Jeff Capellini is Perdicting Our Demise

Jeff Capellini who writes for WFAN is predicting the end of the New York Islanders after the end of their lease in 2015.

 Barring the seemingly more and more unlikely destination of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the Islanders would likely need a minimum of 18 months to build a new place to play. Where and how they acquire that piece of property is another issue, one that, as we’ve seen, doesn’t seem all that important to the powers that be right now, even though it should be for all involved the first priority.
A year and a half from this very moment puts us in training camp for the 2013-14 season, exactly one year from the beginning of the Islanders’ final season on the lease at Nassau Coliseum. By doing the construction timetable math it’s fairly easy to see that the franchise has no choice but to get something done in the next year, including, if the Coliseum is to be refurbished, finding a place to play temporarily for a minimum of one season.
Again, knowing what we know and have seen, this all just feels like semantics, like a pipe dream just to hold on to some hope that the once-proud tradition of Islanders hockey will continue in the only area it has ever called home.
To many people, Brooklyn seems like the savior. Fans I know just ask repeatedly “Why don’t they just do that?” It’s not that simple. While the Barclays Center is an attractive notion, regardless of the fact that its NHL capacity would likely fall short of the 16,250 that’s a full house at the Coliseum, Charles Wang has lost approximately $250 million as the owner of this franchise and it has been widely reported, in addition to being extremely logical, that this man has no intention of simply writing that loss off. No matter what he ultimately decides to do, be it a sale or if he holds onto the club, he’s going to get much of that money back. And currently the idea of Brooklyn doesn’t afford him that avenue of revenue. Maybe the development of Atlantic Yards could be part of the deal, but, again, it would be another negotiation in the mechanism, one that would have a million moving parts and one that almost certainly would further slow the political and financial process.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/12/capellini-light-at-the-end-of-islanders-dark-tunnel-fast-becoming-just-a-wish/#comment-487594 Pleas read the entire article.

There is one point that I disagree with that Jeff Capellini made, which is how difficult it will be to get in on the Atlantic Yards Development.  The project has already been zoned and approved and is just wait for the financing to get off the ground.  The only thing that needs to happen is for Wang and Bruce Ratner to come to an agreement that makes sens for both parties and makes both of them money.  That doesn't seem like a lot of moving parts and politics to me.  It seems like two billionaire friends helping each other out so they can make more money.