between $10 million and $15 million in profit, a source with direct knowledge said. Last year, the NBA franchise took in half that amount and lost nearly $30 million.
A Nets spokesman declined comment on the subject of the team’s finances.
In May 2010, Prokhorov bought 80 percent of the team and 45 percent of the arena for $223 million. Of that amount, around $140 million was allocated for the purchase of the team, a source said.
Today, after subtracting $225 million in loans from its estimated $575 million value, the team’s has about $350 million in equity. So Prokhorov’s 80 percent stake would be worth $280 million — or double his $140 million investment.
That would make the Nets the fourth-most valuable NBA team, trailing only the Lakers, Knicks and Bulls, according to Forbes.
Nets CEO Brett Yormark said the Nets will sell north of 10,000 season tickets — double what the team sold when it was in Newark. The average ticket price is $134.20.
“We weren’t so sure we would reach 10,000,” Yormak he said, adding that sponsorships are also triple last year’s rate.