Nets ownership left New Jersey in 2012.
In the this is not happening department, the National Basketball Association’s Brooklyn Nets franchise is not moving back to Newark, New Jersey anytime soon. In an interview with a local New Jersey newspaper, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said “I love the idea, So I have been pressing for that I haven’t made a lot of headway yet. You know, maybe in my second 100 days.” Sherill wants to get more events into the Newark building that houses the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils franchise, the Professional Women’s Hockey League New York Sirens franchise and Seton Hall University basketball. The building also features concerts. The New Jersey Nets franchise left the state and moved to Brooklyn in 2012.
New Jersey could easily support more sports. The northern New Jersey area is densely populated. If the five northern New Jersey counties became a city, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, and Union that city would have a combined population between 3.8 to 4 million people making it the third largest city in America behind New York and Los Angeles. The city would have an international airport in Newark, a major port in Elizabeth and a number of Fortune 500 companies. Northern New Jersey also has a number of franchises too, however all but the Devils are identified as New York franchises, the National Football League’s Giants and Jets, Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls franchise’s stadium is in Harrison which is very close to Newark. The Brooklyn Nets franchise started off in the American Basketball Association as the New Jersey Americans playing out of the Teaneck Armony in 1967. The franchise moved to Long Island becoming the New York Nets in 1968. The franchise, now in the NBA, moved back to New Jersey in 1977 and went to Brooklyn 35 years later. The team isn’t leaving Brooklyn anytime soon.
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Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
