Pacific Park, Brooklyn
The Barclays Center is the new home arena of the National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets, and the NHL's New York Islanders which was purchased by a group led by principal developer Bruce Ratner with the intention of making it and the arena the centerpiece of the whole project. This brought major league professional sports to Brooklyn for the first time since the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, California after the 1957 season. The arena’s design once included an ice skating rink and a green roof. An NBA basketball team now owned primarily by Russia's second richest man Mikhail Prokhorov, the Nets began playing at the Barclays Center arena in 2012. Formerly the New Jersey Nets, the Nets re-branded themselves when they moved to the Barclays Center. Prokhorov is an avid basketball fan, and, with 80 percent ownership in the Nets, he has become the first Russian owner of a major U.S. professional sports franchise. The deal was necessary for Ratner, who was risking losing tax-exempt financing and the Barclays naming-rights deal if he did not break ground within three months' time.
Island Garden
The 5,200 seat arena also hosted the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association from 1969 to 1972. Hall of Famer Rick Barry led the ABA in scoring during the 1970–71 season. The Nets were unable to play any home playoff games in 1971 because the arena was booked with other events. In 1971–72, the Nets posted their first winning season, advancing all the way to the ABA Finals, where they lost to the Indiana Pacers. The franchise stabilized. Late in the season, the team moved from the Garden (capacity 8,500) and moved into the new Nassau Coliseum (17,800 capacity). In 1976 the Nets franchise were admitted into the National Basketball Association, where they have remained, eventually becoming today's Brooklyn Nets.