Gothamite

and on the way to that Stanley Cup, most of their home games will have road crowds.

And that, in a nutshell, is the real problem.

I never noticed that before, but now whenever I see this logo, it is all I am going to be able to think about. They had a reversible-version of the wordmark on all their home jerseys until relatively recently. I really miss that. The current vertically-arched wordmark just doesn't have the same zip. They still use it on their "not-really-our-primary-logo" primary logo: But that's not the same thing.

Bingo.

now where did I leave that "mind-blown" emoticon?

I agree Brooklyn is always an option, but only for the short-term. They'd need to have the arena deal in place before moving in to a facility with such a limited capacity, lest they be stuck there.

The Coyotes. At least the Islanders have an owner, lousy as many think he is. The league can't find a single legitimate party interested in buying the Coyotes and keeping them in Arizona.

I agree with all of this. If the Bucks go away, then the city could be considered for hockey. But not until then.

Oh, crap. Please hold off until the Coyotes have moved, please hold off until the Coyotes have moved, please hold off until the Coyotes have moved...

I recall that too, but it looks like that well is dry.

Exactly. From the article:

Dogs count double. They record their patrons by pair of legs.

The city is more and more attractive, but I'm not sure that I would categorize LI as dying in any sense. The Long Island Rail Road is expanding, making Nassau an even better location for suburban commuters. That will help secure that middle class. I think the tax thing is a bit overblown - we keep hearing the same thing about the city, with our added income tax, but that hasn't stopped people from flocking to Gotham. And I also think that Brooklyn's main growth has come in the more urban areas rather than the more suburban ones on the eastern edge of the borough, and is therefore largely irrelevant to Long Island's situation. I don't think Fort Greene is attracting the sort of people who would otherwise live in Hicksville.

I think we would. Atlanta was a terrible market. They would have lost that team, if not to Winnipeg than to the next ownership-ready city willing and able to build an arena.

Again, damn shame. Still, 14,500 would be better than they draw in Nassau. And they'd remain accessible to their historical fanbase.

Stupid short-sightedness. Would have been a perfect solution. And then I could have walked to the games.

I agree that you have accurately summed up the attitude of the BoG in the past, which is why the sport's in the poor shape it is now. Hopefully, they've learned their lesson with the dismal failure of the Coyotes and success of the Jets.

And not a moment too soon. Love that goats-head logo. Much better than the igloo, which has never really worked for me.

Ugh. Too much time on the "Saints bounty" threads. Goodell and Bettman. Opposite ends of the Commissioner spectrum; one a model, the other a cautionary tale.

Yep. If Goodell had just let the Jets move back to Winnipeg, at least that part would have been simpler. But he just couldn't let go of his ego.

That is nice. I like suspending the club crest over the gemstone background - very clever.

When the mayor can't even be bothered to put the customary "mystery buyer" spin on this, they're in real trouble. C'mon, Gary. Do the right thing. You've held on long enough that you can't be blamed anymore in Arizona, and you'll be a hero in Quebec.

Can't agree with you there - I think any city that's worked that hard to get a team back is, well, entitled to a sense of entitlement. Especially when their work stands in so much contrast with other places around the league. Arizona is weird yeah... I can't believe the millions of dollars the librarians are making... Plus his "basic math" is rather interesting. According to the city budget, "1.46 million people walked through the doors of the Glendale Public Libraries in FY 2009." I don't see a number for a more recent year, but let's say that it has stayed roughly the same. "40 games X 12,000 people" equals 480,000 patrons for Coyotes games. Math was never my strongest subject, but it is my understanding that 1,460,000 is slightly greater than 480,000. That is, even if reducing the "Libraries v. Coyotes Subsidy" argument to raw numbers of "people served" like McDonald's wasn't irretrievably silly. Which it is.

More money down the black hole!

So we have a hockey-crazy city marching forward with a new arena and signing strong naming-rights deals, while the league keeps dumping money year after year to prop up a team that can't draw fans in a city that wants them out. Looks like there's only one way this ends.