Brooklyn Sports Alliance Moves Ahead

The nascent Brooklyn Sports Alliance, busy incorporating as a not-for-profit corporation, will be joining Basketball City and FCRC tomorrow for a basketball clinic at Bishop Ford High School. This clinic will be followed by a series of clinics in diverse neighborhoods all over the borough that ill be collaborative efforts between the Sports Alliance, BC and FCRC.

The BSA has already identified dozens of local groups, amateur teams and youth organizations eager to join with the newly formed coalition. We're talking about groups that have been laboring for years on behalf of the young people of Brooklyn and are excited about the first professional franchise to come to Brooklyn in over fifty years.

We anticipate that the Nets and FCRC will become a major stakeholder in the development of this sports advocacy group but, at the same tome, once others see the depth of the group's support, we think it won't be long before the number of the group's supporters grows considerably.

While skeptics may label this cooptation, the test of the venture will be seen in the extent of the Alliance's support and the way in which it reaches out to help youth sports group all over Brooklyn. Clearly, this is not pure altruism on the part of the incoming team and its ownership, but is there really anything that's truly pure when it comes to philanthropy? There are always less pure motivations involved in corporate giving but that doesn't take away from the good achieved.

What we hope to achieve is a dynamic partnership that benefits both the team and the amateur sports community of Brooklyn. A win-win situation would be for kids to get support and exposure to the larger sports world while the team gets a growing and enthusiastic fan base.