City of Newark Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Raptors Could Play Next Season in Newark

November 1st, 2020 at 10:55am CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors have talked to the operators of the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, about using the facility for their home games next season, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. The building holds 19,500 fans and is located relatively close to Toronto’s four Atlantic Division rivals.

In response to the coronavirus, Canada has placed restrictions on international travel from the United States that are likely to still be in place whenever next season begins. With other teams unable to freely travel into Toronto, the Raptors are searching for a U.S. site to serve as their temporary home. Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays played their home games this summer at Sahlen Field in Buffalo.

The Prudential Center, which serves as home to the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and Seton Hall basketball, has experience in hosting an NBA team, Bondy notes. The Nets played there for two seasons before relocating to Brooklyn in 2012. The building is owned by Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, which also owns the Sixers.

A source tells Bondy that the Raptors also had discussions about playing in Tampa Bay or Nashville or possibly being guests in another NBA team’s arena. Kansas City offered the T-Mobile Center, while a similar pitch from Louisville was declined. A move to Buffalo has also been suggested.

The NBA is trying to limit travel next season because of COVID-19 concerns, which could make Newark an ideal location. Bondy points out that it’s only about 15 miles from Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden and roughly 90 minutes from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Boston is 225 miles away.

Sixers Considering Move To New Jersey?

December 21st, 2013 at 2:52pm CST by Chuck Myron

Sixers owner Josh Harris bought the New Jersey Devils of the NHL this summer, leading to speculation that he would look to move his basketball team to the same Newark, N.J., arena where the Devils play The idea seemed far-fetched before the season, when Sixers GM Sam Hinkie and Harris himself denied any interest in such a move, but Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News hears that the idea is still alive among Sixers executives.

It’s unclear just how serious the talk of taking the Sixers to Newark is, and any relocation would require league approval, which isn’t a given, as we saw this year with the Kings’ aborted plan to move to Seattle. Harris owns the six-year-old Prudential Center, where the Devils play, but the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia is owned by the Comcast-Spectator company, which sold the Sixers to Harris in 2011. The Philadelphia arena is only 17 years old, but there’s precedent for NBA teams moving out of even newer buildings; the Spurs were only in the Alamodome for nine seasons.

Newark is about 85 miles from Philadelphia, but it’s only 17 miles from Manhattan, and a team in Newark would give the New York metropolitan area three NBA clubs. Anaheim has made a play for an NBA team on multiple occasions despite the presence of the Lakers and Clippers in Los Angeles, so the notion of a third team in a single market isn’t a new one.