ISLANDERS WATCH

[vivianmb]

...AND NOW THIS!!!!!
www.cbc.ca/story/sports/national/2008/07/21/milbury-hnic.html

[subwayscoundrel]

May 8, 2008 7:50:46 GMT -5 jhendrix70 said:

May 8, 2008 7:42:17 GMT -5 vivianmb said:

well the isles are refusing to sell any season ticket past the end of the season. they even told an original(yes since 1972) seasoin ticket holder that his money was due in full NOW. he is actually making a stink about it and it is gathering steam.seems that this will be the second year in a row that they wont make any good free agent moves and they are not confident in their drafting for june.therefore they want your dough before you realize the team is gonna suck again.
this franchise is on it's last legs as season ticket holders are starting to get really pissed. aparantly the VP of the team left over this and wang hired his son-in-law to replace him!

this is our team i am telling you. and it's starting to get close. and i dont want to hear about this phantom "lighthouse project" .everyone i talked to on long island says it will NEVER happen.and as soon as wang sees that the team will go up for sale. their arena managment commitments end in 2010.( as far as i know). THIS IS THE TEAM. trust me.

Viv, i've believed this ever since our conversation over a year ago. I've watched this franchise very closely and can see the move in the process. The team DOES have a storied history but:

Rangers: ( Will never move )

Boston: ( Will Never move )

Devils: ( Will never move....at least not with that brand spanking new arena )

Islanders: ( Wang said it was the "Lighthouse Project" or nothing. And correct me if I’m wrong but, I do believe he KNEW the State wouldn't help finance that HUGE project and that will just give him clearance to let the team go, tear down the existing arena, and either build or sell off for his own capital gain. )

I believe Wang only bought the Islanders for the land that the Arena sits on. Isn't he some huge Real-estate mogul back home?

He founded Computer Associates, or at least bought it and built it. They are a large SW and services company. Pretty big company.

[shifty2007]

Jul 22, 2008 6:00:06 GMT -5 vivianmb said:

...AND NOW THIS!!!!!
www.cbc.ca/story/sports/national/2008/07/21/milbury-hnic.html

CBC hires the weakest personality from TSN.

Well HNIC just became more unwatchable and thankfully TSN can get a bit more enjoyable if they can get Keith Jones full time.

Scott Oake and Ron McLean will retire soon hopefully so they don't have to go down on that sinking ship.

[jhendrix70]

Well, I feel that soon enough folks we'll be watching Ron & Don on Coaches Corner, Hockey Night in Canada LIVE on TSN.....

They didn't just buy the rights to that song for nothing...

[roosta604]

That's pretty interesting. I haven't followed the situation for much out in NYI.

I appreciate the opinions from everyone, it's especially interesting as we have a few people from the New York area.

I have one die hard Isles fan as a friend..he just mentioned how the ownership is just a bunch of morons and it seems there is some mutual feelings.

My feeling is...if these guys are quick to sell..is there no potential investor in New York willing to bid on the Isles? Theres 22 million people around there, you'd think someone would realize that hockey can work, it's just that the way the team was run made it not work.

Similar to Chicago who is now turning it around..

[vivianmb]

i guess we'll see. (i hope not though )

[roosta604]

lol... you mean I should just... be patient?

[bromine]

tsn.ca/columnists/darren_dreger/?id=263297&lid=sublink02&lpos=headlines_main

The New York Islanders are going to Kansas City.

The Islanders have agreed in principle with the Los Angeles Kings to play an exhibition game in Kansas City in September.

This may not seem like that big of a deal in light of the fact other NHL teams have used Kansas City in recent years as a neutral cite for preseason games.

However, according to league sources this game could be perceived as a veiled threat of potential relocation if plans for a new arena on Long Island aren't soon finalized.

Since purchasing the team in 2000, Charles Wang (a Long Island resident who has built most of his businesses there) has refused to threaten to move the franchise if he didn't get an arena deal. However, it's believed Wang is growing frustrated by the fact there has been little progress by local politicians on the Lighthouse Project and Wang's plan to transform Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and surrounding 100-plus acres.

The New York Islanders are nowhere close to moving. But, according to some this mere exhibition game in Kansas City will be considered a major wakeup call to Long Islanders (and their community leaders) who allegedly think the team will stay without a new arena deal.

The Sprint Center in Kansas City is operated by AEG, whose CEO Tim Leiweke is a governor of the Los Angeles Kings.

In 2007, Leiweke made a strong play for the Pittsburgh Penguins, offering Pens ownership free rent at the Sprint Center if the team, mired at the time in a similar arena debate, moved to Kansas City.

