A Thought on the latest Wang News

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A lot of Islander fans are excited with the news that Wang has contacted the Rhine Group about selling the Islanders.  However, in my mind if Wang will remain the Islanders majority owner for a long time to the dismay of many.  I believe that it is more likely that Wang is interested in gaining minority partners to add new capital to the team.  This capital would help the organization in many ways, but I believe its main purpose would be to buyout the coliseum lease early.  This would allow for Wang and his partners to benefit form the projected increase revenue Brooklyn offers now.  The only way I see Wang selling the Islanders outright is if someone is will to cover the loses he has suffered while owning the team.  Unless that happens I can't see Wang turning his back on the opportunity to make back some of his money with the new stabilize foundation he created for the team in Brooklyn.   

Wang Might Sell???

The New York Post is reporting that Charles Wang might be taking the first steps in selling the Islanders.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/wang_got_an_island_ers_to_sell_you_fr5G1LnsjlNKje6m8xHezN

Apparently the move to Brooklyn and the Barcalys Center have made the Islanders more attractive and possible for Wang to reach his dream price of 300 million for the team.  I caution fans not to get excited since this is in the early stages and may turn into nothing.

The Isles Need to Start Winning Again!

If the Islanders want to take advantage of their move to Brooklyn like the Nets have done, they need to start winning.  Yes, Brooklyn offers many advantages that Nassau couldn't: like mass transportation, better media exposure, more corporate support, and many other things.  However, none of these advantages will matter unless the Islanders put their focus back on to the on ice product.  Charles Wang is going have to spend money in order to make money at the Barclays Center, since by the time the Isles move there the luster of the new arena, and the new arena smell will be gone.  He did spend money when he first bought the team on players like Alexi Yashin, Chris Osgood, and Michale Peaca, but stopped when he realized their was no finical stability coming anytime soon from Nassau County.  Now that he has that in Brooklyn he needs to spend again, and make winning his number one concern, and in the end he will be rewarded for it.

 

Who is to Blame for the Isles Leaving Nassau County?

Now that we are several months past the announcement that the Islanders are leaving Nassau, I think it is a good time to examine who is to blame.  For me the answer is simple and the blame is squarely on the shoulders of the Long Island politicians.

 The demise of the franchise was set into motion by Al D'Amato.  The former New York Senator was the person that created the worse professional lease between the Islanders, Nassau, and SMG, which put the team in a terrible financial situation. This lease made it impossible for the Islanders to compete in the modern sport climate by giving 2/3 of the teams revenues generated from the arena away to SMG and the county.  There is even a story out their that D'Amato gave the Lighthouse the evil eye, since Wang wouldn't hire his brother.

Thomas Suozzi the former Nassau County Executive also played a role in the demise of the Islanders in their birthplace.  Mr. Suozzi had a plan called 90/10 where he wanted to keep 90% percent of Nassau the same and develop the other 10% to jump start the economy.  This is where the Islanders come in.  Suozzi saw the Hub where the Islanders are located as part of the 10% and saw a mega development as away to get the Isles a new arena without having the county to pay for it.  In theory this is all great, but he made one fatal flaw.  Before setting his plan in motion he never checked with the Town of Hempstead who controls the zoning to determine what would be an acceptable size for the project.  Not involving the Town of Hempstead on the ground level of this idea was a huge mistake all Islander fans saw play out.

We all know what Kate Murray did.  She single handily turned down a 4 billion dollar investment by Charles Wang to jump start the local economy and build the Isles a new arena at the same time.  What some people might not know was that Wang tried to reach out to her during the planning stage of the Lighthouse to understand what he can build.  She denied his request, because she viewed herself as a judge on the project.  Instead of working with a man who wants to put 4 billion dollars into her town and county she turned her back on him.  She also created a zoning that didn't that the feasibility of the developer making money with an arena part of it and then said it is the final zoning.  Great job there!

