Barclays Center

Barclays Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Brooklyn, New York. It sits partly on a platform over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-owned Vanderbilt Yards rail yard at Atlantic Avenue. It is part of a proposed $4.9 billion sports arena, business and residential complex known as the Atlantic Yards.

The arena hosts the National Basketball Association’s Brooklyn Nets, along with concerts, conventions and other sporting events, competing with other facilities in the New York metropolitan area, including Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Prudential Center in Newark, and Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Beginning in 2015, it will also be the home of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League.

Initially proposed in 2004 when real estate developer Bruce Ratner purchased the Nets as the first step of the process to build a new home for the team, the development of the arena was saddled with controversies involving local residents, the use of eminent domain, definition of blight, demolition of buildings such as the Ward Bakery, multiple lawsuits, as well as a lack of financing, delaying the start of construction for many years. Groundbreaking finally occurred on March 11, 2010, and the arena was opened to the public on September 21, 2012. It held its first event with a Jay-Z concert on September 28, 2012.

Read more about Barclays Center:  History, Design, Naming Rights, Notable Firsts and Significant Events

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