Scare tactics worked in this case because in March of 2007 the Penguins and government officials agreed on a $290 million arena deal to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Shortly after the decision to stay in Pittsburgh was made Leiweke expressed his desire to the Kansas City Star to bring an NHL franchise to the city:

"I hoped things would move more quickly. But no teams have moved since we started on the building. It's very competitive out there. Municipalities don't want to lose their teams."

The New York Islanders don't want to leave Long Island, however as this negotiation with local politicians drags on the potential for speculation to become reality will grow as well.

[Alex]

Hmmm interesting.

[wagner3]

Could Sasketoon [sic] be training ground for western move?

BY GREG LOGAN | [e-mail]
January 18, 2009

From the looks of it, the rebuilding Islanders suddenly have a new theme: "Go west, young team."

Their recent decision to schedule an exhibition game in Kansas City, where the Sprint Center is seeking an NHL tenant, was followed by the news that the Islanders have relocated their training camp to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from Moncton, New Brunswick. That appears to be no coincidence.

The shift in focus to developing a following in Western Conference markets comes at a time when franchise owner Charles Wang is seeking approval from the Town of Hempstead for the Lighthouse Project to redevelop Nassau Coliseum and the surrounding 100-acre site. General manager Garth Snow yesterday confirmed a report in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix that the Islanders will hold camp there from Sept. 12-20 and play exhibition games against Edmonton and Calgary from neighboring Alberta province.

The Islanders tentatively are scheduled to meet the Los Angeles Kings at Kansas City's Sprint Center on Sept. 22. Snow declined to link the relocation to an implied threat to move the team if the Lighthouse Project doesn't receive the green light soon, but he repeatedly spoke in terms of developing new markets.

"From a hockey perspective, it's an opportunity to expand into neutral markets," Snow said yesterday. "This isn't a deviation from what we've done in the past by expanding into alternative markets.

"Since I've been here, we've had training camp at neutral sites - Lake Placid when I first got here, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick. Now there's an opportunity to go to a different market."

The contract with Saskatoon is similar to the one the Islanders had with Moncton. It's a three-year deal with the option to review it after each year. The Isles spent two camps in Moncton, where they played one preseason game each year at 6,500-seat Moncton Coliseum and traveled to neighboring Newfoundland, Ontario and Prince Edward Island for other preseason games.

The deal in Saskatoon figures to be more lucrative because it's a bigger city with a population of about 209,000, and Credit Union Centre is a larger arena that will seat about 12,000 fans once the current expansion project is completed.

During the Islanders' recent four-game Western Conference trip, Snow traveled to Saskatoon to tour the facility.

The formal announcement is scheduled to be made tomorrow in Saskatoon. The Isles play Calgary there Sept. 19 and Edmonton the following night

. A business group in Saskatoon once tried to lure the St. Louis Blues back in 1983, but it's too small to be considered a viable NHL market. That's not the case with Kansas City, which has a metropolitan market of about 2 million, which is smaller than the Nassau-Suffolk market of 2.76 million, but includes the Sprint Center, which is less than 2 years old.

Wang and developer Scott Rechler have an announced target of July this year to begin the first phase of Nassau Coliseum renovation as part of the larger Lighthouse Project. But they are committed to moving forward only after the entire project has been approved, including a luxury hotel, convention center, sports training facility, housing development, retail shops and restaurants, minor-league baseball park and underground parking facility.

Asked if the shift in focus from East Coast markets to western locations is an indication that the Islanders are laying the groundwork for a possible move, Snow said, "Whether it's in Phoenix or San Jose or western Canada, you walk through the buildings and you see Islanders jerseys. That's the neat thing about our organization. It seems like wherever you play on the road, there's a lot of New York Islanders hockey fans."

The question is whether all those Islanders jerseys could become quaint relics of a bygone era in a few years' time.

ABOUT SASKATOON

Location: Centrally located in the province of Saskatchewan, 485 miles northwest of Winnipeg and about 185 miles north of the U.S. border.

How cold is it? At 4:30 p.m. yesterday, it was 1 degree below zero. The average winter temperature is minus 12.5.

Population: Saskatchewan's largest city has an estimated population of 208,800 (as of June 2008).

Time zone: Central Standard Time zone (all year).

Economy: Saskatchewan grows half of the entire quantity of Canada's major export crops: wheat, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed and canola. The Saskatoon region is also the world's largest exporter of uranium.

Arena: The Credit Union Centre seats 11,330 for hockey and is home to the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League. This weekend, the venue is hosting the Canadian National Figure Skating Championships.

