The previous lease deal was to expire after the 2007-2008 season, one year before the Nets' planned new home in Brooklyn is completed. But there is a team option in the extension allows the Nets to stay through the 2012-2013 season.

A 2009 relocation remains the team's plan, Nets chief executive Brett Yormark said.

"We're going to be in Brooklyn, but while we are in New Jersey, our home is Continental Arena," Yormark said. "There is no gray area there."

Also in the deal is a 12.1 million-dollar penalty on the Nets should the NBA team relocate from the 25-year-old Meadowlands arena to anywhere other than the New York boroughs of Brooklyn or Queens after the 2007-2008 season.

Such a move the following year would cost 9.8 million dollars with the price tag dropping to 2.6 million for a move in the 2012-2013 season.

A new arena will open in Newark next year for the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils, but the deal would tie the Nets to the Meadowlands should plans fall through in New York, where the team originated.