It’s official: on Sept. 28, 2012 the Barclays Center arena will officially open for business.
Brett Yormak, CEO of the Brooklyn-bound New Jersey Nets, made the announcement Monday afternoon at a press conference at the Atlantic Yards construction site, alongside the team’s power forward Kris Humphries.
“We’re really excited about being here, this is obviously a moment we’ve been waiting for a great while,” said Yormark.
The news is yet another sign that the arena is on schedule for opening in the 2012-2013 NBA season. The to the team’s inaugural Brooklyn season went on sale last Wednesday.
The arena’s grand opening will include three weeks of public events prior to the Nets taking the hardcourt for the first time. Yormark said the opening festivites were an effort to “welcome and introduce the Brooklyn community to its new building.”
Yormark added that the grand opening would include concerts and public tours of the new arena.
“The Barclays Center of Brooklyn is about the community, and the community will be the first to sample it,” he said.
The players on the Netshave also made sure to give a nod to their future home. This weekend Humphries will participate in a clean-up of nearby Prospect Park as part of NBA Green Week, along with the Nets Dancers and Nets mascot.
Already the arena is looming over the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues. About 70 percent of the foundation has been laid, and 30 percent of the steel is in place. Next week, the stadium seating will arrive from Detroit and Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner expects to begin work on the façade as early as June.
Humphries, dressed in a navy blue sweatshirt reading “Brooklyn,” across the front, said he couldn’t wait to start playing in the new stadium.
“We’re expecting to sell out from day one and keep rolling,” said Humphries.