Saskatoon and the NHL: The city almost landed the St. Louis Blues franchise in 1983. But the league was unwilling to lose a market as large as St. Louis and blocked the deal

www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/ny-spsask186003314jan18,0,1386607.story

[scottie65]

Things seem to be heating up on Long Island. There are a couple of stories related to the Exhibition game in KC and the conspiracies from it.

Could Sasketoon be training ground for western move?

From the looks of it, the rebuilding Islanders suddenly have a new theme: "Go west, young team."

Their recent decision to schedule an exhibition game in Kansas City, where the Sprint Center is seeking an NHL tenant, was followed by the news that the Islanders have relocated their training camp to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from Moncton, New Brunswick. That appears to be no coincidence.

The shift in focus to developing a following in Western Conference markets comes at a time when franchise owner Charles Wang is seeking approval from the Town of Hempstead for the Lighthouse Project to redevelop Nassau Coliseum and the surrounding 100-acre site. General manager Garth Snow yesterday confirmed a report in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix that the Islanders will hold camp there from Sept. 12-20 and play exhibition games against Edmonton and Calgary from neighboring Alberta province.

The Islanders tentatively are scheduled to meet the Los Angeles Kings at Kansas City's Sprint Center on Sept. 22. Snow declined to link the relocation to an implied threat to move the team if the Lighthouse Project doesn't receive the green light soon, but he repeatedly spoke in terms of developing new markets.



"From a hockey perspective, it's an opportunity to expand into neutral markets," Snow said yesterday. "This isn't a deviation from what we've done in the past by expanding into alternative markets.

"Since I've been here, we've had training camp at neutral sites - Lake Placid when I first got here, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick. Now there's an opportunity to go to a different market."

The contract with Saskatoon is similar to the one the Islanders had with Moncton. It's a three-year deal with the option to review it after each year. The Isles spent two camps in Moncton, where they played one preseason game each year at 6,500-seat Moncton Coliseum and traveled to neighboring Newfoundland, Ontario and Prince Edward Island for other preseason games.

The deal in Saskatoon figures to be more lucrative because it's a bigger city with a population of about 209,000, and Credit Union Centre is a larger arena that will seat about 12,000 fans once the current expansion project is completed.

During the Islanders' recent four-game Western Conference trip, Snow traveled to Saskatoon to tour the facility.

The formal announcement is scheduled to be made tomorrow in Saskatoon. The Isles play Calgary there Sept. 19 and Edmonton the following night

. A business group in Saskatoon once tried to lure the St. Louis Blues back in 1983, but it's too small to be considered a viable NHL market. That's not the case with Kansas City, which has a metropolitan market of about 2 million, which is smaller than the Nassau-Suffolk market of 2.76 million, but includes the Sprint Center, which is less than 2 years old.

Wang and developer Scott Rechler have an announced target of July this year to begin the first phase of Nassau Coliseum renovation as part of the larger Lighthouse Project. But they are committed to moving forward only after the entire project has been approved, including a luxury hotel, convention center, sports training facility, housing development, retail shops and restaurants, minor-league baseball park and underground parking facility.

Asked if the shift in focus from East Coast markets to western locations is an indication that the Islanders are laying the groundwork for a possible move, Snow said, "Whether it's in Phoenix or San Jose or western Canada, you walk through the buildings and you see Islanders jerseys. That's the neat thing about our organization. It seems like wherever you play on the road, there's a lot of New York Islanders hockey fans."

The question is whether all those Islanders jerseys could become quaint relics of a bygone era in a few years' time.

ABOUT SASKATOON

Location: Centrally located in the province of Saskatchewan, 485 miles northwest of Winnipeg and about 185 miles north of the U.S. border.

How cold is it? At 4:30 p.m. yesterday, it was 1 degree below zero. The average winter temperature is minus 12.5.

Population: Saskatchewan's largest city has an estimated population of 208,800 (as of June 2008).

Time zone: Central Standard Time zone (all year).

Economy: Saskatchewan grows half of the entire quantity of Canada's major export crops: wheat, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed and canola. The Saskatoon region is also the world's largest exporter of uranium.

Arena: The Credit Union Centre seats 11,330 for hockey and is home to the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League. This weekend, the venue is hosting the Canadian National Figure Skating Championships.

Saskatoon and the NHL: The city almost landed the St. Louis Blues franchise in 1983. But the league was unwilling to lose a market as large as St. Louis and blocked the deal.

www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/ny-spsask186003314jan18,0,7874787.story

---

Dude cant even spell Saskatoon properly. Surprised he got the temperature with that spelling.

