“I’m not going to the Nets game tonight and my message to the Nets is goodbye.”

With those short words and a shrug of the shoulders, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said farewell to the long-time state NBA franchise.

“You don’t wanna stay, we don’t want you,” he went on to say. “I mean seriously, I’m not going to be in the business of begging people to stay here. That’s one of the most beautiful arenas in America, that they’ve had the chance to play in, it’s in one of the country’s most vibrant cities and they wanna leave here and go to Brooklyn? Good riddance. See you later.”

He tweeted out his short, but sweet message late Monday:

His comments came at a press conference for a bill signing earlier in the day. Check out the video below:

Last year, in a move that surprised nobody, part-owner Jay-Z announced that the team would be moving to Brooklyn’s new Barclays Center for the 2012-2013 season. Earlier this month, the NBA board of governors unanimously approved the relocation. The name change to the Brooklyn Nets will be finalized at the end of the month, and the team will get an all-new logo an new team colors.

Whatever you think of Governor Christie, you have to respect his straightforwardness, a quality that has endeared him to many in his party. It’s one of the reason that his name is among a fairly lengthy list of possible VP candidates to run alongside (expected nominee) Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential election.