GOAL! The rumors were (sort of) true! Hockey is really coming to Brooklyn...for at least one game. Yup, despite concerns that the Barclays Center was too small for regulation hockey, the much-maligned Atlantic Yards stadium has announced that on October 2, 2012 the Islanders are going to play the New Jersey Devils. In Brooklyn! more ›

Following in the footsteps of Jay-Z, famous Italian tenor Andrea Boccelli will sing at the Barclays Center next year. And the Post notes it's quite the coup for the under-construction arena, since Boccelli had been performing his annual holiday show at Madison Square Garden. Bocelli said in a statement, "It’s always a pleasure for me to play in New York, but I’m particularly excited to perform in Brooklyn for what will be my only 2012 performance in the city that has given me such affection." more ›

You know what "edgy" Brooklyn needs? Rich people who ride pretty horses at exclusive champagne-fueled events. Fortunately, the Gucci Masters horse-jumping competition is coming to the Barclays Center in 2013, and organizers are using the opportunity to trot out as many trite Brooklyn cliches they can think of. more ›

Hey, those rumors that the Islanders, our local soon to be stadium-less hockey team, might be coming to Brooklyn may have an ounce of truth to them. Now that the team won't have a new arena in Nassau to kick around people have been wondering if the Islanders would make a move to join the Nets at the opening-soon-enough Barclays Center over the Atlantic Yards. And it does seem that they are interested! Over the weekend Newsday confirmed that Bruce Ratner and Nets CEO Brett Yormark met with NHL officials at the league offices in Manhattan last week. more ›

Beer-soaked Dance Dance Revolution junkies, rejoice! You might not have to go all the way to Times Square to get your sweat on anymore! A giant "Dave & Busters"-style "entertainment mecca" might be coming to downtown Brooklyn soon, right across the street from the Barclays Center. After reading the very excited online ad the property's owner posted today today, what "Chuck E. Cheese with beer"-style chain wouldn't want to move in? more ›

Prime 6, the forthcoming Flatbush Avenue restaurant-lounge that's got Park Slopers in a tizzy, is back in the news after last night's community board meeting. You'll recall that at the start of March one Park Slope resident made waves with a petition urging the club to promote indie musicians, not hip hop artists. Others, however, seemed more concerned about the joint's 46-seat back patio, which the owner initially asserted would stay open until 4 a.m. in the summer. Now he's agreed to close it at 1 a.m., but the locals still aren't satisfied; they want Prime 6 to move the party inside at midnight on weekends. But the owner's not having it. more ›

Earlier this week, it was reported that the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be skipping town to Jersey for the time being. But Brooklyn Paper reports today that the circus will soon have a new home in Brooklyn—at the Barclays Center. One of the productions of the “Greatest Show on Earth” will take up residency at the future home of the Nets in March 2013, about six months after the arena is slated to open. more ›

The Nets' season is quickly hitting the crapper with a six game losing streak, leaving them with a less-than-sterling 6-17 record. And while the mere fact that they exist may be enough to develop some fan base in Newark, it ain't gonna cut it once the team moves to Brooklyn in a few years. But you know what might get the fans in? Forget Carmelo Anthony—try free beer. more ›

Shaquille O'Neal chatted with NJ's Herald News about the Nets, whom the Celtics are playing tonight at the Prudential Center in Newark, and guess what, he has an opinion of the team moving to Brooklyn! Shaq said, "I would have liked to see the new owner get with the guy who built the arena and keep the Nets [in Newark]. I don't want to see the team go to Brooklyn. Maybe the two heads can get together, they can do that and I can come down there and become general manager." more ›

Teenagers: We can all agree they ruin everything, especially public places, but is there anything we can do to stop them? Not really, unless you're a powerful developer like Bruce Ratner and the politicians in your pocket give you private property through eminent domain. Last week Forest City Ratner released some renderings showing how they're turning some of the land grabbed in downtown Brooklyn into a public plaza. And when it opens in 201???, everybody's welcome to enjoy the plaza's "environmentally conscious landscaping" and "intimate seating areas"—everyone, that is, except teenagers congregating in groups of four or more. more ›

The Post's rantin' Steve Cuozzo is in rare form today with his takedown of the new plaza planned for the Barclays Center/Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. Cuozzo calls the design "singularly malevolent in its ugliness," and "more conducive to hosting a Crips-Bloods scrimmage than the intended upscaling of the neighborhood." The best part? When "He Who Yells At Cloud" lays the blame for this "travesty" at the feet of the project's biggest opponent. more ›