[scottie65]

The man who wants to steal the Islanders

He's the man who could steal your Islanders.

He's international sports mogul Tim Leiweke, and he's on a power play to bring an NHL team to Kansas City. Has been ever since he convinced the people of Kansas City to help him build a gleaming $276-million downtown arena with the promise of bringing a third professional sports franchise to the City of Fountains to join the Chiefs and Royals.

The arena, Sprint Center, has been in place since October 2007, ready today to welcome Long Island's team - or any other NHL team with an outdated building and oppressive lease.

"We look to the direction of our CEO, Tim Leiweke, who is working on the anchor tenant situation for Kansas City," said Shani Tate Ross, director of communications and marketing for Sprint Center. "In our inaugural year, we had 140 events and 1.4 million people pass through our doors. Tim and his staff are continuing to work on the best long-term option for an anchor tenant in Kansas City."


Related links
Complete Coverage: KC coveting Islanders?
Will the Islanders stay on Long Island?
Do you think team owner Charles Wang and local politicians will find a way to keep the Islanders on Long Island?

Yes, I think the Lighthouse Project will eventually be approved
Yes, they'll get a new arena, but the project may be scaled down significantly
No, Wang's project is too ambitious
No, the fan base just won't support the team anymore
Yes, but in a renovated Coliseum, not a new arena

View current results
Lighthouse plans PHOTOS
Islanders blog
What do the Islanders do now?
With Rick DiPietro out for the season, what should the Islanders do now?

Nothing. DiPietro is still a great goalie. They just have to wait his injury out
Sign or trade for an experienced backup
Try to trade DiPietro this summer
Buy out DiPietro, even with the ridiculous cap hit the Isles would take
What can they do but hope Joey MacDonald heals and Yann Danis holds down the fort?

View current results
Islanders fan forum
Islanders 2008-09 photos MULTIMEDIA
Capitals 2, Isles 1 (OT) PHOTOS
Bruins 2, Islanders 1 PHOTOS
Rangers 2, Islanders 1 PHOTOS
Flames 5, Islanders 2 PHOTOS
Oilers 3, Islanders 2 PHOTOS
Coyotes 5, Islanders 4 PHOTOS
Guide to Islanders hockey

Islanders fan guide
Team history, directions, nearby eats and other fun & useful info for Islanders fans.
Islanders jerseys through the years PHOTOS
Mark Herrmann's NHL blog
Give us your best shot

Your Islanders Photos
Submit photos and view pics taken by other fans.

• Upload your photos!
Josh Bailey in pictures PHOTOS
Kyle Okposo in pictures PHOTOS
Hockey Fights PHOTOS

If Leiweke, president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group ( AEG) and the Los Angeles Kings and a member of the NHL's Board of Governors, doesn't get a franchise for Sprint Center - the NBA doesn't seem to be an option - he'll end up with a sports-deprived property and egg on his face.

The man who built Staples Center in Los Angeles and brought soccer star David Beckham to America for a mere $250 million - he's friends with Becks and his wife, the former Posh Spice - also has spearheaded projects in London, Berlin and Beijing.

Leiweke usually gets what he wants. Last month, he was listed as the 11th-most influential person in sports by Sports Business Journal, two spots ahead of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Bettman, in May 2008, said: "Few sports executives today can match Tim's vision, his sophistication and his ability to bring the future to the present. He dominates incredible challenges with apparent ease. Nobody does it better."

Leiweke's Sprint Center has six NHL-ready locker rooms, broadcast interview facilities, 72 luxury suites. It makes Nassau Coliseum look like ... well, Nassau Coliseum, cramped and outdated and in need of a serious makeover. Or a wrecking ball.

Leiweke probably has a Zamboni and driver hidden away somewhere in a back room, ready to smooth out an ice surface that will be used for the second time this fall when the Islanders play the Kings in a preseason game that was announced Thursday.

That announcement immediately sparked speculation that the Islanders someday will relocate to Kansas City if the Town of Hempstead fails to approve the Lighthouse Project.

"Our dream is to have a team, somehow, some way," said Paul McGannon, head of NHL21, a local group trying to bring a team to Kansas City. "We have an $850-million development downtown, and the Sprint Center needs an anchor tenant."

Asked if the preseason game is a prelude to a bid to poach the Islanders from Long Island, Tate Ross said: "I'll defer those questions to Tim Leiweke."

Through his spokesman, Leiweke declined to be interviewed for this story.

