New York Islanders moving to Brooklyn

[Dexter Morgan]

14,500 seats, guys. Like I said in another thread, it's okay that Winnipeg only has 15,000 seats because all 15,000 are good. It's a thoroughly unconventional seating bowl that simply doesn't go up as high as others do. Looks like a lot of the 14,500 in Brooklyn are bad seats. And I have this funny little feeling that going to a game in Brooklyn, bad seats and all, is going to be considerably more expensive than a game in Uniondale!

15,000 seats by 2015.

[cmm]

Being in Suffolk, I'm a little disappointed--my 40-minute car ride has turned into an 85-minute train ride--but I understand why Wang did it and don't blame him at all. Almost any other owner would have moved the team five years ago. I was hoping Brooklyn would be a stopgap until a new arena was ready either at the Coliseum site or near Citi Field but I can live with it. Brooklyn isn't ideal but it beats Kansas City or Quebec. And who knows if I'll still be in Suffolk in 2015.

EDIT: also this:

NYIslanders ‏@NYIslanders

In case you missed it, in support of the illustrious history of the team, the #Isles name and logo will remain unchanged.

[Lights Out]

So they're moving to Brooklyn, but they're going to keep the "New York" name, and they're going to keep a logo that doesn't feature Brooklyn and points to the location of the Nassau Coliseum. What a freaking mess. Hopefully someone competent steps in and teaches them how to market themselves.

Hopefully they change those dated-looking uniforms and that jumbled mess of a logo. It's too bad they ditched their first Edge uniforms, because that would have been the perfect combination of classic and modern for Brooklyn.

Surely you can't be serious. There's absolutely nothing wrong with their uniforms or logo. Do you just want every team to get rid of their classic uniforms?

Their logo is a jumbled collection of competing elements hastily thrown into a generic roundel, and it also is completely wrong for Brooklyn for the reasons mentioned above. Also, while the Islanders' color scheme is nice, their uniforms are more dated/'70s than "classic" - I feel the same way about the Oilers' uniforms.

[Kevin W.]

You know why those two teams have gone back to those designs? It's because they work. What they had in their first Edge redesigns were crap. Now they've gone back to what looks good. There's no need to change that. Not every team needs to update to a "modern super-cool" look, you know.

[njmeadowlanders]

http://www.nhl.com/i...vid=DL|NHL|home

"We expect the capacity to be about 15,000-plus," he said. "If you keep in mind Winnipeg is doing quite well in a building the same size and the Nassau Coliseum is 16,200. A thousand seats -- we don't think makes a material difference."

So 1,000 seats is immaterial now, but when Atlanta is thinking of moving to Winnipeg it's an issue? By admitting it works in Winnipeg isn't he kind of admitting that he was wrong?

[njmeadowlanders]

Also, as the crow flies, you now have:

NJ > NYR: 9.4 Miles

NJ > NYI: 10.8 Miles

NYR > NYI: 4.7 Miles

It's currently 30.5 miles from NJ > NYI and 21.2 from NYR > NYI as the crow flies.

Of course, by car or rail it's more time and distance...

It's 20.4 between the Mausoleum and Barclays:

[rams80]

http://www.nhl.com/i...vid=DL|NHL|home

"We expect the capacity to be about 15,000-plus," he said. "If you keep in mind Winnipeg is doing quite well in a building the same size and the Nassau Coliseum is 16,200. A thousand seats -- we don't think makes a material difference."

So 1,000 seats is immaterial now, but when Atlanta is thinking of moving to Winnipeg it's an issue? By admitting it works in Winnipeg isn't he kind of admitting that he was wrong?

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

[Gothamite]

If Atlanta had enough fans to fill even those seats, they never would have moved.

Remember, that was the team that had about twelve people show up to a "save our team" rally. And six of those were lost.

[HedleyLamarr]

If Atlanta had enough fans to fill even those seats, they never would have moved.

Remember, that was the team that had about twelve people show up to a "save our team" rally. And six of those were lost.

Atlanta Spirit never wanted the hockey team. They invested very little into the team, waiting for the opportunity to sell the team so that they can host more moneymaking events In Philips Arena that they couldn't attract while there's ice on the floor.

[-kj]

So they're moving to Brooklyn, but they're going to keep the "New York" name...

Point of order: Brooklyn is still--at least last I checked--part of New York.

(Also: Jets, Giants, RBNY, blah blah blah...)

[cmm]

http://www.nhl.com/i...vid=DL|NHL|home

"We expect the capacity to be about 15,000-plus," he said. "If you keep in mind Winnipeg is doing quite well in a building the same size and the Nassau Coliseum is 16,200. A thousand seats -- we don't think makes a material difference."

So 1,000 seats is immaterial now, but when Atlanta is thinking of moving to Winnipeg it's an issue? By admitting it works in Winnipeg isn't he kind of admitting that he was wrong?

