Nets Delay Brooklyn Move

The New Jersey Nets won’t be starting the 2009 NBA season in a new Brooklyn arena as planned because the venue isn’t expected to be done in time.

The team was planning to move to the Barclays Center, which has yet to break ground at the $4 billion Atlantic Yards development, before its contract with the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., expires in 2013, according to Newsday.

Legal and environmental challenges have delayed the project but team officials are now hoping to move in early 2010.

The Nets are also required to give 18 months’ notice of the move under the terms of its contract with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the paper said. The contract gives the team an annual option to leave for Brooklyn.