Here's what Leiweke said Aug. 3, 2004, the day Kansas City residents approved an increase in hotel and rental-car taxes to pay for $123 million of the arena's cost by a vote of 57-43 percent:

"I had a conversation tonight with an NHL group we've had talks with, and they were ecstatic to hear about the vote. The NBA and NHL have gone on record that if this passed, Kansas City would go right to the top of the list if there would be expansion or if there was a team looking to relocate. Whatever happens, we want to do it the right way."

Along with Kansas City, Las Vegas is mentioned as a market the NHL would like to tap into. So is Hamilton, Ontario. Some people think a second NHL team in Toronto would work.

But none of those cities has an empty, NHL-ready new arena. And none of them has Leiweke (pronounced Lie-WICK-ee).

Why does the 51-year-old want to bring an NHL team to Kansas City? Because he has roots there; he moved from his native St. Louis in 1981 and with his brothers made an indoor soccer team, the Comets, into a hot property, starting a ping-ponging career that has taken him to the front office of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves, then the Denver Nuggets. He helped lure the Quebec Nordiques to Denver, where they became the Colorado Avalanche.

After a stint as president of U.S. Skiing, he joined forces with Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz. AEG Worldwide also owns 30 percent of the Lakers, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer, a total of five hockey teams in the United States and Europe, and a soccer club in Sweden. It owns or manages facilities such as the Prudential Center in Newark and the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore.

And those are just the highlights of its sports listings. AEG also is a giant in the entertainment field.

Why might Leiweke want your Islanders for Kansas City? For the same reasons he wanted the Pittsburgh Penguins. And the Nashville Predators. And an expansion franchise. Didn't get any of them, though, and with the current economic climate, no one is talking about expanding anything other than bread lines. So if Kansas City gets a team, it will have to be a current one.

If things don't work out with the Lighthouse Project, it just might be your team.

"We have an industry leader in AEG managing the arena here," McGannon said. "Tim Leiweke has deep roots in Kansas City. We feel like we're in good hands.


Related links
Complete Coverage: KC coveting Islanders?
Will the Islanders stay on Long Island?
Do you think team owner Charles Wang and local politicians will find a way to keep the Islanders on Long Island?

Yes, I think the Lighthouse Project will eventually be approved
Yes, they'll get a new arena, but the project may be scaled down significantly
No, Wang's project is too ambitious
No, the fan base just won't support the team anymore
Yes, but in a renovated Coliseum, not a new arena

View current results
Lighthouse plans PHOTOS
Islanders blog
What do the Islanders do now?
With Rick DiPietro out for the season, what should the Islanders do now?

Nothing. DiPietro is still a great goalie. They just have to wait his injury out
Sign or trade for an experienced backup
Try to trade DiPietro this summer
Buy out DiPietro, even with the ridiculous cap hit the Isles would take
What can they do but hope Joey MacDonald heals and Yann Danis holds down the fort?

View current results
Islanders fan forum
Islanders 2008-09 photos MULTIMEDIA
Capitals 2, Isles 1 (OT) PHOTOS
Bruins 2, Islanders 1 PHOTOS
Rangers 2, Islanders 1 PHOTOS
Flames 5, Islanders 2 PHOTOS
Oilers 3, Islanders 2 PHOTOS
Coyotes 5, Islanders 4 PHOTOS
Guide to Islanders hockey

Islanders fan guide
Team history, directions, nearby eats and other fun & useful info for Islanders fans.
Islanders jerseys through the years PHOTOS
Mark Herrmann's NHL blog
Give us your best shot

Your Islanders Photos
Submit photos and view pics taken by other fans.

• Upload your photos!
Josh Bailey in pictures PHOTOS
Kyle Okposo in pictures PHOTOS
Hockey Fights PHOTOS

"If the people in New York aren't going to support the team with a new building, we're not going to have hurt feelings if a team from New York ends up in Kansas City. Little Kansas City is not so little anymore, and we have stepped to the forefront with a state-of-the-art building. We would gladly accept a four-time Stanley Cup champion."

Staff writer Jim Baumbach contributed to this story.

ENDANGERED LIST

A recent study by Forbes.com examined the 10 professional sports franchises most likely to relocate to other cities, and in most cases, new stadiums or arenas are at issue. A breakdown of the NHL teams named:

Islanders: Owner Charles Wang has been trying for years to obtain approval from Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead for his Lighthouse Project, which would include a new arena, retail stores, restaurants, housing and a minor-league baseball stadium.

Phoenix Coyotes: The state of Arizona is suffering in the midst of the current recession and the franchise recently made a number of cost-cutting moves, including some employee layoffs. The fact that Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz., is municipally owned means less revenue for the franchise.

Nashville Predators: After months of negotiations, the Predators secured a new lease at the Sommet Center, which gives team owners more money for managing the facility.

