Barclays Chance of Getting Islanders Is "Actually Pretty Good"

Not anymore. Super Bowl today and D.Will-D.Rose tomorrow in our retro unis. Time to get excited.

Every time I see that picture, I can stare at it for a good minute.

i never liked our logo

join forces with the nets i’d support their franchise

don’t know much about hockey though…i heard they were bad

(just wanting to throw that shot to NY title futility)

its the islanders…its not gonna work out for them

its more than jsut wins for new yorkers…its history..and i keep saying this over and over..u can’t buy or compete with that…

I didn’t say anything about public financing in Nassau. Indeed the latest public financing plan was rejected by referendum in August, but private financing plans have been considered before, have been rejected on purely political grounds, and are still actively being courted in Nassau and may come to fruition. I would not take statements from Yormark to the contrary over 10+ years of Wang on the record pledging he’d do everything in his power to keep the Islanders on LI (i.e., in Nassau/Suffolk), Suozzi and Mangano maintaining the goal of keeping the Isles in Nassau as a top priority, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s reiteration in the last week of a longstanding belief that something will get done to keep the Islanders on LI.

Last week:

"They still have 3 1/2 years to go," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said recently. "I find it hard to believe that there won’t be a solution to that building situation. Long Island deserves a new building, not just for hockey, but for concerts and family shows and the like. And I’ve got to believe the people in charge of those things will tend to it in due course."

Also, let’s not forget that BD Gallof wrote a column three days ago (!) telling Islanders fans about the Barclays Center: “A New Home? Don’t Believe the Hype, Islanders fans.” And now the chances of a move “are actually pretty good?” I doubt the winds have shifted so drastically in 3 short days.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/02/02/gallof-a-new-home-dont-believe-the-hype-islanders-fans/

Having Nassau borrow $400M in a bond offering is hardly the only means of public financing available (to say nothing that the voted-down deal would have been a good and profitable one for Nassau). It’s been reported that Cuomo’s been engaged to try and utilize NY state funds, by way of some development grants, to see if this can be used in some public/private financing operation. It’s widely known that Wang bought the team as a step towards developing some parcel of the Hub (see the Lighthouse Project, in conjunction with a mega LI developer), and his patience and goodwill has not been (completely) lost on Nassau. Let’s see what this latest round of developer solicitations yield—I don’t think anyone really involved thinks that something absolutely cannot be done in 3.5 years.

The Islanders are more than a cable contract and a license to play in NYC. They have a large and passionate fanbase (if recently dormant) in one the country’s wealthiest areas, where a large hockey consciousness has grown up (largely if not completely due to the Islanders’ efforts and success). They play in an arena that holds great civic importance to Nassau/Suffolk, despite its decrepit state, and Hub development and arena replacement holds more importance than just as a new sports venue. The Isles generate hundreds of millions of direct and secondary economic activity to the Nassau/Suffolk economies that stands to be lost with an Isles move and if the Coliseum is not replaced. There is ample political will to get something done in Nassau: most voted “No” in the 1 August referendum not because they were against public financing at a time when Nassau’s horrendously bankrupt—not because they think the Coliseum’s replacement, not because they were against the Hub’s development, and not because they were against keeping the Islanders. They’re completing a complete rebuild that has given the team one of the deepest young prospect pools in the game and a young core resigned for the next few years. And the Commissioner grew up in Queens as an Islanders fan and understands the team’s importance to the area, which cannot be underestimated.

Right now, Barclays is nothing more than a last resort for the Isles. There’s no reason to rush when the unsettled Hub issues mean that the situation is far from resolved. Yormark wants the Islanders to consider Barclays as a full-time home—which is itself a reversal from a few months ago—and that’s great. If a deal can be structured that would provide for the right sort of financing (rent/concessions/events/etc.), Wang may be interested, but it’s a sale job and not a slam dunk by any means. The questions I brought up in my previous post are large concerns. And there’s absolutely no way Wang will want to get out of his current lease (and public pledge to stay in Nassau til 2015), which was recently renegotiated to give Wang more profits on parking, concessions, and other events.