Jay Jacobs the man who stood in the way of the last ditch effort to keep the Islanders in Nassau.  He started a scare campaign against the referendum to build the Isles a new home.  He called people to tell them if they let this pass their taxes would be raised and that is unacceptable.  One thing you left out Mr. Jacob if the Islanders leave their taxes are going be raised and higher than the $15 that it would of cost them to build the arena.  His great alternative plan that he was forced to give during an interview with Mike Francesa on WFAN was personal seating licenses.  However he said after his victory over the referendum he will be working on alternative ideas to keep the Islanders.  Great job on that alternative idea.

E 

Ed Mangano is the man who is going have the Islanders leaving Nassau County on his record, but he is possibly the lease responsible.  He was given the arena problem with nearly no time left on the clock with one hand tied behind his back, since NIFA controlled the county's spending.  Sadly he couldn't come up with a plan to save the team, but he did try a Hail Mary with the referendum that if it passed would put pressure on NIFA to seriously consider spending money on an arena.  Sadly it failed and he had little to no other options to save the team.

All of these politicians failure led to the Islanders leaving their birthplace Nassau County, which by all means people can and should be upset about.  However, people shouldn't be upset about Brooklyn or the Barclays Center, since it was the only option for us to keep or team in New York. 

 I much rather be playing here.

        Than here

Or here

Or here

Thanks to this

    

 We can still have this

 

Back By Request: Could the Isles Arrive in Brooklyn Earlier than the 2015-16 Season

Well I am glad to say that we know that our beloved New York Islanders will not leave us, but as one reader asked me could the Isles get to Brooklyn sooner than the 2015-16 season?  In my mind the answer to this is simple and that it depends on the cost.  Nassau is going want to be paid to let the Islanders out of their lease.  So everything will come down to whether or not Wang and Nassau and come up with a price that will make everyone happy.  If Nassau's Comptroller http://rockvillecentre.patch.com/articles/comptroller-nassau-better-off-without-nhl-season George Margos and his fellow politicians really do believe that the county will be better off without the team that shouldn't be so hard.  One may also point to Bruce Ratner the developer of the Barclays Center being involved as a non paid adviser on the future of the Coliseum as a positive sign (or negative depending on your feelings) that the Islanders can go to Brooklyn sooner rather than later.  In my personal opinion the team will be playing in the Barclays Center before the 2015-16 season, but nothing will surprise me when it involves the Islanders and Nassau politicians.      

It should also be noted that SMG will have to be paid off as well to let the Islanders out of the lease.

Let me know what you guys think with the new poll

The Islanders Will Stay in New York Until 2040

Beginning the 2015-16 the New York Islanders will play at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn New York.  This will keep the historic franchise in the local area and bring an end to the over two decade saga of the Islanders arena issues. Here is to the next two decades plus on New York Islanders hockey.

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Hello Brooklyn

What October 2nd would look like if it happens.

Bill Daly is Intrigued by Brooklyn

Newsday's recent article on the Islanders and Brooklyn had some positive and less positive news on Brooklyn. Let's start with the less positive, only 7,000 tickets have been sold for the October 2nd at the Barclays Center.  However, like the article has mentioned the Barclays Center hasn't aggressively marketed the game yet.  Another issue that might be effecting ticket sales is the labor disputes that will most likely cancel the game.

Now on to the positive news on Brooklyn, deputy commissioner of the NHL was quoted as saying "a potential move by the Islanders to Atlantic Avenue remains "an intriguing possibility."  This statement is the most positive one the league has made by the league yet. 

The Silent Summer

There really hasn't been much new on the arena front for Islander fans.  Nassau is still in the middle of their RFQ process.  One of the developers interested in the site dropped out since he felt not enough time was given for him to present his vision.  The only developer who has publicly  stated he wants the Islanders as part of his development was Monti.  However, the zoning seems to still be an issue and so does financing, but we will find out more on those issues after the RFQ winner is announced.  More importantly we will also find out if Wang would be interested in working with one of these developers.