SOURCES: Forbes.com, Associated Press, Newsday research

Unless the Isles are coming to Winnipeg . . . . . . lol

[scottie65]

Islanders are Long Island's last shot at Big Show

If you were to sum up the latest Islanders development in two words, they would not be "Kansas City," where they will ominously play an exhibition game, or "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan," where they ominously will hold training camp, or even "Gordie Howe," who was born right outside the latter town.

Nor would they be "Who cares?" That much was clear from the scorching blogs and e-mails.

No, the real big, unspoken words are, "Last shot."

If the Islanders leave, Long Island is finished as a major-league stop. This is not a case like Cleveland, which got a second chance after the Browns skipped town to become the Baltimore Ravens, themselves a replacement for the departed Colts.



Mark Herrmann
Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

Nor is this like Denver, which failed once as an NHL town but enjoyed a revival, or even Kansas City itself, which bombed in the mid-1970s but is big enough to be taken seriously as a landing spot for some troubled team.

Despite the upscale demographic, the beautiful neighborhoods and all the other nice things that we know exist right here, Long Island is not the kind of market that pro sports leagues are moving into. We don't have the population, the business base, the luxury-suite pool to get a team any more. Long Island is more like Quebec City or Winnipeg.

Want another two words? Try "See ya."

That is what made the stakes so high the past three days. They were fascinating days, too. The Islanders were the talk of the town after reports leaked out of Canada (not Uniondale) that the team will play a preseason game in Kansas City, which is dying for an NHL franchise, and train in Saskatoon, which nearly bagged the Blues in 1983.

Saskatoon is another small market whose bid was snuffed out by the league back then, so it might not be the most likely new home. Still, the news finally was a chance for an Islanders power play. It certainly got people's attention.

The potential finality of it made the situation raw. Do Town of Hempstead officials want to be responsible for losing the Island's last crack at The Show? Does Islanders owner Charles Wang want to be forever remembered as a franchise Grinch like Walter O'Malley? Everybody here is playing with fire on ice.

It's all very tricky. Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray said the Islanders could have had the go-ahead for a new arena if the arena was all they wanted. She added that Wang and partner Scott Rechler have insisted on getting approval for the entire 100-acre Lighthouse development, which takes time. And who wants to rush into a $2-billion project?

For Wang's part, if he agreed to do it in stages - the Coliseum first, then the rest of the development - he would lose all leverage. Officials could say no to the rest of the Lighthouse and Wang could miss his chance to recoup the tens of millions he is said to have lost on the team.

One thing I will say in Wang's defense: Fans who accuse him of caring nothing about the Islanders and all about the real estate are wrong. From what I've seen and heard, the guy has become crazy about the team. Plus, he has set a wonderful tone. The Islanders are good corporate citizens. There is no way to tabulate how much good players have done by their many visits to children's hospitals.

Then again, since he took over in 2000, the Islanders have had three general managers, seven coaches, four captains and no playoff series victories. Right now, they are the worst team in the NHL. A new arena will not magically change that. He and his people have to do much better.

Remarkably, there was a huge crowd at the Coliseum last night for a 3-1 loss to the Devils (formerly the Kansas City Scouts). Two words to describe the fans: "They care."

The sad truth is, if things do not work out for the Islanders soon, the two words to describe them will be, "Goodbye forever."

www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/ny-spmark186003316jan18,0,534750.column

[Dcmac]

Jan 22, 2009 22:16:54 GMT -5 scottie65 said:

Despite the upscale demographic, the beautiful neighborhoods and all the other nice things that we know exist right here, Long Island is not the kind of market that pro sports leagues are moving into. We don't have the population, the business base, the luxury-suite pool to get a team any more. Long Island is more like Quebec City or Winnipeg.

This has to be a joke right? Long Island has 7 million or so people! and they have the Mets! You've got summer and winter entertainment what more do you want?!

[vivianmb]

mets play in queens. which is PHYSICALLY on long island, but world's away.queens and brooklyn acount for about 4.5 million people on long island, but are NYC boroughs.
nassau and suffolk counties have about 3million between them.

[Dcmac]

Jan 24, 2009 22:19:53 GMT -5 vivianmb said:

mets play in queens. which is PHYSICALLY on long island, but world's away.queens and brooklyn acount for about 4.5 million people on long island, but are NYC boroughs.
nassau and suffolk counties have about 3million between them.

So they're talking about an area 5 times as big as Winnipeg and they can't fill the arena? still nothing like Winnipeg or Quebec City.

[davebabych]

Islanders game, February 3, 2009. Announced attendance, 9808.

