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The question is: By creating and marketing such an exclusive space within the arena, does the team run the risk of alienating—pardon the expression—the 99%? Or, in this case, the 99.9%? "I think there is a concern that everyone is being stratified: 'Oh no, you can't go in there,'" said Andy Dolich, a sports-marketing consultant and former chief operating officer of the San Francisco 49ers. Luxury suites, of course, are nothing new, with pro franchises depending on them for up to 20% of their revenue. (Yankee Stadium has 68 of them.) And Nets officials say they're being careful to appeal to a wide collection of fans. For example, 2,000 tickets will be priced at $15 or less for each game—which, in theory, would buy you 1 minute, 48 seconds in The Vault. Dolich said he has long considered sports to be "the last town square in our society where everybody gets together and has a common experience." But he wonders if that concept is one of growing nostalgia. Sports, he said, seem to be as much about ancillary entertainment—the music, the lights, the plush accommodations—as they are about the games themselves. Wall Street Journal

Brooklyn Nets, Jay-Z 

He’s not only part-owner of the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets — he’s helping design their uniforms, too. Rap mogul Jay-Z — co-founder of the hip clothing line Rocawear — is working with Nets brass and Adidas to design uniforms for the team when it moves into the under-construction Barclays Center in Brooklyn next year, Nets officials told the Post yesterday. Jay-Z and team officials had gathered near the arena construction site to announce that the New Jersey Nets team would be renamed the “Brooklyn Nets.” Jay-Z is also set to open the 18,000-seat arena in September 2012 with up to three concerts. New York Post

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z 

The New Jersey Nets will take on their new name when the team moves next fall from Newark to the still-being-built Barclays Center on Atlantic Ave. in Prospect Heights. Brooklyn-born Jay-Z, a part owner of the club, will rock the mike to open the new digs, but the rapper wouldn't say how many concerts he will be giving. "Maybe one. Maybe two. Maybe three," he said, adding a little joke, "I sound like LeBron." New York Daily News

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z, Mikhail Prokhorov 

The rap mogul was making light of James' declaration of how many NBA titles he would win when he joined the Miami Heat. Sources told the Daily News that Jay-Z will give eight shows during a blowout opening of the new arena. "I asked for two things out of my partners in ownership - that we name the New Jersey Nets the Brooklyn Nets, and ... that I open [the arena] with a concert," Jay-Z said. New York Daily News

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z, Mikhail Prokhorov 

Speaking at a press conference this morning in Brooklyn, Jay-Z, a Brooklyn native, announced the team name and also announced that he will perform the first concert in the Barclays Center next September. “From the moment the Barclays Center became a reality, I knew this meant something significant for Brooklyn,” the hip-hop mogul said. “This is where I’m from, I’ll always be Brooklyn, and opening this arena will mean more to me than anywhere else. I also look forward to opening night for the Brooklyn Nets. We’re going to create an atmosphere like only Brooklyn can.” Newark Star-Ledger

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z 

Hours later, after visiting children in Hackensack University Medical Center, Johnson said keeping the name Nets will allow the franchise to keep its history connected to its future. "When you look at the history of the Nets, it’s not all that bad,'' the coach said. "Whether it’s ABA or NBA, when you’ve had guys like Julius Erving, and Buck Williams wear your uniform, that means something. Other teams have done it differently – obviously, when Seattle relocated to Oklahoma, they changed everything. "I think, and I agree with... what’s the mindset on keeping the Nets name, and that’s what it’s all about: bridging the gap between the past and the future,'' he said. "There are a lot of folks in New Jersey that are going with us to Brooklyn, and (keeping the Nets name) gives them something. A lot of our ownership group, with the Bruce Ratners, they were (the New Jersey) Nets. And now you’ve got the (Mikhail) Prokhorovs and ownership that are Brooklyn. So I think that combination of the past and future is pretty crafty.'' Newark Star-Ledger

New Jersey Nets, Avery Johnson, Jay-Z 

Markowitz on fire at Nets event: “I can’t wait -- I cant wait! -- until those Knicks, aka Manhattan Knicks, step out of the way for what will surely be our N.B.A. champions, the Brooklyn Nets.” Twitter

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z 

Nets part-owner Jay-Z will open the team’s new Brooklyn arena by performing there next September. The hip-hop mogul said at a news conference Monday across the street from the construction site that he will perform “one, two, maybe three” times at the Barclays Center. Dates haven’t been set. Washington Times

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z 

Rap mogul Jay-Z will headline a series of concerts to open Brooklyn's new Nets arena next fall - and will make it official Monday: The team will be named for his hometown. The superstar, who owns a small piece of the soon-to-be renamed Brooklyn Nets, will perform at eight concerts to celebrate the grand opening of the arena - where all-access passes are going for up to $15,400 a season. Jay-Z likely will be joined by his wife, Beyoncé - who by then will have given birth to the couple's first child - at one of the shows, and will bring on a series of other performers, sources said. New York Daily News

