It’s been known essentially since All-Star weekend in Houston last February that in all likelihood, the 2015 event would be played in the state of New York.
With two teams now playing just six and a half miles apart, however -- one in a brand new building in Brooklyn, the other in an expensively renovated Madison Square Garden in Manhattan -- the logistics of deciding who would be the official host and what events would take place where took a little longer than usual to hash out.
It appears the league has come to an understanding of how 2015 will shake out with the Knicks and the Nets. The only question now involves whether or not the event will return for another co-hosting just a couple of years later.
From Fred Kerber of the New York Post:Multiple league sources maintain that the 2015 All-Star Game will be played at Madison Square Garden on Sunday of All-Star weekend with the Friday and Saturday night events – the skills, shooting and dunk competitions – set for Barclays Center.
The league and both the Nets and Knicks still are negotiating on a proposal to have a reversal in either 2017 or 2018 -- Brooklyn would stage the game while the Knicks and the Garden would serve as host for the Friday and Saturday events. The Nets, sources said, are not completely sold on the host role down the road for a myriad of reasons.
“It’s a possibility,” one league source confirmed of the 2017 or ’18 event plan but cautioned that “nothing has been finalized. They (Nets) aren’t certain (they want it).”It’s too early to pin down an All-Star city that far in advance; the league typically goes no more than two years out. But it makes too much sense not to have it return to New York relatively soon, given the size of the market and the two state-of-the-art arenas ready and able to host.