I realize the picture is taken during the national anthem; however, even with a few extra fans in the seats the arena would still look pretty empty.

[jhendrix70]

Pretty sad.......I mean, I wish the WORST for franchises like Phoenix, Atlanta, Nashville, etc... however; when you see a picture like this in NY: It reminds me of the Jets in some sort of sad way.

Look at all those banners, the history of the franchise etc......I still think it would be a shame to move this team before any of the southern "experiment" teams first but....who knows: Perhaps they have worn out their welcome in NY.

[WPGISNHL]

NY Islanders landlocked in KC? Not so fast
By Justin Kendall in News, Sports

Kansas City and AEG are working on getting a pro basketball or hockey team for the Sprint Center. That's what City Manager Wayne Cauthen told The Downtowners lunch club yesterday. He specifically mentioned the New York Islanders.

Since the announcement that the Islanders booked an exhibition game at the Sprint Center, there's been a lot of talk about the team getting landlocked in Kansas City. A lot of people saw the exhibition game as a sign that Islanders owner Charles Wang was fed up with not getting a new or upgraded hockey rink in Long Island.


Forbes says the Islanders are bleeding $20 million a year in America's largest sports market. The Islanders are the third most popular hockey franchise in the market, trailing the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. Forbes sees Kansas City as a real threat to steal the franchise, thanks to the looming presence of AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke, who sits on the NHL's Board of Governors and, of course, runs the Sprint Center.

But as Newsday reported that the Islanders' lease with Nassau Coliseum prevents the team from moving until 2015 -- that is, unless Nassau County agreed to part ways. Don't count on it happening. "Legal experts say the lease can't be broken by paying off the remaining years because the prohibition, written as part of the 1985 lease and upheld by a Nassau State Supreme Court justice in 1998, says the team's presence on Long Island is what's important."

I called Neil deMause a couple of weeks ago. He's the author of Field of Schemes, a Web site devoted to the ins and outs of stadium deals. He also lives in New York. deMause told me that "everybody's freaking out" about the possibility of the Islanders skating to KC.

"The tabloids are in at least in 50 percent panic mode," deMause said. "What are we going to do? This means we need to get an arena deal done. If that was the intent, then it's working really well."

But deMause added some clarity.

"You don't leave New York for Kansas City," deMause said. "Even in a down economy, there's more opportunities to make money in New York.

"Maybe if Nassau Coliseum were literally falling down, and they felt like we're not going to get anything, but they're pretty close to getting deal in Long Island," he added. "It's just a matter of getting the local government to sign off on some of the approvals. It's not like there was $300 million gap or something like there was in Seattle."

At yesterday's Downtowners meeting, Cauthen again pushed the mistaken notion of waiting until the offseason to engage teams. deMause told me a couple of weeks ago that waiting doesn't make sense.

"I don't know why the offseason is some magic time," he said. "That's really bizarre, but it certainly wouldn't happen for the fall. It might happen for the following year."

deMause questioned AEG's incentive for getting a team. At least Bruce Springsteen and AC/DC pay rent.

"They're not going to give this kinda sweetheart deal that a lot of teams are going to want," deMause said. "You still have the same problem that you've got the nice new building, but it's still a smallish market and you still have the risk of teams like the [Pittsburgh] Penguins just using Kansas City as a means of leverage on their hometowns. Yes, hometowns are going to be a little less likely to cough up a lot of money, but I don't know if that's much of a benefit."

deMause also shot holes in Cauthen's theory that having an arena ready to go meant Kansas City was better positioned to swipe a team.

"The other problem of course is the the idea of come to Kansas City and you'll be able to rake in all the revenues from the ad signage and the luxury boxes and all of that is not that much of a benefit of nobody's buying ad signage and luxury boxes. So it's a double edged sword. It means that you don't have as much competition in the arena building business but it also means that teams are at least not in the immediate future going to be as eager to upgrade their facilities because if nobody has any money, then the ability to charge people more money isn't really a benefit."

Kansas City's best hope for getting a pro sports team for the Sprint Center is "a team that's already at the end of its rope," deMause said. A team that's exhausted all of its options and needs a new home. He suggested that the NBA's New Orleans Hornets might be such a team.

"It's the one team that you actually have leverage because of your market size," deMause said. "Because you can say, OK, we have an arena and you'd have to pay us some rent but at least you wouldn't be in a city that's lost half of its population."

But any attempt to lure a team would be surely end up with the team pitting city against city to get the best deal.

