Barclays Center Belatedly Releases May 2026 Calendar, Including Liberty Debut and JetBlue Pop-Up on Plaza
The "public" plaza has private use. Also: seven unspecified private events, mostly Commencement ceremonies. Why not more transparency for neighbors?
As some readers know, I’ve used this Substack for more in-depth articles over the last 2.5 years and kept shorter articles, including those reliant on press releases, on my long-running Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park blog.1
I typically cover the Barclays Center’s monthly Community Notice, an event calendar for neighbors, on the blog. But I’m writing about this month’s document here because it points to the arena operator’s lack of transparency and the need for someone to keep watch.
The Barclays Center yesterday—on May 6, late!—circulated its May 2026 event calendar, with eight ticketed events: six WNBA New York Liberty games and two concerts, including Bruce Springsteen and René Liu.
In May 2025, the arena hosted seven concerts, four Liberty games, and eleven private events, mostly graduations. (The May calendar is typically light to allow for the possibility of Brooklyn Nets playoff games. That didn’t happen this year.)
As cited in the screenshot above, the arena plaza will have amplified sound from 5 to 7:25 pm tomorrow, before the Liberty’s home opener against the Connecticut Sun. Expect a full house.
A JetBlue event
Also note amplified sound on the plaza all day May 12, from 9 am to 7 pm, for what’s billed as the JetBlue Daytona Plaza event.
What’s that? It’s not explained in the calendar circulated by Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment.
Well, NYC for Free says the JetBlue Carry-On Cup, from 2 to 7 pm, will involve a pop-up to give away round-trip flights from New York to Daytona Beach.
Every 15 minutes, attendees will race on scooters designed like carry-on luggage to win a trip to the “World Center of Racing,” according to the announcement.
How much will public access to the plaza be truncated? Unclear.
What is clear, as I’ve written, is that the “public amenity” of the plaza is subject to private control, despite the significant tax exemption and other public largesse.
Private events
The month also includes seven “private events,” with no explanation. The time ranges are from when the doors open until the event ends. Most, as I discovered through web searches, are Commencement ceremonies.
May 15, 5:30-10 pm: unknown; 6:45 pm start
May 16, 7:30 am-12 pm: LIU Brooklyn, Global, Hudson & Schwartz College of Pharmacy; 9 am start
May 17, 11 am-4 pm: unknown; 12 pm start
May 18, 8:30 am-12:30 pm: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, 10 am start
May 18, 3-7 pm: The New School, 5 pm start
May 28, 8 am-12 pm: Brooklyn College, 9 am start
Why disclosure matters
At a state-sponsored Quality of Life meeting on May 7, 2019, an arena representative was asked about the monthly calendars.
(Such meetings have been suspended during a pause in project construction, but neighbors still might have questions about arena operations.)
"I know we're coming up to graduations, and I know we're going to have a lot of bus problems," commented resident Pauline Blake. "We get the monthly notice... but it doesn't tell us about graduations. Is there a way for us to find out we will have very large graduations that may have bus traffic coming?"
Indeed, sometimes buses inundate the neighborhood, and/or idle on local streets, and sometimes crowds of visitors surge on nearby blocks.
"We send out notifications," the arena rep (who lasted less than a year) responded smoothly. He noted that residents have (or could get) his contact information. "Please feel free to reach out to me, and I’ll follow up with you."
That, as I wrote, reflected a dismaying strategy of opacity, in which Barclays Center operators veered from significant disclosure of both the focus of the private event and the expected crowd size—see example below— to zero disclosure to partial disclosure.
They’re back to very partial disclosure.
Why is it so hard to tell neighbors the name of the event and the expected crowd size, even a range?
The AAPI Night Market
On Wednesday, March 20, from 6 to 10 pm, the arena will host the fifth annual AAPI Night Market.
From the notice: “Celebrate the Asian American and Pacific Islander community with complimentary food from local vendors, performances, kids activities & more. This event is free & open to the public.”
As the image indicates, it’s also sponsored by… Hennessy.
Temporary box office
The notice also discloses a buildout this month of a temporary box office on the plaza, as they’re renovating the actual box office.
It looks finished to me, as shown in the April 30 photo, and was already up as early as April 24, as I wrote. That was disclosed with the April 2026 event calendar.
The May 2025 event calendar, for reference
My coverage was headlined Barclays Center releases May 2025 event calendar: seven concerts, four Liberty games, and eleven (unspecified) private events, mostly graduations.
For example, see today's coverage: Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment will bring Casa Tua’s Cucina — high-end food court, bar, market — to One Hanson in 2027.
So glad all this info is in one place! Thanks for all you do.
It’s a sad reminder of how many rights the community gave away besides the excessive tax breaks.
Thanks for all you do.