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Brooklyn Nets: Joe Tsai refutes rumors of Barclays Center renaming

By Mike Luciano

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 26: An exterior view of the Barclays Center prior to the game between the New York Islanders and the Calgary Flames on October 26, 2015 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 26: An exterior view of the Barclays Center prior to the game between the New York Islanders and the Calgary Flames on October 26, 2015 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The Brooklyn Nets are trying to make it the postseason on the back of their superstar trio of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and James Harden. Amid all of this on-court success, Joe Tsai has been trying to beef up the Nets’ brand off of the floor.

Tsai has already swapped out Infor for Motorola as the team’s jersey sponsor (and may be eyeing further upgrades), and the Nets were also reported to be interested in changing the arena name according to rumors that emerged this weekend.

Yes, the palace known as the Barclays Center for the first few years of their existence appeared to be on its way out.

With the cost of the British bank’s sponsorship of the arena already less than what Motorola is paying to advertise on the jerseys, Tsai was reported to be looking for a new name in order to secure a better payday. However, Tsai took to Twitter to confirm that he isn’t going to change the name at all.

Tsai claims that his group has a “great relationship” with Barclays, and poured cold water over any potential renaming by saying that “neither side is looking to change the name of our iconic building.”

There you have it.

Brooklyn Nets: The Barclays Center isn’t getting a new name.

Though the Nets recently made Motorola the new jersey sponsor, Tsai is already looking to swap them out for someone else. With a $13 million price tag, there might be one or two more hip companies that will be willing to plaster their name and images all over Brooklyn’s jerseys.

Barclays has the right to pay $10 million per year for the naming rights through 2032, but this brand isn’t doing very well in the States thanks to the financial crisis. Barclays has zero brick-and-mortar banks in the US, which could reasonably prompt Tsai to wonder if attaching that brand to his building is the best long-term investment.

Without this arena, though, it’s doubtful the Nets would’ve even made the move from New Jersey. With a state-of-the-art facility giving Brooklyn their first professional team in decades, the Nets made a splash upon arriving and have once again regained that momentum.

Tsai’s commitment to both spending tons of money on the team to ensure on-court success and making the Nets one of the most reputable brands in the league are huge reasons why they have had much more success under him compared to Mikhail Prokhorov’s tenure. It’s probably wise to lean on Tsai’s best judgments when it comes to money-making matters.