Nets extend lease, but still expect to move to Brooklyn

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New Jersey Nets agreed to extend their lease at the Continental Airlines Arena for five years, though they expect to be in a new arena in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the 2009-10 season.

The extension would allow the Nets to continue playing at the Meadowlands arena through the 2012-13 season, Nets chief executive Brett Yormark said Monday.

If the Nets move anywhere besides Brooklyn or Queens they would have to pay an escape fee ranging from $12.1 million after the 2007-08 season to $2.6 million after the 2011-12 season, according to a summary of terms provided by the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority.

Authority president and CEO George R. Zoffinger said the new lease guarantees some income to the state every year, a departure from past years.

"In no circumstances will the sports authority lose money on this lease. We've lost up to $1 million a year on this lease," Zoffinger said. The projected net income to the state is $350,000 the first year, he said.

Zoffinger also said the team is welcome to stay in New Jersey.

"If Brooklyn doesn't get built, we hope to strike a long-term deal to keep them in New Jersey," he said.

He also noted that the authority only has to purchase $400,000 worth of tickets each year under the new lease, nearly half of the $750,000 specified in the current agreement.

Yormark said the team also was pleased with the lease, which now gives it all revenues from ticket sales.

"It's a better lease than we've ever had, quite frankly, because all the upside is ours," he said.

Nets owner Bruce Ratner bought the team in 2004 and is trying to get approval for the Brooklyn arena, part of his $4.2 billion Atlantic Yards project. The Nets would be the first major professional sports team in Brooklyn since the Dodgers left in 1957.

The project is to be built over and around a rail yard and was designed by architect Frank Gehry. It includes an 18,000-seat arena, apartments, office buildings, stores and a hotel.