Super storm Sandy was one mean mutha. Seems like she took no prisoners. We know of the immense damage from Sandy in New Jersey and Lower Manhattan.
But the effects are even being felt in another bourough to the point where it’s causing the cancellation of Thursday’s NBA season opening game between the NY Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets.
Barclays Center sits right above a major mass-transit hub, an ideal destination for fans throughout New York.
Not right now, though.With those subways knocked out by Hurricane Sandy and no way of knowing how fans would get there, the city’s mayor decided this isn’t the time for a game.
So Michael Bloomberg asked the NBA to postpone Thursday’s highly anticipated opener between the Knicks and Nets, and the league agreed Wednesday.
“It’s a great stadium, it would have been a great game, but the bottom line is: There is not a lot of mass transit. Our police have plenty of other things to do,” Bloomberg said at a news conference.
Barclays Center sits above the Atlantic Avenue subway station complex which hosts nine subway lines and a Long Island Rail Road station, and was expanded as part of the $1 billion arena’s construction. The Nets believe that will be a major selling point in drawing fans to the games after they were plagued by poor attendance during their years in New Jersey.
But without knowing what – if any – subways would be available and with city officials still preferring people not drive into New York, the Nets agreed with the decision.
“We’re disappointed that we can’t play, but there’s a lot more important things going on right now, a lot of people displaced from their homes, a lot of people lost loved ones. So in the grand scheme of things, a basketball game really doesn’t mean much right now,” Nets point guard Deron Williams told reporters after practice. “I think it’d be hard for a lot of people to even get to the game in the first place, with public transportation being shut down. I guess it makes sense to not have the game.”
via EurWeb
