NBA back to Seattle? NHL too?

[CubsFanBudMan]

no I <3 the Islanders

And besides they're worth too much in that market with the cable deal.

Probably, plus there's always Brooklyn. And Phoenix's sale

should be completely derailed in less than two months when the city suddenly has no money to give Jamison after the tax hike is killed by the voters.

Won't Brooklyn not work as a hockey arena though?

Not perfectly, but given the location and the prestige that would go with being in Brooklyn I think they'd look past the imperfections. Plus it's better than Asbestos Arena. I can just see the mesothelioma lawyer ads for that place.

...plus, as long as they continue to collect that $20 million-a-year TV contract from MSG Networks, the Isles moving to Barclays probably wouldn't hurt as much as some may think.

And if there is demand for that limited seating capacity, you'd think each one of those seats could potentially be more valuable in Brooklyn than the equivalent ones in the current arena. And maybe even eventually to the point of exceeding the value of the lost seats. Maybe.

[The_Admiral]

No, guys, no. Until the team is good and the fanbase has a major presence in the boroughs, I couldn't charge a premium for bad seats. The fanbase is still concentrated in Nassau/Suffolk (Gothamite assures me that Long Island is not dying after all), and to make them go all the way to Brooklyn and back for expensive bad sightlines to watch a bad team doesn't seem like a winning formula. Winnipeg gets away with 15,000 seats, but that's because the MTS Centre is nothing but a traditional 17,000-seat bowl with the worst 2,000 seats lopped off, and because you're drawing people to a centralized location from a fairly small footprint. Brooklyn offers 14,000 seats, and a good deal of the 14,000 aren't even good seats.

The solution is to slap up a smallish, 17,000-seat arena on the cheap in western Suffolk, near the LIRR and away from recalcitrant Nassau NIMBYs. Brooklyn may be a useful stopgap between the Asbestotorium and a new rink, but it's not a viable long-term solution.

[colortv]

The Islanders only average 13 thousand fans anyway. As long as Brooklyn has a decent amount of luxury suites(which it does), combined with the perks of the NY marker(high income, tv contracts etc) they could easily make it work.

[The_Admiral]

The Isles' fanbase is a sleeping giant. They average 13,000 fans because the team has sucked for years, the arena is a pain to get to, and once you get there, the roof leaks water and sloughs asbestos. That anyone shows up has become a small miracle. Unless you have exhausted all Nassau/Suffolk options and absolutely have to, why limit yourself to a small arena with bad seats and limited revenue streams? Because it's the almighty Brooklyn? I'm just about ready for the world to stfu about Brooklyn. They're never going to be bigger than the Rangers, but a Long Island team is a severely undervalued asset. They can still set their sights on a modest improvement over what they are now: a humble but purpose-built facility near where their fans live and work is not too much to ask.

[Sodboy13]

The Islanders only average 13 thousand fans anyway. As long as Brooklyn has a decent amount of luxury suites(which it does), combined with the perks of the NY marker(high income, tv contracts etc) they could easily make it work.

By this logic, the Blackhawks should have moved to UIC Pavilion years ago, when they sucked in perpetuity and drew 8,000 on a good non-Red-Wings night.

[Lights Out]

But isn't the seating arrangement at Barclays detrimental to a hockey game?

Well, considering that the entire Nassau Coliseum is detrimental to a hockey game, a few seats having horrible views is a relatively minor concern.

[The_Admiral]

It's detrimental to your health, yes, but hockey-wise, I don't think there are many bad seats in the house. Also, I think their ice is at least of medium hardness, as opposed to the slush they skate on in the southern rinks.

Maybe we should spin off a thread for all things Isles. Title: "There Ain't No Island Left For Islanders Like Me."

[njmeadowlanders]

Yeah, say what you want about the Mausoleum, but bad seats and sight lines are virtually non-existant.

Now, 99% of the other things on the other hand...

[waltere]

Exactly, the lack of 'bad' seats is pretty much literally the only good thing about the place; and this is from an Islanders fan.

[The_Admiral]

njmeadowlanders, waltere, et al: what's the status of that Pilgrim Hospital parcel in the Brentwood/Dix Hills/Deer Park area? That's the site that I saw Isles fans bandying about as an optimal location: there's a LIRR stop at Deer Park with a spur that could link the station and arena, plus easy access from the LIE and some of the Parkways.

https://maps.google....w+York&t=m&z=14

Best of all, it seems to be as close to Nassau as you can reasonably get without being in Nassau (everything to the west appears fully developed), and seems to be reasonably positioned for everyone (except people coming in from the city/Jersey/Westchester, if they would anyway).

[Brian in Boston]

what's the status of that Pilgrim Hospital parcel in the Brentwood/Dix Hills/Deer Park area? That's the site that I saw Isles fans bandying about as an optimal location: there's a LIRR stop at Deer Park with a spur that could link the station and arena, plus easy access from the LIE and some of the Parkways.

