In an article about a possible glut of luxury boxes at new sports facilities around New York, Crains New York Business quotes Nets president Brett Yormark as saying the team hopes to sell out all the Barclays Center's 118 luxury suites. The team will begin selling the suites in earnest this fall with the opening of a model box at the New York Times building, which is part owned by Bruce Ratner.
The luxury suites will be part of a larger group of suites that include party suites capable of entertaining up to 60 people. All told, Barclays Center will have 170 suites, compared to 29 at the Continental Airlines Arena.
According to Crain's, "The Nets' Barclays Center in Brooklyn, designed by architect Frank Gehry, promises to be an icon in sports. Though the arena's full design has yet to be revealed, and it is not scheduled to be completed for another two seasons, Nets Chief Executive Brett Yormark says he's already received countless requests for luxury boxes.
"The suites are all about high design and next-generation access," say Mr. Yormark, using terms like high-def, Wi-Fi and VIP in the same breath. Mr. Gehry will design all 118 suites individually, in his signature style, which features curved walls and odd angles. The average price will be about $275,000 per year.
Yormark told Crain's the Nets expect to target Brooklyn businesses and "downtown Manhattan finance, fashion, law and construction firms."
In an analysis for the New York's Empire State Development Corporation, which approved Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, the accounting firm
KPMG laid out the financial prospects for the suites:
[Forest City Ratner] assumes that approximately 162 of 170 suites will be sold annually through a combination of first ring suites, second ring suites, courtside suites, and loge boxes. The suite price includes the price of tickets to NBA games and approximately 25 percent of other events held at the arena. In addition, it is assumed that three of the four party suites, each with sixty suites, will be sold for all NBA games on an annual basis."
However, the same analysis warned: "Given the competitiveness of the market, both the total number of suites and the average price per suite assumed by FCRC appear to be on the high end relative to other similar arenas. NBA arenas average approximately ninety suites. Facilities in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Dallas, Toronto, and Philadelphia are the only ones that offer more than 125 suites. Other than the Palace at Auburn Hills in Detroit, all of these facilities host both NBA and NHL teams."