NoLandGrab NoLandGrab's List: Prokhorov

Mikhail Prokhorov has an estimated $9.5 billion on his balance sheet and a reputation for partying harder than his future players, but he will have to work hard to match the antics produced by his predecessors." /><meta name="subsection" content="Sports" /><meta name="section" content="Article" /><script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" charset="ISO-8859-1

Forbes Editor Indicates Prokhorov's Investment Just One-Third What Team, Arena Are Worth Forbes National Editor Mike Ozanian indicated that prospective Nets Owner Mikhail Prokhorov's $200M investment for 80% of the franchise and 45% of the proposed Barclays…

Who is Mikhail Prokhorov and what does his deal to buy the New Jersey Nets mean for the future of U.S. sports team ownership? Those were the questions running through sports business circles last week after the announced sale of the New Jersey Nets to the Russian multibillionaire

A case in which Russia's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, was arrested by French police investigating prostitution has been dismissed due to lack of evidence of any crime, according to the billionaire's lawyer.
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France drops prostitution case involving Russian billionaire

Mikhail Prokhorov wants to buy the Nets; the Jersey Star-Ledger takes a look at him. The billionaire has "suspected ties to organized crime," but that's "not uncommon in Russia, according to Rusal's own website." His largest U.S. operation is the country's only palladium and platinum producer, which he bought with the help of George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the Carlyle Group.

This weekend the Times offered a more light-hearted take from Moscow-based correspondent Clifford J. Levy: "Oligarchs have their share of occupational hazards: heavily armed rivals, stupendously corrupt bureaucrats," etc., but can Prokhorov face down longtime Atlantic Yards project opponent Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn?

"Brooklyn is the Russian capital of America, so Mr. Prokhorov will feel right at home here, and I have been assured he will put the interests of Brooklyn first when it comes to making [the planned] Barclays Center and its benefits to Brooklyn a reality," Markowitz told the Post.

The beep sought to dispute borough politicians and political operates sourced in Friday’s edition who said Markowitz behind closed doors is embarrassed and angry over developer Bruce Ratner’s announcement last week that he plans to sell a majority stake in the Nets to Prokhorov.

Not so many years ago, such a deal would have been a clear sign of the apocalypse, especially since sports so often is tied to patriotism.

Current Nets owner Bruce Ratner believes that the sale of 80 percent of the Nets to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is the final piece to building an $800 million arena and moving to Brooklyn. The Nets currently play in the Izod Center, the oldest arena in the league. Prokhorov would be the first foreign owner in the NBA if the sale is approved.

Prokhorov’s ownership conditions would give him a 45% stake in the team’s new arena in downtown Brooklyn. In addition to the arena, the Atlantic Yards projects would create more than 1,000 housing units, with more than half of them being touted as being “affordable or middle-income.”

Σε Ρώσους πουλιέται η ομάδα Μπάσκετ του Νιού Τζέρζι

Прохоров или Абрамович?

Daniel Goldstein and his Don’t Destroyers are now waging verbal warfare against the Prokhorov Oligarchs, but they are into a game where money talks louder than insults.

In others news, an editorial about the Atlantic Yards Development in the Brooklyn Eagle paints a grim picture for opponents of the Nets move to Brooklyn: “Daniel Goldstein and his Don’t Destroyers are now waging verbal warfare against the Prokhorov Oligarchs, but they are into a game where money talks louder than insults.”

In First Interview, Prokhorov Emphasizes Russian Angle
September 30, 2009, 8:43 pm

In his first interview since agreeing to buy the Nets and part of Barclays Center, Mikhail Prokhorov told Russia Today that he expects to bring NBA training methods home to help Russian hoopsters develop, just as the Russian owners of British soccer teams have brought home their teams’ skills to young soccer players. Prokhorov promised to spend $10 – $20 million to train Russian players.
Russian basketball to get NBA treatment (with Video) - - Russia Today

President Obama may have weighed in on New York’s upcoming gubernatorial race, but he remains silent when it comes to commenting on Atlantic Yards.

That after the White House declined comment on Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s majority purchase of the NBA’s Nets and their planned move to Brooklyn.

Obama, a huge Chicago Bulls fan, recently decided to scrap former President George Bush’s missile defense plan in Eastern Europe in favor of a more mobile defense system, and relations between the United States and Russia appear to be thawing.

According to Prokhorov spokesperson Freeman Miller, the team’s new owner knows former Russian President and current Prime minister Vladamir Putin very well, and despite reports of some Russian Parliament members not being happy with the purchase, the sale appears to have the Kremlin’s approval.

Obama had talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at last week’s G20 summit in Pittsburgh, and the White House also declined comment on whether Atlantic Yards and the sale entered into their conversation.

Questions submitted via email to the Russian government were not answered at press time.

Russian investors are among those leading the way with the country's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, recently reaching a $200 million deal to buy an 80 percent share in the New Jersey Nets basketball team and a 45 percent stake the Atlantic Yards, a real estate development in New York's Brooklyn borough where the team will play if the project is completed.