SPORTS> North America
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SPORTS> North America
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A Russian owner in NBA: Tycoon buying NJ Nets
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-24 14:25 the NBA players' association, said the deal "speaks to the fact there's something that potential ownership groups still see about the NBA that is good because you wouldn't have anybody _ European, Russian, American _ buying into an NBA team at this point if they didn't see something that was a positive for them to get out of the deal." Prokhorov's Onexim Group announced the deal jointly with Forest City Ratner Cos. and Nets Sports and Entertainment. According to the agreement, entities to be formed by Onexim Group will invest $200 million and make funding commitments to acquire 80 percent of the NBA team, 45 percent of the arena project and the right to buy up to 20 percent of the Atlantic Yards Development Co., which will develop the non-arena real estate. The NBA will review the proposal, and the deal must be approved by three-fourths of its board of governors. Ratner and Prokhorov said they hope to have the sale completed by the first quarter of 2010. "I have a long-standing passion for basketball and pursuing interests that forward the development of the sport in Russia," Prokhorov said in a statement. "I look forward to becoming a member of the NBA and working with Bruce and his talented team to bring the Nets to Brooklyn." While the proposed deal would give Ratner's group an infusion of money for the arena project - he faces a December deadline to break ground or lose access to financing from tax-free bonds - there is fervent opposition to the additional 22-acre (9-hectare) residential and commercial real estate development. It would create more than a dozen residential and office towers with more than 6,400 apartments built over property that includes a rail yard, warehouses and several blocks of homes and businesses. New York's Court of Appeals is to hear an eminent domain challenge to the project next month. Prokhorov, 44, shot to prominence in thereport.
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