In the mean time Ratner is still making public pleas for the Islanders to move to Brooklyn.  In all honesty its nice to hear someone say "We're trying like hell to convince the Islanders play in Brooklyn".  It is just nice to be wanted by someone and someplace after the mess the franchise has gone through in Nassau.

Sadly for us Islander fans there still seems to be along way to go before this saga is over. 

P.S. Yes I am still alive.  It has been along and busy summer, but I'm back.

Where is Suffolk

We have heard from Nassau, Queens, and Brooklyn in the past several months, but what happen to Suffolk.  Ever since Steve Bellone has become County Executive not a whisper of talks between the two has been heard.  There are two ways this can be interpreted.

1) Suffolk County is too cash strap to offer the Islanders a deal, so the two sides haven't been talking.

2) Suffolk County and Charles Wang are in talks and the two sides are keeping everything under wraps, since Wang wants a media blackout.  The reason why Wang would want a media blackout with any serious negotiation is the belief that he has that the media played a major role in killing the Lighthouse.  So the question is while Nassau Democrats and Republicans are fighting and Brooklyn is talking about the potential of their arena to the public is something really going on behinds the scenes in Suffolk.

At this point of time it still looks like it will be Brooklyn or out of New York for the Islanders, but if there was ever a dark horse in this race it has been Suffolk County.  The question is if their silence speaks volumes or not.

Nassau Rehashes an Old Plan

Instead of coming up with a new idea for the the Nassau Hub and saving the Islanders, Nassau County and Ed Mangano rehash an old plan.  They want private development to save the team and developm the land without public money.

From Newsday:

In another attempt to keep the Islanders , Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano is seeking a developer to coordinate the construction of a new or renovated arena, along with housing and retail, on the land around Nassau Coliseum .

But team officials did not return calls for comment, and it remains unclear whether they support Mangano's latest plan. Islanders owner Charles Wang has said his team will not stay in the current arena past 2015, when his lease expires, and that he is evaluating other possible locations.

To jump-start the new arena effort, Nassau County is expected Monday to release a Request for Qualifications seeking a "master developer" for the Nassau Hub property. The winning developer would be required to "immediately begin negotiations" with the Islanders and the arena's management, Pennsylvania -based SMG, the RFQ is expected to say.

The goal, Mangano said, is to make up the difference between what Wang is willing to pay as the Coliseum's tenant and the total price tag of a new or renovated arena. The plan does not detail how much Wang would contribute. No county money is involved, Mangano said.

"There's 10 years of data, there's 10 years of public input, there's 10 years of no's," Mangano said in an interview. "Now's the time for us to come together and collectively end the island of no and go forward with the island of yes. That's what the RFQ is intended to do."

If the Islanders leave, the winning developer would have to come up with an alternative.

Islanders senior vice president Michael Picker did not return calls for comment last week.

 http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo;JSESSIONID=703656FED317F950FDD7.3239?site=newsday&view=top_stories_item&feed%3Aa=newsday_1min&feed%3Ac=topstories&feed%3Ai=1.3825413&nopaging=1

This plan is flawed to begin with, considering we already know that Kate Murray's zoning makes it impossible for a developer to make a profit with an arena in the plans.  Most likely people will put in RFPS so they can have the the land   if or when the Islanders leave.  Since it will become the responsibility of the winning developer to come up with alternatives for the site if the Islanders decide to leave the hub.  Instead of coming up with a new plan Nassau has returned to an already failed one.

Things Are Quiet on the Arena Front

As we get deeper into summer and the hockey off season things are completely quiet on the arena front.  For the past several weeks nothing new has come out.  The last we heard Ed Mangano handed in his proposal for the hub, but no details were released of the plan.  There have even been murmurs that an arena will not be included in the plan.  On the Brooklyn front the team spent a lot of time at the draft party promoting the October 2nd game at the Barclays Center and even came out with a shirt for the event..

