An older NBA team with a new place to play got some new fans from outside of the New York boroughs.
18 students from Pleasantville and Briarcliff boarded a bus bound for the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday night. The trip was organized by the Students Development and Campus Activities (SDCA) and assistant director Niki Fjeldal accompanied the students into the new stadium.
Even Stub Hub found difficulties matching the ticket prices Pace provided. Pace students got to see the Nets take on the Orlando Magic in the house that Jay Z helped build for just 15 bucks. The ever-popular ticket-finding website’s cheapest tickets were 90 dollars to sit in the nosebleed seats.
Pace assimilated with the community of 16,480 Nets fans. While students were fighting to get on the dance cam and instigram every moment of the game, some students found a new appreciation for the home of the Nets.
The journey to the center of Brooklyn gave senior political science major Lamar Francis a new respect for the Nets.
“Being at the Barclays Center gave me a better appreciation for the Nets,” Francis said. “And now that they are in Brooklyn, I will try to catch a lot more Nets games.”
The Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn during the summer of 2012. The injection of a new team into Brooklyn and a lot of free agent acquisitions birthed a new fan base in the borough.
While the Nets had a productive history in New Jersey, Francis finds that the move to Brooklyn will benefit the team in the long run.
“The move helps in a lot of ways,” Francis said. “Not only will they maintain their fans from New Jersey, but the Barclays Center is right next to the 2 train, so it could be the easiest stadium in New York to get to, and having Jay Z as a partial owner will attract a younger audience.”
The new look Nets embarrassed the Magic throughout the night. The Nets buried the Magic 97-77 on the strength of 13 three-point shots made by the team from Brooklyn.
While no player had a prevailing individual performance, Pace appreciated the home team’s dominance. Deron Williams put up 20 points and added nine assists and center Brook Lopez contributed 16 points of his own to further widen the gulf between Brooklyn and Orlando.
So the home team sent their fans home happy, and gave 18 students from Pace an experience to remember.