Brooklyn Nets Open Barclays Center to Public

The new home of the Brooklyn Nets (Photo @LolitaLens ... BrooklynFans.com)

The new home of the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center, is open for business.

A week before Jay-Z performs the first-ever show at Barclays Center, the ribbon was cut at the new $billion arena.

Take the video tour and decide where this arena ranks among the NBA arena favorites.

Barclays Center Video Tour

YouTube @BrooklynFans

What's different about a 2012-13 NBA arena?  And what can a billion bucks getcha these days?

Sightlines.  You're on top of the action, from any seat in the house.

Location.  Eleven trains roll right up to the front door of the Nets' new home in happenin' Brooklyn.

Social media superstars can feed their egos here like nowhere else in sports.  Arena Wi-Fi, interactive team tweets during games, five-tier video scoreboard—the show on the floor is only the beginning.

Will it be the best arena in the league?

How Will Barclays Center Stack Up to Madison Square Garden and Other Arenas?

Arena developer Bruce Ratner (with scissors) and owner Mikhail Prokhorov (far right) cut the ribbon to open Barclays Center (photo @LolitaLens, BrooklynFans.com)

Barclays Center already has the makings of a top sports venue.  It's stylish without feeling the need to trick it all up.

What the place needs now is winning basketball and, for the Nets, a total departure from recent history.

It also needs the right fan base, and count on Brooklyn to bring it.  

Knicks fans won't go quietly, and scheduling them for opening night was a bad idea—why not build up to the intra-city battle and let Nets fans come together for the opening month?  But the NYC rivalry can only be a good thing for a Nets fan base trying to put itself on the map.  Loud fans make a new arena stand up, and there will be plenty to make noise about after going 55 years without a top-level pro team.

Your Turn: Does Barclays Center look like a contender for a top NBA arena?