Inside Brooklyn’s WNBA Boom and Barclays Revamp

The WNBA semifinals are shifting to Brooklyn. The New York Liberty hosts the Atlanta Dream tonight at the Barclays Center in Game three of their best of five series. The Liberty faced elimination after the dream took A20 lead with a controversial 101 98 turnover overtime win Wednesday night. Joining us now is Sam Zuckerman, the CEO of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the nets, Liberty and the Barclays Center, and more. Sam, thank you very much for joining us. Just give me your assessment of tonight. How do you assess the state of the series, whether the liberty can turn it around and what ultimately a win or loss would mean for the business? Um, I'm very excited about tonight. Tonight's game. I have full confidence in our team. And yeah, look at overall women's sports has been on, you know, an incredible, incredible rise. And I think the liberty is taking or has taken a real leadership position in that. Um I think it all stems from the vision and long term view and investment When the size bought the team seven years ago. They actually played it at the gymnasium in Westchester. Um, in front of less than 2000 people. And, you know, over time, we've invested in the team. We're building a training facility in Greenpoint, and we won the championship in 2024. We look forward to doing that again. And you now see that, uh, we're playing mostly in front of a sellout crowd with, uh, business metrics doubling every year, attendance, merchandise, viewership, sponsorships. And, um, we look forward to doing that again. What is the model for really increasing things from here? Because, for example, the Golden State Valkyries, they were the first WNBA team to hit $100 million in annual revenue. And one of the things that that team talked about was really leading in to the Bay area culture. And I wonder if you're trying to do something with Brooklyn, how important it is to lean in to this Brooklyn DNA for the team? Yeah. One thing I would mention is, um, youth basketball. So one of the ways that we've leaned into the community is through youth basketball. It is an incredibly organic way for us to tap into the community by offering access to the game, to the younger generation. And both the New York Liberty and the Brooklyn Nets are relatively young to the borough, and there's no better way, um, than that to tap into the community and to make an impact. And I'm proud to say that over the last four years, uh, we've been we've been serving the community. We have, um, we have a deal with the Department of Education where we go into public schools and we deliver, uh, free clinics. And through that and through, uh, presence in our, in our, uh, practice locations, we, we engage more than 50,000 youth a year. And we think that drives an incredible impact. It is honestly so, so wonderful. Just, you know, from my own viewpoint as a sports fan to like, see this movement, that women's sport and specifically the WNBA is going through. But with that spotlight, it also has brought, um, bad faith arguments, uh, podcasters saying ridiculous things, unfortunate things happening at games. How do you, as a CEO, think about protecting the integrity of the sport and your players? Yeah. Look, overall, we're focused on what's ahead of us and we're focused on the game. We're focused on winning. We're focused on getting better every day. Um, and we're focusing on delivering championships on on both sides. Um, speaking of championships, the city was elated to see the Knicks do what they did. I wonder for you if that was bittersweet. Does it suck attention out of the, like, New York basketball world to have the Knicks being so dominant? Look, it's like playing golf. You got it. You got to focus on your own game. And I think we have an incredibly, um, high energy team with young talent like Michael and Yeager. Uh, we have, uh, we have a couple of, um, veterans. Uh, and and we are. I think if last night's game is any indication, I think you could see a glimpse of, um, high energy and a team that plays hard. Um, very inspired by our head coach city. And they have this year more, um, more strength and more length. Uh, and I think you're going to see it, uh, play out. And we are we are building towards a championship team. Also, if you look, uh, off the court this year is our opportunity to celebrate our 60th anniversary. Um, and their theme of, um, legacy through reinvention, that on one hand, we're very, um, young to Brooklyn, and we're investing in the community on the other. We're a storied franchise that has been around the Tri-State area for 60 years. And, um, we look through theme nights to celebrate all these six eras and reconnect to, uh, the fans that we have along the Tri-State area. Of course. Congrats for being two zero in the preseason thus far for the nets. Um, this idea of of why live sports and entertainment is so important. Of course, you oversee Barclays, the concert venue itself, and you and your team note that concerts at an all time high. Something Clerici said in an interview with David Rubin. Rubinstein. This idea of it being kind of like the anti I thing. I wonder if you're actually seeing that in behavior of consumers who want to come in that whose budgets are really tight. If there's been a noticeable trend of any sort of like backlash to the very online world we live in, and whether that's led in a perceivable way to more people wanting to see things like live sports and concerts. Yes. And it has, uh, I think we live in a world where consumer preferences are reshaping. People are interested in immersive stuff. They're interested in experiential. They spend their money more on what they do, what memories they build, how they experience. And there is nothing like live music. There is nothing like live sports unfolding right in front of your eyes. Um, and in our consumers are telling us how they like to see it. And I think we've made a significant investment listening to our customers. Uh, we're now in the midst of a five year, $150 million renovation where every summer we launch a few new areas and a few new clubs. Um, and we are we are doing that. We've launched clubs like JetBlue at the Ki and, uh, the Toki ro and the Gallagher Terrace, where people can spend time with their friends, um, and have the experience and, um, this this season, we're also going to launch a couple of new locations, a couple in new clubs. Um, contactless entry, everything to facilitate the experience. Uh, and I think that everybody that comes to Berkeley can see that we're a great host in that it is a place with tremendous energy, with nothing like it. Sam, thank you so much for joining and good luck for tonight. We're all rooting. We're all rooting for you in the team. Thank you so much. Sam Sussman of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment.