City officials said they saw the proposal put forward by the Nets owners, including the philanthropist Raymond Chambers, as the next jewel in Newark's crown.

To create their 50-50 partnership, the teams will exchange some stock and the Nets owners will contribute at least $350 million from outside investors.

According to two participants in the meeting, the gathering was civil, and there was a long-awaited consensus by Nets owners that it was time for them to sell.

That was what ultimately scared off the incoming Nets owners, Bruce C. Ratner and his partners.

What that $25 million represents is the amount by which Nets owners reduced their tax obligation under something called a roster depreciation allowance, or RDA.

Or will he be another in a series of Nets owners who grab the Nets like a hot potato, juggle the franchise, move it, then hand it off?

Goldman Sachs pulled out as an investor just before the sale last August, and was replaced by a group of previous Nets owners.

Reed, however, said yesterday that he and the Nets owners discussed the possiblity of raising the ante and decided not to.

Lamoriello has been criticized for laying down the law to Nets owners and to the staffs of the Nets and the Devils.

The contemporary Nets owners wanted to play ball the way their partner, George Steinbrenner, always has with his Yankees.