What To Look Out For Around Barclays When The NBA All-Star Game Comes To Town

Mary Bakija -


The NBA All-Star game is coming to New York City this month, and several events will be taking place at Barclays Center, which means travel in the area will be impacted.

Load-in begins on Saturday, February 7, with events scheduled for Thursday, February 12 through Sunday, February 15. Though resident and businesses “will have unrestricted access in and out of their homes and buildings” and they promise no major production work or external light or sound during overnight hours, expect crowds, a few parking restrictions, and partial street closures.

Details from Barclays:

  • Beginning 12:01am on Saturday, February 7th until 11:59pm on Monday, February 16th, vehicular traffic on 6th Avenue between Pacific Street and Dean Street will be north bound only.
  • Emergency vehicle traffic lanes will be preserved at all times – however, for security and quality control, temporary detours and traffic “freezes” are to be expected for both vehicles and pedestrians.
  • There will be a significant police presence in the area to assist with event management – as needed, security checks and crowd control measures will be introduced and directed by the NYPD.
  • While the NBA is heavily promoting the use of public transportation, there will be a significant number of vehicles servicing arena guests and event staff both Friday and Saturday nights. These vehicles will arrive on the arena block for guest drop-off, stage at an off-site parking lot and return to the arena as part of a highly-controlled/scheduled pick-up program at the end of the event. In total, we expected approximately 100 coach buses & 200 for-hire vehicles under the direction of NBA traffic management.
  • There will be additional deployments of both Barclays Center Pedestrian Traffic Managers and NYPD Traffic Enforcement Agents (TEAs) to assist with event night traffic management.
  • In addition to trailers and production vehicles, several generators are required to ensure live television broadcast integrity. The generators are noise-attenuated, EPA Tier 4-compliant (lowest-emissions, highest-rated) and located within the 6th Avenue broadcast compound from Saturday 2/7 until Monday 2/16.
  • Starting at 6pm Friday and Saturday nights and 12pm Sunday afternoon, Barclays Center is prepared to welcome approximately 15,000 guests, many of whom carry a high-profile and are directly involved in the production and ancillary events throughout New York CityThe NBA coordinates with all media outlets, as the production is wholly owned and controlled inside the building. There will be a very large media check-in program on event nights.

The Brooklyn Paramount Theatre, used by Long Island University for years as an athletic and events facility, will also be playing a role, according to Barclays CEO Brett Yormark, who said it will serve as host of the fan hub, which will debut the NBA House, presented by BBVA Compass.

“The NBA is going to help bring back the name recognition of the Paramount in Brooklyn, and on the heels of that we’ll continue to look for programming,” said Yormark.

If you have any questions, you can contact the NBA All-Star 2015 general inquiry hotline at 201-590-3952 (operational starting February 9) or Terence Kelly, Barclays Center Community Affairs, at 347-834-3957 or tkelly@brooklynse.com.