Assemblyman Robert Carroll is pushing the Brooklyn Nets to
rename the team after Civil Rights icon Jackie Robinson.
Park Slope pol:
Rename the
Nets instead!
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
On the heels of a push
from some activists to rename
Barclays Center after
Jackie Robinson, one
Park Slope legislator is
going further — calling
on the Brooklyn Nets to
“embrace their Brooklyn
roots” and change their
name to pay tribute the
famed ballplayer.
“The Nets moved to
Brooklyn eight years ago
but have still kept their
New Jersey nickname,”
said Assemblyman Robert
Carroll. “It’s time for
the Nets to fully embrace
their Brooklyn roots by
changing their name
to honor one of Brooklyn’s
most iconic and important
sports stars —
COURIER LIFE, JULY 10-16, 2020 3
Jackie Robinson.”
Carroll wrote a letter
to NBA Commissioner
Adam Silver and
Nets owner Joseph Tsai
on July 7 asking them to
consider the change —
and suggested a handful
of options, including the
“Brooklyn Jackies,” the
“Brooklyn Jacks” and
the “Brooklyn 42s.”
“Robinson played his
entire career in Brooklyn
and highlighting his legacy
will remind millions
of his trailblazing work,”
said Carroll. “Brooklyn
is universally known as
a place of diversity and
forward thought — having
our only professional
sports team honor the
spirit Jackie Robinson
would be fi tting.”
The name change
would rebrand the team
that has played under the
moniker “Nets” since
1977 — but it wouldn’t
be the fi rst time the
franchise considered altering
the name. When
they moved from New
Jersey to Brooklyn in
2012, various stakeholders
pushed for a Brooklyn
centric name like
the “Brooklyn Bridges”
or the “Brooklyn Attitudes”
— but they ultimately
decided to keep
the “Nets” name, which
Carroll considers a
wasted opportunity.
“Brooklyn is a dynamic,
diverse, and animated
place, we shouldn’t
have our team named after
an inanimate object,”
said Carroll.
Now, in the current
climate dominated by
nationwide Black Lives
Matter demonstrations,
would be the ideal time
for Brooklyn’s only major
sports franchise to
honor the late Brooklyn
icon, said Carroll.
“While our nation
grapples with who we
should honor and what
names should adorn
teams and buildings it
would be fi tting for the
Brooklyn Nets to honor
the legacy of a true Civil
Rights Icon and the fi rst
African American player
in professional sports,”
he said.
AN ICON
Center after Jackie Robinson
ism, positive symbolism for the
future about equality.”
The time might also be ripe
to change the name entirely,
since Barclays is looking to
end the naming contract early,
as it no longer plans on building
a retail bank presence in
the United States, the New York
Post reported last year.
And in addition, the British
bank has come under fi re for its
former ties to the slave trade,
according to the non-profi t Restitution
Study Group, headed
by former Brooklynite Deadria
Farmer-Paellmann, who
commissioned the study while
the arena’s name was being debated
in 2007. Those ties drew
ire at the time from local politicos
like then-Assemblyman
Hakeem Jeffries and Congresswoman
Yvette Clarke.
Other structures across the
borough bear Jackie Robinson’s
name, including the Jackie
Robinson Parkway, two Jackie
Robinson playgrounds, a statue
in his likeness in Coney Island,
and the Jackie Robinson School
Wikicommons (left), REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (right)
in Crown Heights — which sits
across from the former Dodgers
home, Ebbets Field.
Barclays Center’s plaza also
features the Ebbets Field fl agpole
and a plaque honoring the
Brooklyn Dodgers and Robinson,
but Piccolo says the tributes
aren’t enough.
“What an insult, that there’s
some strip of highway. That’s
how you honor one of the most
important people?” he said,
adding that he frequents Barclays
Center and has never noticed
the plaque. “I would not
have a clue that there’s a plaque
on a fl agpole.”
Since the renewed calls for
the renaming, the proposal has
gained some traction online.
Assemblyman Robert Carroll
(D–Park Slope) tweeted his support,
saying it’s a “travesty”
that Robinson isn’t more remembered
in Brooklyn.
“@barclayscenter should be
renamed the Jackie Robinson
Arena!” he wrote. “He is one of
the most infl uential Americans
of the 20th Century and he only
played for the Brooklyn Dodgers!”
Others mused that the city
could rename the intersection
between Atlantic, Flatbush,
and Fourth avenues after the
venerated athlete.
“The borough could rename
the intersection ‘Jackie Robinson
Square’ unless that name is
already taken,” wrote the Twitter
account, @NetsDaily.
But Piccolo says that most of
the local offi cials he’s reached
out to, including Borough President
Eric Adams, have not responded
to his calls.
However, in a comment to
Brooklyn Paper, Adams voiced
his support for the renaming.
“It’s fi tting that this hero,
who spent his major league career
here in Brooklyn, should
be honored by having his name
placed on an important site in
the borough,” he said.
BSE Global, the venue management
company that operates
Barclays Center, did not
respond to request for comment
by press time.