Sounds like we're a long way away from seeing a team in Kansas City.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=broRHzCZflE&eurl=http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2009/02/new_york_islanders_landlocked.php

blogs.pitch.com/plog/2009/02/new_york_islanders_landlocked.php

[jaylon1970]

Feb 12, 2009 13:51:51 GMT -5 WPGISNHL said:

NY Islanders landlocked in KC? Not so fast
By Justin Kendall in News, Sports

Kansas City and AEG are working on getting a pro basketball or hockey team for the Sprint Center. That's what City Manager Wayne Cauthen told The Downtowners lunch club yesterday. He specifically mentioned the New York Islanders.

Since the announcement that the Islanders booked an exhibition game at the Sprint Center, there's been a lot of talk about the team getting landlocked in Kansas City. A lot of people saw the exhibition game as a sign that Islanders owner Charles Wang was fed up with not getting a new or upgraded hockey rink in Long Island.


Forbes says the Islanders are bleeding $20 million a year in America's largest sports market. The Islanders are the third most popular hockey franchise in the market, trailing the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. Forbes sees Kansas City as a real threat to steal the franchise, thanks to the looming presence of AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke, who sits on the NHL's Board of Governors and, of course, runs the Sprint Center.

But as Newsday reported that the Islanders' lease with Nassau Coliseum prevents the team from moving until 2015 -- that is, unless Nassau County agreed to part ways. Don't count on it happening. "Legal experts say the lease can't be broken by paying off the remaining years because the prohibition, written as part of the 1985 lease and upheld by a Nassau State Supreme Court justice in 1998, says the team's presence on Long Island is what's important."

I called Neil deMause a couple of weeks ago. He's the author of Field of Schemes, a Web site devoted to the ins and outs of stadium deals. He also lives in New York. deMause told me that "everybody's freaking out" about the possibility of the Islanders skating to KC.

"The tabloids are in at least in 50 percent panic mode," deMause said. "What are we going to do? This means we need to get an arena deal done. If that was the intent, then it's working really well."

But deMause added some clarity.

"You don't leave New York for Kansas City," deMause said. "Even in a down economy, there's more opportunities to make money in New York.

"Maybe if Nassau Coliseum were literally falling down, and they felt like we're not going to get anything, but they're pretty close to getting deal in Long Island," he added. "It's just a matter of getting the local government to sign off on some of the approvals. It's not like there was $300 million gap or something like there was in Seattle."

At yesterday's Downtowners meeting, Cauthen again pushed the mistaken notion of waiting until the offseason to engage teams. deMause told me a couple of weeks ago that waiting doesn't make sense.

"I don't know why the offseason is some magic time," he said. "That's really bizarre, but it certainly wouldn't happen for the fall. It might happen for the following year."

deMause questioned AEG's incentive for getting a team. At least Bruce Springsteen and AC/DC pay rent.

"They're not going to give this kinda sweetheart deal that a lot of teams are going to want," deMause said. "You still have the same problem that you've got the nice new building, but it's still a smallish market and you still have the risk of teams like the [Pittsburgh] Penguins just using Kansas City as a means of leverage on their hometowns. Yes, hometowns are going to be a little less likely to cough up a lot of money, but I don't know if that's much of a benefit."

deMause also shot holes in Cauthen's theory that having an arena ready to go meant Kansas City was better positioned to swipe a team.

"The other problem of course is the the idea of come to Kansas City and you'll be able to rake in all the revenues from the ad signage and the luxury boxes and all of that is not that much of a benefit of nobody's buying ad signage and luxury boxes. So it's a double edged sword. It means that you don't have as much competition in the arena building business but it also means that teams are at least not in the immediate future going to be as eager to upgrade their facilities because if nobody has any money, then the ability to charge people more money isn't really a benefit."

Kansas City's best hope for getting a pro sports team for the Sprint Center is "a team that's already at the end of its rope," deMause said. A team that's exhausted all of its options and needs a new home. He suggested that the NBA's New Orleans Hornets might be such a team.

"It's the one team that you actually have leverage because of your market size," deMause said. "Because you can say, OK, we have an arena and you'd have to pay us some rent but at least you wouldn't be in a city that's lost half of its population."

But any attempt to lure a team would be surely end up with the team pitting city against city to get the best deal.

Sounds like we're a long way away from seeing a team in Kansas City.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=broRHzCZflE&eurl=http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2009/02/new_york_islanders_landlocked.php

blogs.pitch.com/plog/2009/02/new_york_islanders_landlocked.php

why is the government in KC is bending backwards and being proactive in getting a team?

i don't see sam katz and his cronies sticking their necks out in bring hockey back to winnipeg..

it appears the local government in winnipeg is not serious in bringing the NHL back here...