In the most unsurprising news ever, the Brooklyn Nets not only have low ticket sales (duh) but the team sits at the very bottom of the NBA. Even with superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the team, the Nets are struggling to fill the stands, which isn’t a problem that the New York Knicks have to deal with.
According to the New York Post, Brooklyn is “dead last” in the league with sales down 30 percent from what they were last season. The Nets’ offseason likely played a role in that. For two months of the summer, it was assumed that Durant would be traded, but he was able to make amends with Brooklyn’s leadership. And even with KD and Kyrie playing together for at least one more season, there’s still a lack of stability.
Like the last two seasons, the Nets are expected to be a top team in the league, but we saw how quickly that can unravel with how they performed last year. From Irving refusing to get vaccinated to James Harden requesting a trade, Brooklyn wasn’t able to stay afloat. Durant decided to stay with the Nets, but according to him, the uncertainty surrounding the organization is part of the reason why he requested a trade in the first place.
So, even with the Nets playing in NYC, it’s not shocking that ticket sales have plummeted.
Brooklyn #Nets 'dead last' in #NBA season tickets sales as prices soar: sources https://t.co/jfzjnlmBjc via @nypost
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) October 24, 2022
The Nets will never be able to overtake the Knicks as New York’s team, no matter how hard they try
The most common joke that’s made against the Nets is that they don’t have many fans. In today’s NBA, it’s common for there to be fans that don’t follow a team but instead follow a player or players. If Durant and Irving would’ve left during the offseason, Brooklyn would’ve had a hard time filling the stands because a number of fans would’ve left with those two players.
However, even with KD and Kyrie still in New York, the Nets are driving away season-ticket holders. This season, Brooklyn’s reportedly sold only 5,500 season tickets, according to the New York Post. For reference, Barclays Center sits 17,732.
"The Nets have chased away many loyal fans after jacking up prices on some seats by more than 50% for the team’s 41 home games at Barclays Center, multiple sources told The Post."
New York Post wrote that Joe Tsai and Brooklyn have driven up ticket prices by 66% since the last non-pandemic season.
Even with an awful owner in James Dolan, the Knicks don’t have to worry about the Garden being empty. New York reached the postseason in 2020-21 for the first time since the 2012-13 season, so there’s been a lot more bad than good over the past several years. Knicks fans still show up, though.
KD and Kyrie opted to sign with Brooklyn over New York and in the three years since that summer, the Nets haven’t been able to take over as NYC’s team. And they never will.
There’s a lack of culture in Brooklyn. The jump in prices hasn’t helped, either. This is the part where I could say that the Nets should do better, but nobody reading this wants to see that. And to be fair, it doesn’t seem like Brooklyn knows how to do better.
Instead, here’s yet another reminder that the Knicks run New York.
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