The language in those documents—a preliminary offering statement for $500 million in tax-free bonds, for which Mr. Ratner is now attempting to find buyers—say that Barclays (BCS) will pay $10 million a year, which is by far the largest committed revenue stream so far. The offering statement lists $35 million in contracts that have been signed thus far for various other sponsorships and suite licenses, including the naming rights deal.
Based on numbers compiled by a market study—which is attached to the bond documents—the Barclays Center deal is the largest ever for an arena with just an NBA team, but is more comparable to a few other arenas that host both NBA and NHL teams. In 2010 dollars, Atlanta’s Philips Arena has a 20-year contract worth $256 million, according to the market study’s author, CSL, and Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden is worth $185 million. When the size of a metro area is taken into account, according to CSL, the Nets naming rights deal is only the 11th-largest of NBA-only arenas.
The whole 772-page document is here (the naming rights bit starts on p104), complete with market studies and estimates.
A few other tidbits: The developer forecasts $23 million a year from luxury boxes and suites, and $32 million a year from concessions. There’s also a planned $1 “green building fee” to be tacked on to every event ticket—Nets or otherwise—which is estimated to bring in $1.9 million a year.
Mr. Ratner must sell his $500 million in bonds before an I.R.S.-imposed deadline of Dec. 31. His bonds were rated investment grade by two ratings agencies earlier this week, and now the company will market and try to sell the bonds to investors. There are also at least three other lawsuits pending, though officials and others involved with the project are doubtful that the litigation will be successful.
