All hail the Brooklyn Nets’ Barclays Center, which was named the top-grossing venue in the U.S. for the first half of 2013:
The Brooklyn arena was named the top-grossing venue in America for the first half of 2013, according to Billboard, with $46.9 million in gross ticket sales revenue. According to Pollstar, the venue – which has hosted 51 concerts since it opened in September and will bring in Beyonce and Justin Bieber next week – was the third-biggest ticket-seller in the world, behind The O2 in London and Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Now, that’s top-grossing, and doesn’t say much about how much the Nets will, um, net after paying off their share of the arena costs. And there’s no guarantee that the Barclays Center will still be on top in years when Madison Square Garden doesn’t shut down in May for renovations, let alone a few years down the road when Barclays is no longer the shiniest kid on the block. And, of course, we still don’t know what if anything all this money changing hands via Ticketmaster means for business in the surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods.
Still, it’s an indication that the Nets bond offering wasn’t totally crazy, and that there is an exception to the rule that arenas don’t usually make money: Build one in the middle of the nation’s largest city, where you can charge top ticket prices, and which was previously served by only one other comparable arena whose calendar was booked to bursting. And make sure that Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney live forever.