It wouldn't be the first time Bettman changed his mind. This was in April:

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says Brooklyn may not be a viable potential destination for the New York Islanders because it’s hard to reach for the team’s fan base in Long Island and Queens. Bettman reiterated Friday that the league ideally wanted the club to remain in Nassau County.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/04/21/bettman-brooklyn-would-be-hard-for-islanders-fans/

[Gothamite]

Bettman is a major-league scumbag, but nothing in the excerpt you posted contradicts today's event.

They may not have considered Brooklyn a viable destination at that time. They may have wanted the team to stay in Nassau ideally. So what? The situation hasn't been ideal for a very long time.

[dfwabel]

It's a tad odd that Wang, the owner who is moving his team was the fourth most hated person at the press conference behind Bettman, Ratner and Bloomberg. Bettman is obvious, but Ratner took public subsidied ($2.1B) and forced out over 170 families from housing for the Barclays Center/Atlantic Yards project and with the promise that affordable housing would be build. Bloomberg was in favor if this through eminent domain and now blames the economy and detractors for the construction delays. Ratner has yet to breakground on any housing within the project and moved his timetable out from ten years to ????.

[bosrs1]

It's a tad odd that Wang, the owner who is moving his team was the fourth most hated person at the press conference behind Bettman, Ratner and Bloomberg. Bettman is obvious, but Ratner took public subsidied ($2.1B) and forced out over 170 families from housing for the Barclays Center/Atlantic Yards project and with the promise that affordable housing would be build. Bloomberg was in favor if this through eminent domain and now blames the economy and detractors for the construction delays. Ratner has yet to breakground on any housing within the project and moved his timetable out from ten years to ????.

Can't say I'm not surprised either. I would have thought a team moving like this would get more flak from their fans. But the opposite seems to be true.

[cmm]

Bettman is a major-league scumbag, but nothing in the excerpt you posted contradicts today's event.

They may not have considered Brooklyn a viable destination at that time. They may have wanted the team to stay in Nassau ideally. So what? The situation hasn't been ideal for a very long time.

I was just pointing out that just as he flip-flopped on the Winnipeg arena, he flip-flopped on the Isles in Brooklyn. In April, Brooklyn was too far from the Islanders fan base. In October, it's considered local.

[The_Admiral]

Bettman never said Winnipeg's arena was inadequate. I think it was as early as 2009 that he was saying they should have the first crack at a relocation, and that there was nothing wrong with the MTS Centre hosting NHL games.

However, he did threaten to move the team before the move could be approved if they didn't sell out their season tickets! Which he did at their welcoming press conference!

[Gothamite]

In April, Brooklyn was too far from the Islanders fan base. In October, it's considered local.

So between April and October, he was finally convinced that Nassau would build a new stadium. So between April and October Brooklyn starts to look more and more viable as opposed to Quebec City.

Again, I really detest the guy. But that's not a flip-flop, that's adjusting to a changing reality.

[Viper]

About the sightlines...

I'm gonna assume the fuller end is gonna be the "home shoots twice" end. People in sections 4 and 28 are gonna have a hell of a time when the puck is in their end.

Key Arena in Seattle has a similar hockey configuration, though as I understand it, they rarely actually use it for hockey - mostly stage shows, and the occasional Washington Stealth indoor lacrosse game. (The Stealth had a playoff game there in 2010 when their regular arena up I-5 in Everett was booked for a circus.)

Speaking of indoor lacrosse, the NLL seems pretty hell-bent on trying to make it in the NYC market (and still has its HQ there) despite having two teams fail there - I wonder if they now have their eye on Brooklyn too?

[IceCap]

Does that mean they'll still be the New York Islanders, or will they be the Brooklyn Islanders?

New York Islanders. Even if they wanted to change, the NHL reportedly insisted that they keep the old name.

But by "old name," they could just mean "Islanders."

It'd be dumb of Bettman to force the Islanders to give up the added marketing power of the Brooklyn name.... so actually, you're probably right, since it's Bettman, they'll still be the New York Islanders.

Despite being new to this whole NHL thing, I think you've figured out that Gary Bettman doesn't understand, or is possibly frighted by, the concept of "free money." At least in regards to teams making it. He's all over it when he can get a suburb to doll it out though.

[tp49]

I don't like this as anything more than a stopgap. Bad move for Long Island, but Nassau County only has themselves to blame.

Hardly. The blame lies squarely on Charles Wang and his inability to understand how the politics in Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead works. Further, he devised a project that just did not fit in with the surrounding area and refused to budge on the development. If this was only about an arena he would have had an arena opening probably this season or next season. The issue was never the arena the issue was the development of the surrounding area.

The better question is does Nassau Coliseum now beat Jobbing.com Arena to parking lot status.