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Islanders' Charles Wang on early move to Brooklyn: "Would be nice if we could"

By Net Income
Bruce Bennett

Things keep getting better and better for Brett Yormark and Bruce Ratner. The Nets are in the playoffs and the Islanders are looking more and more like they will arrive in Brooklyn a year earlier than anticipated ... and as a playoff team.

Chris Botta of Sports Business Journal interviewed Charles Wang, the Islander owner late this week in Brooklyn, where the Sports Business Journal was holding a conference on sports facilities. Wang said he's hoping the Isles' 2015 departure date can be moved up.

Ironically (or not), the early move may help Ratner in two ways: he remains majority owner of Barclays Center and he wants to redevelop Nassau Coliseum into a smaller, more sophisticated hall for concerts and family shows, halving its seating capacity. If he wins the contract from Nassau County, he'd want to move quickly and shuttling the Islanders off to Brooklyn would speed up the renovation.

Wang also revealed that Yormark and the Nets/Barclays business operations staff would run the business side of the Islanders, which would include promotion and marketing as well as ticket sales, etc.

What's Yormark thinking about the move? Here's what he told the conference.

"At the same time, we need to introduce the sport and the game to a new fan base here in Brooklyn," he said. "How do you connect those dots? I think we're going to have to meet each other somewhere in the middle. The colors black and white are the new badge of honor in Brooklyn. The question is, can we weave that into their color scheme, and create a connection to the fans here in Brooklyn?"

Well, Islander fans are noting that the team has a hated alternative jersey that could use some sprucing up. Wang has said the team's colors, logo and name, "NEW YORK Islanders" will remain the same no matter when the move takes place.

And if you needed any more convincing that the Nets want to take advantage of this moment, take a look at Alyonka Larionov's tweets. Looks like she's planing BCTV features with Islander players. Larionov, it should be noted, is the daughter of Igor Larionov, the Hockey Hall of Famer and three-time Stanley Cup winner. Alyonka has also done some hockey reporting in the past.

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