Brooklyn Nets open new arena

Pedestrians pass the main entrance to the Barclays Arena in New York, Sept. 20, 2012, as workmen complete their cleanup for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. After decades without a professional sports team, Brooklyn is hit the major leagues again on Sept. 21, 2012, when the Brooklyn Nets' new arena opened to the public.

Brooklyn Nets basketball player Brook Lopez walks onto the floor of the Barclay's Center, Brooklyn's newest arena and the team's new home, after a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 in New York. The ceremony marked the official unveiling of the arena, the first building that is part of the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Nets basketball player Brook Lopez walks onto the floor of the Barclay's Center, Brooklyn's newest arena and the team's new home, after a ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 21, 2012, in New York.

Jerome Stewart, 15, wears a Brooklyn Nets cap as he walks home from school past the Ebbets Field Apartments, home of the former Brooklyn Dodgers, on Sept. 19, 2012, in Brooklyn, N.Y. "I used to be a Knicks fan" said Stewart, "but switched to the Nets." After decades without a professional sports team after the Dodgers moved west, Brooklyn is hitting the major leagues again with a new arena and the Brooklyn Nets' basketball franchise.

Fred Wilken, 72, and his wife Linda Wilken, 70, prepare to have a meal on Sept. 19, 2012, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Wilken recalled as a boy going to see Jackie Robinson play with the Brooklyn Dodgers at nearby Ebbets Field, now a sprawling high-rise apartment complex. He moved away from the area and stop going to ball games after the Dodgers moved west decades ago.

A mural recalling the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, shows signs of decay on the wall of a subway station on Sept. 19, 2012, in Brooklyn, N.Y. The mural is a short walk from Ebbets Field, where the Dodgers played and now a sprawling apartment complex to thousands after the team moved west decades ago.

Ron Schweiger, Brooklyn's official borough historian, at his home where he has an extensive Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia collection on Sept. 20, 2012. Schweiger says the new stadium will help replace the sense of loss felt longtime residents for many years after the Dodgers left.

Ebbets Field Apartments, once home to the Brooklyn Dodgers and now home to thousands, is viewed from where second base would have been, Sept. 19, 2012, in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Eric Johnson, left, 19, and Mario Volcin, 23, play basketball in the Jackie Robinson Playground as the Ebbets Field apartments looms in the background, on Sept. 19, 2012, in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Brooklyn Nets basketball player Brook Lopez, lower left, walks onto the floor of the Barclay's Center, Brooklyn's newest arena and the team's new home, after a ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 21, 2012, in New York.

In this aerial file photo of July 27, 2011, construction of the Barclays Center is underway for the new home of the Nets basketball team in the Brooklyn borough of New York.

This Sept. 13, 1942, photo gives an aerial view of Ebbets Field, home to the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, in Brooklyn, New York. It was like a death in the family for Brooklyn baseball fans when their beloved Dodgers left the borough behind for the California coast. But after decades without a professional sports team, Brooklyn hit the major leagues again on Sept. 21, 2012, when the Brooklyn Nets' new arena opened to the public.

This undated file photo shows the entrance of Ebbets Field Stadium in the Brooklyn borough of New York.