The New Jersey Nets played two preseason games in Newark and the team drew so well there in comparison to what it normally gets for regular-season games at the Meadowlands that the team is considering playing a bunch of regular-season games there, according to the Newark Star-Ledger. The problem is that the team is supposedly trying to figure out a way around the $8 million penalty that it could incur if it doesn't play all its home games at the Meadowlands.

Meanwhile, some residents of Brooklyn, where the team is planning to move, are hoping that the team hits enough legal hurdles in its plans for a new arena and also finds Newark so welcoming that it will bag on its plan. Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who only needs to gain approval from other owners in order to take over the team, seems more interested in having a team in New York City's five boroughs than in Newark, though.

Prokhorov apparently met up with a bunch of owners this week and NBA Comissioner David Stern is seeing no reason the basketball-loving fella who is worth $9.5 billion won't be pass muster. Who woldn't want that kind of cash around in these rough financial times?

Source: Newark Star-Ledger