When the Nets roll into Brooklyn next season, things will be different.
Off the court, at least. (On the court remains to be seen.) The Nets are coming to the nation’s largest market in a new building and they are looking to make a splash.
There will be changes — and they will have Jay-Z’s flair.
Jay-Z is a minority owner of the team and cultural icon and tastemaker. The long-overlooked Nets are trying to cash in on that style to provide a higher profile in Brooklyn, reports the Wall Street Journal.The Nets are celebrating the role that he’s played in everything from revamping the logo (“He’s refreshed it,” [Nets CEO Brett] Yormark said) to designing new uniforms (“His fingerprints are all over it”) to coming up with a new color scheme (“A bold redirection”), all of which the team plans to unveil this spring.
In addition, the Nets are set to begin marketing 11 luxury suites that will be known as “The Vault at Barclays Center,” a small, high-end space on the event level of the arena. Yes, Jay-Z chose the forks—in addition to offering his input on the Champagne ($300 bottles of Armand de Brignac), the layout (asymmetrical) and much of the décor (lots of black and shimmering metallics).
The Vault will have its own entrance, owners get 10 front row tickets to every event, and they have their own private bar (done in Armand de Brignac style). All for just a cool $550,000 a year. Basically, if you have to ask you can’t afford it (and you’re not cool enough anyway).
By the way, Jay-Z is opening the Barclays Center with a series of concerts.
The Nets need something to give them standing when they get to Brooklyn. Jay-Z does that. So would Dwight Howard, but that’s another matter.
