With funding for their proposed Newark arena "still far from certain, YankeeNets has a doomsday scenario in its back pocket that it may begin talking about sooner than later," according to Matthew Futterman of the Newark STAR-LEDGER, who notes YankeeNets' "preference is to keep" the Nets and Devils in NJ with a $355M arena in Newark. But "just in case, members of the organization said the company might sell the basketball team to the owners of the New York Islanders and search for a deal for a new arena" for the Devils in southern CT if plans in NJ fall through. Futterman writes that the "strategy would keep the teams in the New York cable television market, a crucial point" for the $900M YES Network, which will debut in April. Futterman cites one YankeeNets owner and one other member of the organization as saying that "investors could break up the joint ownership of the teams but cut a deal that allows the YES network to retain the television rights." Futterman adds that Islanders co-Owners Charles Wang and Sanjay Kumar have "let it be known they would love to own a basketball team" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 11/6).
