(Bloomberg) -- Following a banner offseason during which the team signed two of the NBA's top players, the Brooklyn Nets are expecting to set a franchise record in revenue, according to billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
The Nets announced Monday that the team had signed perennial all-stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, a pair of contracts that will cost a reported $305 million combined. Though various outlets broke the news last week, the team had to wait until a weeklong moratorium period ended before it could market the players and discuss the signings.
“We were already in the midst of one of the best offseasons we've had since the team arrived in Brooklyn” in 2012, Prokhorov said in an email. “With our recent signings, our expectation is that we will surpass our highest revenue marks in franchise history this year.”
Excitement is surging for the franchise, which has spent most of its New York City tenure in the shadow of the local rival New York Knicks. The Nets made the playoffs last season for the first time in four years, and adding Durant and Irving -- plus center DeAndre Jordan -- should drive an increase in ticket sales, suite purchases, merchandise and corporate sponsorships.
Early returns are already positive. In the past 10 days, the team has set a franchise record for traffic at its online shop three separate times. It's also had its nine-most-engaged Instagram posts and its two-most-engaged tweets of all time. Ticket revenue has already passed sales for the entirety of last season.
Though Prokhorov wasn't specific about the finances, Forbes magazine estimates that the team made $290 million in revenue last year, up from $273 million the year before. The record numbers he's expecting will also come before Durant plays a single game: The former most-valuable player is expected to miss all of the 2019-2020 season while recovering from Achilles surgery.
The revenue boost may also affect the team's ownership structure. Last year, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai purchased 49% of the team from Prokhorov at a $2.3 billion valuation, a record price for a National Basketball Association team. Tsai has an option to buy a controlling stake in the team by 2021, and though he was already expected to exercise that option, new stars and more revenue will likely make the opportunity even more enticing.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eben Novy-Williams in New York at enovywilliam@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III, Lisa Wolfson
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