Jay-Z is adding yet another high-powered position to his impressive résumé. Hov has been named director for Brooklyn Arena LLC, the company that owns Brooklyn’s new Barclays Center complex, which will house Jay’s part-owned Brooklyn Nets NBA team starting next basketball season.
The news, originally reported by the New York Post, was discovered in papers filed by developer Bruce Ratner in a bid to secure a liquor license for the complex. Jay will share the director title with Ratner, David Berliner, Mary Anne Gilmartin, Christophe Charlier, Irina Pavlova and David Carlock. Berliner and Gilmartin are high-ranking officials at Ratner’s company, while Charlier is currently the deputy CEO of Onexim, which is owned by Nets owner Mikhal Prokhorov. Pavlova, meanwhile, is considered the #2 to Prokhorov and recently made a public name for herself as the Nets’ rep at the NBA draft lottery.
Barclays, as planned, will hold 4,400 premium seats and roughly 100 VIP luxury suites with exclusive drinking areas and reserved parking spaces.
As part-owner of the Nets, Jay-Z has led the way on their rebranding for the move to Brooklyn. He recently told MTV News that his main inspiration came from old subway signs in his home borough. “It was really a take off the old subway signs. If you look at the old subway signs, they were in black and white,” he said. “I wanted to pick something that would stand the test of time and be here forever.”
While many noted the new logo had a hip-hop feel, Jay said it was really all about Brooklyn style and flavor. “I wanted to make it really classic and strong; a throwback to Brooklyn and what we’re about,” he told MTV News.
WRITTEN BY Carter Maness & FULL STORY AT MTV
