Just being a fan a surreal experience one night in B’klyn
For one night, a few dozen people in the stands were a more shocking sight at Barclays Center than anything James Harden or Kyrie Irving could do on the court. The Nets hosted 300 fans for Tuesday night’s victory over the Kings, their first home fans of any kind since March 8, 2020, when they beat the Bulls at home three days before the NBA season was suspended. That team was coached by Jacque Vaughn and its leading scorer was Spencer Dinwiddie.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo decided earlier this month that New York City sports teams could fill their arenas to 10% capacity, which for the Nets would mean 1800 fans. But for the final three home games before the AllStar break, the franchise elected to host just 300. (The Knicks went full bore with 2,000 in their fans’ return the same night.)
In Brooklyn, those 300 fans were funneled in through just one entrance to direct them to rapid COVID testing. The plaza at Flatbush and Atlantic — the starting point for central Brooklyn’s Black Lives Matter protests and marches last year and where Nets fans would usually enter games — was mostly empty except for pedestrians cutting through and two arena staffers, who directed wayward fans around the block.
Fans entered Barclays through a tent behind the arena, on Dean Street in Park Slope between Flatbush and 6th Avenues. As the fans trickled in before tipoff, many were flooded by the reporters and broadcasters waiting outside the entrance like they were actually playing in the game. (No Zoom-only restriction on interviewing fans, though.)
So who goes to the very first Brooklyn NBA game open to fans in a pandemic? The precious few slots the Nets decided to open up were only available to season-ticket and suite holders. Nets fans Mitch Tepper and Leo Margolis said they got tickets to Tuesday night’s game from a friend and season ticket holder who relocated to Miami during the pandemic.
Tepper and Margolis, who live and work in Midtown selling watches at a Diamond District outfit called Watch Limit, have developed some pandemic bits, like everyone else. How was the COVID testing process, someone asked Tepper, who quipped “Negative.”
(Fans had to take a test mailed to them by the Nets at home and then take another rapid test in the arena. I took the rapid test, which was my first of the pandemic that I would describe as “luxurious.” It was a much shorter swab than the half-dozen or so I had done previously, and results came through in less than two minutes.)
“It’s awesome,” Tepper said from above a low-hanging surgical mask before the game. “We’re very excited. I don’t know how it’s gonna be sitting in a mask for two hours, but I’m ready for everything to get back to normal.”
That was the prevailing attitude among fans, which makes sense: These are people who were eager to fork over serious cash to be the very first fans back at Barclays. The Nets would not say how much they charged, but they did say the lowest price for post-All-Star games will be $150.