Just days after we tried to console forlorn Atlantic Yards hater Rick Moody by reminding him about all the unused empty space surrounding the boondoggle, the project's designer released these flashy new renderings showing what they have in mind. Though the Municipal Art Society had envisioned a dreary vacant lot around the Barclays Center Nets arena, it seems SHoP Architects have bigger things in mind. Like a plaza! And lush plant life native to the Northern Hemisphere. And, best of all, an Oculus. (Eat your heart out, Shelbyville.) more ›

New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has filed paperwork with the NBA to change the team's name when it decamps to Brooklyn in 2012. This doesn't necessarily mean that Prokhorov will change the name—the Daily News clarifies that changing the name is a long process that requires over two years of advance notice, so this may just be a placeholder in case Prokhorov decides he wants to change it to the Brooklyn Nyets or the Brooklyn Boondoggles or something. The In-the-Net Domains? Fine, what do you think he should change it to? more ›

After having breakfast with Mayor Bloomberg (and Jay-Z and Bruce Ratner) on Wednesday, Russian billionaire and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov met the NYC media, joking, "America, I come in peace," demurring, "I don't want to put on the table all of my secrets," and challenging, "We are going to turn Knicks fans into Nets fans, it's that simple." more ›

Mikhail Prokhorov's plan to buy the New Jersey Nets may be put on hold as officials look into his possible Zimbabwean holdings. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. of the Ways and Mean Committee will look into whether Prokhorov's companies in Zimbabwe violate rules that forbid American citizens, companies, and subsidiaries from doing business with President Robert Mugabe, known for his frequent human rights violations. Pascrell told the Post, "Obviously, the Board of Governors of the NBA didn't do their job properly when they vetted this deal." more ›

Mikhail Prokhorov—the Russian billionaire poised to become the majority owner of the Nets and partial owner of the Brooklyn Barclays Center where they'll play— told 60 Minutes he's “real excited to take the worst team of the league and turn it to be the best.” The chiseled basketball fan was the subject of two in-depth profiles recently that offered a glimpse into the life of Russia's second richest citizen. He says it was New York that drew him to the Nets. “I love huge cities: the feeling of pace, of energy. Outside of my hometown, Moscow, New York is the place I feel most comfortable," he wrote in an email to the Times. more ›

Here are Andrew Hinderaker's photos from yesterday's demonstration against the groundbreaking ceremony for developer Bruce Ratner's Nets arena in Brooklyn (which should really be called Mikhail D. Prokhorov's Nyets arena, since the Russian oligarch now owns an 80 percent share of the team and a 45 percent stake in the arena). We also threw in a photo of Beyonce and Jay-Z, a champion of the project who's already committed to leasing a $540,000 luxury suite for a year in the arena, the Post reports). more ›

It's really happening: After dogged protest and a series of seemingly intractable lawsuits, developer Bruce Ratner is breaking ground right now on a new arena for the Nets, to be called Barclays Center. And the irate protests are continuing even as the ceremony—attended by Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg—takes place right now. In his speech, Borough President Marty Markowitz acknowledged the raucous demonstrators outside the press conference, but played it for laughs, saying, "Sorry about the noise outside. Obviously disgruntled Knicks fans." Ha ha, or people who are being forced out of their homes! We've heard over the police scanner that the NYPD is now calling for a "Level 3 Mobilization" (sounds serious!) to deal with the protesters. more ›

After firing famed architect Frank Gehry in an effort to cut costs, the developer of the controversial Atlantic Yards project is in talks with the man who designed the Freedom Tower. Architect David Childs told the Brooklyn Paper that Atlantic Yards builder Bruce Ratner asked him to give plans for the proposed basketball arena a "once over," and also discussed hiring him to construct one of the 16 skyscrapers that Ratner wants to build on the site. more ›

Two days before the official ground-breaking for the long-delayed Atlantic Yards megaproject, developer Bruce Ratner and the New Jersey Nets unveiled renderings of the interior of their planned Brooklyn basketball arena. After scrapping an original design by Frank Gehry over financial concerns and nixing a second design by the firm Ellerbe Becket after it was derided for being too dull, Ratner tapped Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects to draft up a new plan for the arena, which is dubbed the Barclays Center. more ›

What better to follow up a meeting with a handful of NBA owners than a $19,000 lunch? That’s right, nothing, which is why Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who is looking to purchase the floundering New Jersey Nets and bring then into Brooklyn, stopped into Nello on the Upper East Side Wednesday with a few friends, the Post reported. more ›

Last week, the Daily News reported that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner had hired Kansas City design firm Ellerbe Becket to revise the Brooklyn Nets arena designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. Now the NY Times confirms that Gehry is out. more ›