After Nets minority owner Joe Tsai bought the Liberty, he told The Post his main job as owner will be finding a way to put people in the seats. That may mean finding a new home for his team. Or two.
A great showing at the gate at Sunday’s one-off game at Barclays Center showed why moving to Brooklyn is at the top of Tsai’s wish list. And sources told The Post there are even discussions of having the Liberty potentially split games between Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum.
“That’s a possibility. Like an Islanders deal,” said a source.
The Liberty drew 7,715 for Sunday’s loss to Seattle, four times what they have been averaging since moving to tiny Westchester County Center last season. They had 4,155 fans for an exhibition game against China at Barclays Center in May, and far surpassed that with this WNBA game.
A source told The Post there were very few complimentary tickets in Sunday’s crowd, an auspicious sign. However, the concern is whether that crowd is sustainable enough to make the bigger building viable. With the WNBA’s wheelhouse being family entertainment — and Long Island providing that base — a Barclays and Coliseum combo is being discussed.
“We need to find a solution when it comes to playing venue, a place where the fans can get excited about,” Tsai had told The Post. “Right now the Westchester venue has a limit of something like 3,000 seats. It’s tiny, it’s hard to get to. If you live in New York City, it’s kind of difficult to get to White Plains. That’s the first order of business. As an owner I see that as my most important responsibility, how to bring more fans into the arena to watch the team.”
Or bring the team to an arena fans will go to. Tsai’s purchase of 49 percent of the Nets from Mikhail Prokhorov didn’t include Barclays Center; but now sources told The Post he’s close to a deal to buy the arena. That would also pave the way for him to accelerate his takeover of the remaining 51 percent of the Nets as well, which wasn’t initially expected until January 2021.
“I don’t own this building,” Tsai said in May. “So still things need to be worked out. Of course I’m going to consider Barclays Center as one of the options, but no promises at this point. The Coliseum is far. I’d say we’re trying to explore all options. Right now the current situation is not ideal. Barclays Center would be great.”
The Liberty finished in the top four in WNBA attendance in all 18 seasons at the Garden, averaging 9,888 in 2017 before then-owner Jim Dolan moved the team to Westchester. But it has never been better than seventh in attendance in four full seasons outside of the city.
The Liberty were just 12th last season at 2,823, and drew just 1,886 in 15 dates at Westchester. Their plummet was so precipitous it actually accounted for approximately half of the WNBA’s drop to a record-low 6,721 fans per game across the league.
With talks on a new collective bargaining agreement looming, concerned owners will surely keep a close eye on where the Liberty ends up playing.
Michael Zavodsky, the chief revenue officer of Nets parent company BSE Global, is leaving to become the president of sales for Roc Nation, which just agreed to a long-term partnership with the NFL.
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