The longer this issue goes with any news this off season the worse the future of the Islanders in Nassau County looks.  Things look so bad that the head of the labor unions on Long Island threw out the ideas of using the unions pension money to build a new arena.  That is a gigantic risk to take with people's retirement money.  Hopefully something comes out soon on the issue, but for now it seems like Islander fans will be force to wait and see if the new Hub plan might have an arena in it when the economic development council picks winners in September.  This could be a painfully quiet summer 

Coyotes New Lease is going to Court?

ESPN is reporting that the new lease that Glendale approved for the Coyotes will be sued by Goldwater Institute.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The conservative watchdog group Goldwater Institute has filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Glendale City Council's vote to approve a lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena with a potential buyer of the Phoenix Coyotes.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court on behalf of Glendale taxpayers Ken Jones and Joe Cobb, claiming last week's vote violated a 2009 court order requiring Glendale to provide all documents in negotiations between the city and a prospective owner to Goldwater in a timely manner.

We continue to hope that the city will construct a lawful deal that protects the interests of Glendale taxpayers. Without seeing critical exhibits contained in the arena management agreement ... it is not possible to determine the constitutional validity of the agreement.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8047705/goldwater-institute-files-lawsuit-phoenix-coyotes-deal

 The question this arises is if the lease get's hold up in court will the NHL wait for the trail to come to a conclusion, or pickup and move out of the market.  If the Coyotes are forced to relocate that would take one threat away from the Islanders.

Hush Hush on Nassau's Hub Redevelopment Plan

Yesterday Nassau County submitted their redevelopment plan for the hub, but would not release the details of it.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano submitted an economic development plan to the state Friday for the Hub area, although it's unclear what the proposal envisions for the aging Nassau Coliseum .

The application, which Deputy County Executive Rob Walker refused to release because of "nondisclosure agreements with certain interested parties," was submitted to the Empire State Development Corp. as a "transformative project."

"It's going to be good," said Walker, who declined to elaborate on the proposal.

Nassau's submission will compete with other projects from across Long Island . The Long Island Regional Economic Development Council will select its top projects to compete with nine other regions for a total of $220 million in capital funds.

An additional $530 million, pooled from 12 state agencies, will be distributed by the state.

Kevin Law, co-vice chairman of the council, said he was anxious to review Nassau's proposal. The panel will make its decision in September.

http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo;JSESSIONID=777BA7C2EB19649AFAFD.3239?site=newsday&view=nassau_item&feed:a=newsday_5min&feed:c=nassau&feed:i=1.3785252&nopaging=1

 The fact they won't release the details scares me a little. It makes me think that this could be the first redevelopment plan without an arena in it. I wouldn't think they would make that drastic of a shift yet, but who knows.

Brooklyn or Bust

I have been saying for months now that I believe that unless something drastic happen that it is Brooklyn or bust for the Islanders.  Today there were several pieces written expressing that opinion.

Ever since the residents of Nassau County overwhelmingly voted No against another plan to get the Islanders a new arena, the future of the franchise on Long Island has been in doubt.
It has seemed all along that the brand new Barclays Center in Brooklyn is the only suitable option -- and some would argue that it's not suitable. Despite officials saying the arena could host hockey -- and it will this preseason when the Islanders play a game there -- its seating capacity for hockey would be the lowest in the NHL, even below Winnipeg.
But is that really it? I mean, there's no way that the NHL would let a team leave the New York Metro area, would they? Well if that's your hope than these tweets from B.D. Gallof of WFAN/CBS New York won't give you the warm and fuzzies.

BDGallof @BDGallof

I have been told its either Brooklyn or gone. Final chapter playing out quietly. Brooklyn or outside bids the direction here for #isles

15 Jun 12

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BDGallof @BDGallof

Don't mean to be a drag, but the reality here, especially with news of Queens is that nobody attaching it to #isles for good reason.

