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.

``The YankeeNets board today approved the purchase agreement'' with Brooklyn Basketball LLC, the group headed by Bruce Ratner, YankeeNets spokesman Howard Rubenstein said in a statement. The current owners voted in a teleconference to sign off on the deal reached earlier this week.

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.

City and state agencies must approve infrastructure changes, tax breaks and condemnations of neighboring homes that could end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Government officials dealing with Ratner said specifics of state and city aid for the project were unclear. Bloomberg and Pataki, while eager to return pro sports to Brooklyn, were wary of straining public coffers, officials said.

``We have to be careful on how we use taxpayer money for stadiums or arenas,'' said Empire State Development Corp. chairman Charles Gargano, who will direct state involvement in the project.

The arena is merely one part of an ambitious development plan crafted by Ratner. The well-known developer built the MetroTech Center in Brooklyn, home to the city's fire department headquarters, along with banking and other offices.

The 19,000-seat arena would sit amid thousands of apartments, hundreds of thousands of square feet of shopping space and more than 2 million square feet of offices. Most of the $2.5 billion project would sit atop a Long Island Railroad yard owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency controlled by Pataki.

From the state, Ratner needs both air rights and a condemnation power to take nearby homes and businesses. The developer estimates about 150 homes would be affected, although neighbors fear the number would be higher.

Residents of the upscale neighborhood of Prospect Heights, which adjoins the site, have promised to sue to block what they said would be an unconstitutional use of the government's eminent domain power for private rather than public benefit.

An MTA official said Ratner had yet to formally approach the agency and it was far from certain that the agency would sell him the air rights, let alone provide them at less than market price.

The state's role could allow Ratner to avoid much of the city's lengthy and stringent land-use approval process. Opponents charge that's one of a number of advantages bestowed on Ratner because of his political connections.

Ratner has held high-level positions in two mayoral administrations, and was once appointed by Pataki to study the possibility of luring the Dodgers back to Brooklyn.

``There's a notion that he's not going to have any problems getting MTA approval because of his relationship with the governor,'' said City Councilwoman Letitia James. James, who represents the neighborhood, opposes the arena.

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Associated Press Writer Michael Weissenstein contributed to this story.