NEW YORK (AP) The sale of the New Jersey Nets to a Brooklyn developer was approved Friday by the team's current owners, the first step in returning major professional sports to the borough for the first time since 1957.

A statement was expected from Yankee/Nets, the owners of the NBA team. But developer Bruce Ratner, Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg scheduled a news conference later Friday about ``the return of professional major league sports to Brooklyn.''

A raft of government approvals were still necessary before the glass-walled Frank Gehry arena proposed by Ratner rises above a railyard minutes from downtown Brooklyn.