15 Jun 12

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BDGallof @BDGallof

Situation can change, but hard to see it when so many counties broke. Brooklyn still ONLY local suitor for #isles

15 Jun 12

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This is not surprising yet it is all at the same time. It's not surprising because all along there haven't appeared to be any real options besides Brooklyn. From a black and white standpoint I thought it was always easy to see that it was Brooklyn or bust.

 http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/blog/eye-on-hockey/19360649/nhl-rumors-is-it-brooklyn-or-bust-for-the-islanders-in-new-york

Its sad to think that the Islanders day in Nassau are nearing an end, but with a 3 billion dollar debt and a zoning too small to be profitable with an arena, there seem to be little choice left for the Islanders. 

Announcement of a Mall in Queens

On Thursday there will be an announcement of a mall and hotel to be built in Citi Fields parking lot.

Mayor Bloomberg is set to reveal the details for a 1 million-square-foot mall near Citi Field — a joint venture between Sterling Equities and Related Cos., sources told the Daily News.
Details for the first phase of Willets Point development, which will include a hotel and 30,000 square feet of retail space, will also be announced, sources said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/mayor-unveil-willets-point-shopping-center-plan-thursday-article-1.1094457#ixzz1xi8PJ04K

What does this mean for the Islanders? It means that the possibility of the Islanders building an arena in one of Citi field's parking lots looks bleak.  Back in 2010 there were murmurs of the Islanders and Wilpons talking about an arena in Willets Point.  It seems like Queens and the Wilpons are ready to start developing the area around the Mets and the Islanders don't seem to be involve.

NIFA Joking about the Coliseum

While George Marlin was complaining about Ed Mangano's plan to privatize Nassau County's sewer system he took a shot at the Nassau Coliseum.

 “This is a form of back-door borrowing,” he blasted. “Potential financial investors who invest money to public-private partnerships expect annual returns of 10 percent to 15 percent. To suggest that a private operator will achieve enough efficiencies to cover most of that cost and that assessments or user fees will increase no more than the rate of inflation—well, anyone who believes that, I have a coliseum in Hempstead I would like to sell them,” Marlin added

http://www.longislandpress.com/2012/05/31/mangano-vows-to-forge-ahead-with-nassau-sewer-privatization/2/

Well Mr. Marlin if you know that the coliseum is a dump and a money loser, why don't you actually become part of the solution instead  of making jokes.  If you and NIFA think things are bad in Nassau now just think how bad they will be with the lost of  revenue from the lost of the Islanders.

Odds are in the Barclays Center Favor

According to a report from Chris Botta, the Barclays Center believes that there is better than a 50% chance that the Islanders will be in Brooklyn come 2015.

 Nets CEO Brett Yormark has not held back from talking big about the #Isles landing in Brooklyn. Sources say Yormark, in recent meetings with clients and prospective partners, has said that the chances of the NYI playing in Brooklyn in 2015 are "better than 50%." To be clear, this does not mean the NYI are definitely moving there. You cannot blame Yormark, a relentless salesman, for his sales pitch. But as of now, Brooklyn stands as the Isles' best (only?) option in the New York area if they leave Nassau.

http://sulia.com/channel/hockey/f/5f680215-7739-468e-87db-470dced7081d/?source=twitter

With Nassau financial crisis I would even consider Brooklyn the Islanders best option when taking Nassau into account.

Drop The Puck

Tomorrow I will be on Drop the Puck with Rob Sanderson, which starts at 10am.http://www.whtk.com/main.html

Interview was pushed back 

Botta on Brooklyn

 Gary Bettman had been against the #Isles in Brooklyn, making his visit to the arena - as reported by Larry Brooks - notable, if only as a symbol of CW's frustrations with Nassau and Hempstead. All the recent Brooklyn talk, including Bruce Ratner's Coliseum cameo late in the season, says something about the NYI's limited options in the metro area. When Newsday, quick to gun down the first Brooklyn reports by this blogger and others 3 years ago, gets on board, the hype will hit overdrive. 

http://sulia.com/channel/hockey/f/ff11b597-bbb9-49f3-8f99-0e7b6d22ae77/?source=twitter