PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Talk about giving new meaning to the shot clock.
The Barclays Center could serve alcohol as late as 2 a.m. and high-rollers could be allowed to buy booze for up to an hour after NBA games if the arena's liquor license wins approval from the State Liquor Authority.
In a letter released Wednesday, attorneys for the new arena said the Barclays Center wants to cut off alcohol sales for most patrons at the beginning of the fourth quarter during NBA games, in keeping with league policy.
But VIPs in the arena's private lounges and more than 100 luxury suites could keep buying the hard stuff for up to an hour after the final buzzer, according to the letter, which Barclays Center attorneys wrote in response to neighborhood concerns about late-night liquor sales at the arena.
For non-NBA game events, the arena plans to stop selling alcohol an hour before the event's end.
The latest alcohol would be served at any public event would be 2 a.m., attorneys said, which is two hours shy of the standard 4 a.m. closing time for New York bars.
With visions of tipsy, rowdy post-game crowds spilling out of the 18,000-seat arena, some locals have called for 10 p.m. cutoff time for alcohol sales at the Barclays Center, which is slated to open in September.
Gib Veconi, a member of the watchdog group Brooklyn Speaks, called it "stunning" that arena officials waited until now, a week before the SLA's public hearing on the liquor license, to reveal that the Barclays Center wants to sell alcohol until 2 a.m.
"This is another unfortunate example of an incomplete disclosure from the Atlantic Yards project in advance of a public approval," Veconi said in an email. "The SLA should defer action on the license until all the details of the clubs and other liquor service are made public."
Park Slope's Community Board 6 approved the Barclays Center liquor license application in May, and asked that alcohol sales stop at 2 a.m. The SLA is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the liquor license application on June 12.
