The Nets ownership stake Jay-Z bought in for was largely ceremonial. It’s not that .067 percent of the new Brooklyn Nets wasn’t expensive, it cost 500K, it’s that it was dwarfed by the Russian tycoon, Mikhail Prokhorov and the 80 percent majority share he bought in 2008. Now Jay’s fractional ownership stake has passed on to the coach of the team, Jason Kidd. The New York Post reports that HOVA sold his stake to Kidd, conflict of interest be damned.
A source told the Post “Other owners want to give Jason a part ownership of the team, and urged Jay to sell his shares to him.”
It brings the Jay-Z – Nets partnership full circle since the Marcy emcee was encouraged by Drew Katz — the son of one of the Nets’ principal owners — to buy in after Kidd suggested to him, when he was the Nets’ point guard in 2003, that the Roc-A-Wear founder might be a possible owner.
Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, has been the face and the brand of the new Nets since they moved to Brooklyn last year. He encouraged free agents to sign in Brooklyn and helped design the old school black-and-white uniforms while lending his cred to the in-arena music selections.
The Barclays Center developer, Bruce Ratner, said in an early interview about Jay, “He is it. He is us. He is how people are going to see that place.”
Since Jay-Z started his sports agency, Roc Nation, and signed Kevin Durant as well as MLB’s Robinson Cano, he was forced to sell his tiny share in the team, and Kidd was the buyer.
The news will likely start whispers around the league with a team’s coach also owning part of the team. But much like Jay appeased league officials unimpressed with the monochromatic logo and color scheme after it was first presented, his move to sell his 1/15th of a percent share in the Nets will probably be accepted without much suspicion.
What do you think?
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