Weekly Digest #11: Big Payday Looms for Nets Owner Tsai
Well, if he sells a share to the (David) Koch family, billionaire right-wing influencers. Remember "I don't want to make this a political issue"?
This weekly digest offers a way for people to keep up with my Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report blog, as well as my other coverage in this newsletter.
The big news this week surfaced without solid sourcing, though several news outlets reported that Brooklyn Nets (and arena operating company) owner Joe Tsai is considering selling 10%-15% of his shares.
To whom? The family investment vehicle of the late David Koch, who with his brother Charles was a notorious funder of right-wing causes.
That means Tsai could finally cash out from the continued rise in values, without having to sell the team or lose control.
And if the valuation is $4.8 billion, that would not only mark an astonishing rise in value, most recently estimated at under $4 billion, that $480-$720 million would more than make up for the losses he's absorbed running the arena and team.
The only catch: he’d be selling to the Koch family, notably 25-year-old basketball fan David Koch, Jr., so the money’s somewhat tainted.
Some Brooklyn Nets fans reacted with dismay, while others brushed it off or pointed to hypocrisies. As I tweeted, this might make Atlantic Yards and arena developer Bruce Ratner look good.
Of course, the sale isn’t solid yet, so the leaks might have been to establish negotiating advantage.
But Tsai’s a businessman, willing to defend the Chinese regime (where he’s made his fortune, with Alibaba). Remember when he flip-flopped in December 2021 on allowing the unvaccinated Kyrie Irving to play away games:
“We’re trying to be practical. And I’ve always said I don’t want to make this a political issue,” Tsai told The Post by phone Friday night. “My only religion is to win games and win the championship. That’s where we are.”
From: Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park (Substack)
Feb. 20: Did EB-5 Funds Help Build the Barclays Center?
Despite promoters' hype, a governmental report on investor visas, and some bad journalism (like the NPR piece below), the answer is no--and the reality more troubling.
Clever verbiage like the “Brooklyn Arena and Transportation Infrastructure Project” and the “Brooklyn Arena Infrastructure and Transportation Improvement Fund” could leave the impression an arena was being built.
But the developer claimed the money was used for infrastructure, while other evidence suggests it was used to replace a land loan. In other words, though EB-5 is purportedly a job-creation program, no new jobs were created.
From: Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report
Feb. 21: Floundering Nets fire Coach Jacque Vaughn, but now GM Sean Marks is on the hot seat, with maybe one more chance to right the franchise.
Feb. 22: Years later, reflections on an EB-5 scam in Vermont, once promoted as a model. "The whole program, it turned out, lent itself to dishonesty." If only the Atlantic Yards EB-5 follies, not as blatantly corrupt but clearly dubious, provoked similar scrutiny.
Feb. 23: Members of the notorious Koch family said to be seeking 10% to 15% of Brooklyn Nets & arena company.
Feb. 24: Vote on new I.S. 653 (in B15 building) at meeting Tuesday should be perfunctory. The School Construction Authority finally estimates September 2024 opening, after previously predicting September 2025.