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z, Mikhail Prokhorov 

Jay-Z is unleashing a full-court press for his Brooklyn-bound Nets -- hoping to steal Knick fans from lower Manhattan. The hip-hop superstar and part-owner of the Nets is set to tip off a major marketing campaign today aimed at enticing fans to bench the Knicks and score season tickets for his Prospect Heights hoopsters. The soon-to-be-former New Jersey Nets dribble over to the Barclays Center next fall, and Jay-Z is expected to reveal the team’s “new name” this morning, sources told The Post. The fresh hoops handle could be as simple as a crossover from “New Jersey Nets” to “Brooklyn Nets” or be a complete overhaul for the founding ABA club originally named the New York Americans. New York Post

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z, Mikhail Prokhorov 

We should all have bosses this easygoing. On the track "Ni**as in Paris" off his uber-anticipated Watch the Throne collabo with Kanye, New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets co-owner Jay-Z raps "The Nets could go 0 for 82, and I look at you like this shit gravy." complex.com

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z 

Jay Z is no frontman. Not only does Jigga have more Grammy Awards than any NBA owner, he’s also more involved than these “so-called” celebrity minority owners, according to Nets GM Billy King. “I think a lot of those so-called guys that have parts of teams, they vanish,” King said. “There was one in Cleveland, what was his name? Usher. They haven’t seen him. I think Nelly in (Charlotte) – haven’t seen him. But Jay-Z, I think players see that it’s more of a passion for him, not just something he’s involved in.” New York Daily News

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z, Billy King 

“To see (Jay-Z) give a pitch on Brooklyn, and the passion about going to Brooklyn – you see it on tape, you see it on TV. To see him in a room with Carmelo, and making it, you see the passion there,” King said. “And if he’s as passionate about Brooklyn, I just can’t imagine what the other people that live there are going to be like when we get there. And to see him as involved and as passionate about the Nets, to me, it’s a real positive. It’s not just something that he’s just using, or investing in. It’s something that he’s going to be involved in even more when we get – next season, I think, even further, we go to Brooklyn.” New York Daily News

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z, Billy King 

King also said Shawn Carter is involved in basketball decisions. “I send him emails, or relate, ‘What about this guy?’” King said. “But he is fully invested. Not just financially, but from the heart.” New York Daily News

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z, Billy King, Shawn Carter 

Conor Orr: Billy King also no commented on the ESPN report that minority owner Jay-Z was fined $50K for hanging out in the Kentucky locker room. Twitter

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z 

Marc Stein: ESPN.com sources: Nets fined $50,000 for Jay-Z's visit with Kentucky players after Wildcats clinched a Final Four in Newark. Twitter

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z 

Word circulated around the league Friday that an unnamed team -- which sources confirmed to ESPN.com is the Nets -- was fined for violating league rules that prohibit contact with players that still have remaining intercollegiate basketball eligibility. The NBA's investigation, first reported by CBSSports.com, was triggered by a video showing Jay-Z visiting with various Kentucky players in their locker room at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., after the Wildcats' quarterfinal victory over North Carolina. ESPN.com

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z 

The NBA plans to investigate contact between Nets part-owner Jay-Z and members of the Kentucky basketball team after the Wildcats beat North Carolina Sunday to advance to the Final Four, a person with knowledge of the situation told CBSSports.com. CBSSports.com

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z 

Synergies aside, the EBC wasn't simply a marketing whim. Jay-Z, a lifelong basketball fan, intended to win the summer tournament. To accomplish this goal, he'd have to unseat the defending champions, rival rapper Fat Joe's Terror Squad, a team that boasted rugged NBA players Stephon Marbury and Ron Artest, both of whom had honed their skills in New York school yards. Jay-Z was unfazed. "He was like, 'I'm going to bring this team together . . . I'm only going to do it once, and obviously I plan to win,' " recalls Fab. "Then The Black Album was supposed to come out, and then he was going to retire." SI.com

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z, Stephon Marbury, New York 

As summer settled over New York, Fab began filming and Jay-Z went to work as general manager. Previous Rucker squads were packed with street ballers, and only the best boasted one or two NBA players. Jay-Z had something different in mind. He recruited two Rucker veterans, rebound machine John "Franchise" Strickland and sweet shooter Reggie "Hi-5" Freeman, and then set about rounding out his squad with NBA players, finally accumulating a list of hard-court warriors that was almost Homeric in scope. There was power forward Kenyon Martin, the first pick of the NBA Draft three years earlier; Los Angeles swingman Lamar Odom; and Tracy McGrady, a lanky twenty-three-year-old who had averaged 32.1 points per game during the 2003--2004 season, tops in the NBA. SI.com

New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z, New York