Developer Jerry Wolkoff owns the former Pilgrim Hospital property. He and his family have plans to build the mixed-use Heartland Town Center on the site. Current plans call for the development to consist of 9,000 housing units, a 1-million square-foot lifestyle center, 3 million square feet of office space, a hotel and convention center, indoor and outdoor civic spaces, and an aquarium.

Two issues currently face the project. The first is that the president of the Building Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties has been insisting on Wolkoff either signing a binding document guaranteeing 100% union labor be used on the Heartland project, or consenting to a project labor agreement laying out wages and conditions ahead of time. Wolkoff has stated that the project will likely be built "mostly union" anyway, but that he doesn't want to be handcuffed in hiring decisions and "dictated [to] by the unions". To that end, Wolkoff has begun the process of negotiating directly with each of the 36 union locals that fall under the Building Trades Council umbrella. Eager to land work for their members, the leaders of the individual locals seem amenable to negotiating contracts with Wolkoff without forcing the developer to commit to a PLA.

The second issue is that Wolkoff is preparing to negotiate a new reduced tax agreement with the Town of Islip, the town's industrial development agency, and the Brentwood School District. Wolkoff reportedly wants a 10-year deal and a continuation of the $1.6 million-per-year payment in lieu of taxes he's currently on the hook for. The governmental agencies would, at the very least, like to negotiate a shorter contract term.

Stay tuned.

[rvrdgsfn]

Sept 24 is it, but another huge step for Seattle

http://www.king5.com/news/cities/seattle/Council-action-on-revised-arena-deal-sets-up-final-vote-for-Sept-24-169708476.html

The Government Performance and Finance Committee voted 7-0 (with one abstention), setting up a final vote on Sept. 24.

"Today's vote moves us one step closer to a good deal for all the people of Seattle, not just sports fans," said Councilmember Tim Burgess, the committee chairman. "The new deal protects family-wage jobs and provides strong financial protections for taxpayers and city and county government. It also gives us an opportunity to begin an in-depth planning process about the future of the Seattle Center.

Also on Chris Daniels Twitter

Chris Daniels ‏@ChrisDaniels5

Everything I hear from folks in #NHL circles, is that Seattle jumps to the top of the list for the league when/if/ever city gets Arena deal.

[CubsFanBudMan]

I was on the Mariners' website looking for something else, but their top press release jumped out at me:

http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120913&content_id=38384084&vkey=pr_sea&c_id=sea

Sounds like they still aren't thrilled with the location.

[cmm]

Looks like if Seattle is getting an NHL team, they plan on getting one via expansion:

?The answer to the Islanders moving is never? No chance that?s going to happen.?

[troy_3223]

Looks like if Seattle is getting an NHL team, they plan on getting one via expansion:

?The answer to the Islanders moving is never? No chance that?s going to happen.?

Levin also said that Greg Jamison has come up with the money to buy the Coyotes, so I attribute only a Jamison worth of credibility.

I don't think the NHL is going to be expanding in the next three years or at all really, unless the KHL and Swedish Elite leagues collapse there won't hardly be enough talent to warrant thirty teams. I don't think the Islanders are going to be moving (at least not very far). I do think that this lockout is going to generate at least two - possibly three teams relocating or even contracting (the Kings are already up for sale). I wouldn't be surprised to see the Coyotes still in Phoenix after everything is said and done. I would be disgusted. But not surprised.

[TheOldRoman]

Looks like if Seattle is getting an NHL team, they plan on getting one via expansion:

"The answer to the Islanders moving is never? No chance that's going to happen."

At least half a dozen teams are circling the drain right now, so there would be no shortage of teams to move. However, expanding when such a huge percentage of teams are already failing is such an incredibly imbecilic and counterproductive thing that... I fully expect the league to do so.

[The_Admiral]

Despite their problems, the Blue Jackets and Panthers are locked into long-term, ironclad leases. The drain is clogged.

[Gothamite]

ironclad lease

No such thing. If a team is desperate enough, willing to pay enough, any lease can be broken.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

I see Columbus gone within the next 7 years. They're going to be very bad for a long time, and they don't have a well-established-enough fanbase to stick through it.

[njmeadowlanders]

Looks like if Seattle is getting an NHL team, they plan on getting one via expansion:

"The answer to the Islanders moving is never? No chance that's going to happen."

At least half a dozen teams are circling the drain right now, so there would be no shortage of teams to move. However, expanding when such a huge percentage of teams are already failing is such an incredibly imbecilic and counterproductive thing that... I fully expect the league to do so.

That's why it will happen. They'll expand to 32 (to do the 4 conferences w/ an even 8 teams in all of them thing) and then complain that too many markets are losing money. It's the NHL's M.O.