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Report: After wooing Isles to Brooklyn, Ratner to help develop Nassau Coliseum site

Shawn Jay-Z Carter, Bruce Ratner

Nets part-owner Jay-Z, right, shakes hands with Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner, with the still under-construction Barclay’s Center behind them, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Monday, Sept. 26, 2011. Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z said at a news conference that he will perform “one, two, maybe three” times at the Barclays Center. Dates haven’t been set. Jay-Z also made it official that the club will be called the Brooklyn Nets. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

AP

The man who wooed the New York Islanders into his new Brooklyn arena is reportedly set to advise Nassau County officials on what to do with the Isles’ soon-to-be former rink.

Which is a bit ironic, no?

That man, of course, would be Bruce Ratner, the developer and majority owner of the Barclays Center.

According to Newday, Ratner “will play a strategic role in developing an entertainment facility” on the site of the obsolete Nassau Coliseum and “will come up with a plan in 2013 to increase the arena’s viability and allow it to compete for shows, concerts and other events.”

The Isles signed an “ironclad” 25-year lease at the Barclays Center starting in 2015-16, so unless the iron can be melted down on that agreement, they won’t be moving back once they leave Nassau, even if there’s a new arena there.