4. He’s got friends in high places. Michael Jordan. Derek Jeter. LeBron James. That’s an A-list friend group. And they all like money, too.
Yeah, he has Obama on the text. But in the sports world, these names ring the loudest bells. If there’s lots of money to be made in the sports industry, believe, his friends will get in on the act, somehow, someway.
3. He christened the Barclays Center. Sure, the Nets are horrid, they need to fire their coach and they overpaid for the current, inept roster, but the Barclays Center is, by many accounts, one of the great venues in North America, if not the world. Its got fantastic acoustics for concerts and when the Nets are good, the crowd is great.
2. He developed Roc Nation Sports. The jury is still out on whether Roc Nation Sports is going to be a major player in athlete representation. But they have certainly made a few really solid moves, like the signing of Durant and WNBA star Skylar Diggins.
1. Re-branding the Nets. It’s Jay Z we’re talking about here, and his involvement in re-branding the Nets and helping the team move to Brooklyn will go down as one of the smartest moves in sports history.