Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 5

jj yjrfVfTWrpfyy'i mm i---- riu 1 Three Bidders Seek to Buy NBA Team At By Steve Zipay and Michael Dobie CTAvrwBmn 1 iV mine which of the three leading figures gets the ego boost dated with owning the second-best team in the NBA The three bidders are: Islanders owner and retired Computer Associates International Inc chairman Charles Wang who would return the team to Nassau Coliseum where it played from 1971 to 1976 and then seek to fast-track the construction of a new arena A loose alliance of New Jersey investors led by multimillionaire real estate magnate Charles A Kushner and Sen Jon Corzine (D-NJ) which prefers to keep the Nets in their current home Nets majority owner Lewis Katz and developer Bruce Ratner who want to move the Nets to a new arena in a planned 21 -acre retail and housing complex on Flatbush and Atlantic avenues in Brooklyn The New Jersey group is the favorite said a veteran New York See NETS on A52 the week since the New Jersey Nets were officially put on: the market by its owner YankeeNeta three bidders have po-' sitioned themselves in a high-stakes fight for a franchise on the rebound -j i A real-estate mogul is trying to keep the back-to-back Eastern Conference champions home The owner of hockey's Is- landers wants to bring the Netsbackto Nassau County -and a' city developer is hoping to move the franchise to Brooklyn While the outcome is uncertain' some things are diear The battle for the Nets could determine whether the commercial heart of Nassau County gets" redeveloped with a new arena to replace the aging Coliseum For New York basketball fans it could mean a new in-city or in-state rival for the Knicks And in the world of tycoons who measure their fortunes in hundreds of millions of dollars the auction will deter- jiCoye Neck Inte former chief executive I Education: BS (Queens College Slam dunk: Built CA 4 Into one of the I largest software fe'I-flfi companies in i world Iltamv hofcBngs: i New York Islanders New Ybrk Dragons Estimated wealth: $500 minion J'V- i1 Hoping to Give Brooklyn Boost TWiing to Return TeamtoLI By Marie Harrington US hilti mhv -w vH5 ft rf At nnnthjrr mflwrtnna in hia Bmpira-huilding day at Computer Associates International Ttv fThnrlan Wang took the stage at a 1996 event in Manhattan to herald the billinn-dollar buyout ofCheyenne Software one ofhis biggest catches to date Standing beside hia friend and counterpart ReiJane Huai unas- Burning chief executive Wang was describing hia relationship with the man who would now become an insider not a good HaakthiH player I can tell you that deadpanned Wang whose Cove Neck estate ha an indoor court and who used to keep a pair of white high-tops under hia desk By Alan Wax MrrmiRB Mary Ann Tighe remembers her first encounter with Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner more than seven years ago when she waa a commercial real estate broker on the rise Tighe now the tri-state regional chief executive of CB Richard Ellis Inc the biggest commercial property brokerage said Ratner invited her to lunch at the posh Four Seasons restaurant know him I know what hia agenda aha recalled last week As it turned out only purpose waa to introduce himself and key members of hia team at Forest City Ratner Cos she said "Nothing happened in our relationship for Now Tighe represents See RATNER on A53 See WANG onA53 iii P'-W.