CNBC’s Squawk Box asked Brooklyn Nets minority owner and Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner if he’ll ask for public money to help with Nassau Coliseum if he wins the right to revamp that facility, and here’s what he said (according to Atlantic Yards Report’s transcription):
“What kind of subsidy will you ultimately be getting to do this?” Ratner was asked. “How much is the government going to have to put forward?
“This is one of those opposites,” Ratner replied. “We’re giving the municipality money, not a nickel from the municipality, all privately financed, all privately done. The county will make lot of money from this. In terms of economic impact and in terms of rent.”
Nothing for roads?
“One of the great things–it’s surrounded by a huge number of roads,” Ratner replied. “There’s millions of people that go by every day. There’s no infrastructure needed. After all, it was a Coliseum before and it is now, so no additional roads and so on. So, actually, it’s ready to be done, it is centrally located. I cannot emphasize what kind of incredible location it is and what kind of incredible population.”
Arena and stadium developers make “no public money” promises all the time when they end up asking for hidden subsidies like tax kickbacks, so we’ll see. (Or at least we’ll see, if Ratner beats out Madison Square Garden for the rights to take over the Coliseum, something that’s expected to be announced in coming weeks.) I’m not going to link to the original CNBC page because eeeagh autoplayed video, but here’s a lovely embedded video if you want to watch Ratner himself say it with his own two lips: