Lil Bit Special Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/islanders/islanders_skate_to_barclays_in_brooklyn_s8QVci06EOnyL06hK4atnL?utm_source=SFnewyorkpost&utm_medium=SFnewyorkpost Developer Bruce Ratner has scored a major goal by landing the Islanders ice hockey team for his Barclay's arena in downtown Brooklyn, sources said. The announcement was expected at a press conference this afternoon with Ratner, Mayor Bloomberg, Islanders owner Charles Wang, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Barclay's is already the home field of the Nets basketball team and its CEO, Brett Yornark will be attending the press conference as well. Ratner had said earlier that he was "trying like hell" to lure the Islanders to Brooklyn from Long Island and called a planned exhibition game against the Devils, which was canceled due to the NHL lockout, an audition for the city's newest arena. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I said this earlier it would be a great move for the Isles- even though I hate them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ILK Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 The league finally did something right, they are making them keep the name NY Islanders. I don't care where they play, as long as they are the NY Islanders, I can still hate them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyHector Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Glad that they're staying local, but of course it's not without a hitch, as the seating is going to be half-assed and will be the smallest capacity arena in the NHL. You'd think that Ratner would've had some vision when building the arena to potentially lure the Islanders and would've planned accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ILK Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Glad that they're staying local, but of course it's not without a hitch, as the seating is going to be half-assed and will be the smallest capacity arena in the NHL. You'd think that Ratner would've had some vision when building the arena to potentially lure the Islanders and would've planned accordingly. They were gonna and then decided not to, I think they will have to make changes now though, and wish they would have went with the two team design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Ratner had a hard enough time getting all the interest groups together on this entire project there- may have made him do a smaller size arena. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugg Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Glad that they're staying local, but of course it's not without a hitch, as the seating is going to be half-assed and will be the smallest capacity arena in the NHL. You'd think that Ratner would've had some vision when building the arena to potentially lure the Islanders and would've planned accordingly. Better to have 14-15,000 every night straight from midtown and Wall Street than staying in that Uniondale dump with 4000 people barely paying the freight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Look the Ises will always be second class to Rangers - no matter where they are not going to change that Better to have brand new arena to fill than old decrepit Nassau Col. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klecko73isGod Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Brooklyn waits five and a half decades for the return of professional sports and they get rewarded with the Nets and Islanders? Let's really screw 'em and move the the Jets and Mets there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ILK Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Brooklyn waits five and a half decades for the return of professional sports and they get rewarded with the Nets and Islanders? Let's really screw 'em and move the the Jets and Mets there too. SHUT UP WORDSWORTH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyHector Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Better to have 14-15,000 every night straight from midtown and Wall Street than staying in that Uniondale dump with 4000 people barely paying the freight. I understand that you Rangers fans love to sh*t all over the Islanders at every chance, but their average attendance last year was 13,191, which was over 81% of the capacity of the NVMC. That's with a team that had been mismanaged for years and couldn't attract players due to playing in an arena not fit for the Iron League. They have a stronger season ticket base than you realize and some very (unfortunately) loyal fans. Only 2 other teams in the league (traditional hockey towns Dallas and Phoenix) averaged less than the expected capacity at the Barclay's. Sure, it's a better situation than staying in a decaying Coliseum from which the team collects almost no revenue, but it's still a big problem. They're going to have to go with a higher average ticket price, which could drive away some of the potential season ticket holders that would've come over from Nassau. It's going to be a slippery slope for them when they sit down and try to figure out the optimal pricing model to maximize revenue. Hopefully they do a better job than Woody and his braintrust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RutgersJetFan Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Islanders fans are pretty diehard. Condolences on this one. So this makes Brooklyn fully evil now right? A Russian tsar, stealing two teams, and hipsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ILK Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Brooklyn is Original Ilk, and I highly doubt the die hard long island crowd will be making the trek to The Bush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugg Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I understand that you Rangers fans love to sh*t all over the Islanders at every chance, but their average attendance last year was 13,191, which was over 81% of the capacity of the NVMC. That's with a team that had been mismanaged for years and couldn't attract players due to playing in an arena not fit for the Iron League. They have a stronger season ticket base than you realize and some very (unfortunately) loyal fans. Only 2 other teams in the league (traditional hockey towns Dallas and Phoenix) averaged less than the expected capacity at the Barclay's. Sure, it's a better situation than staying in a decaying Coliseum from which the team collects almost no revenue, but it's still a big problem. They're going to have to go with a higher average ticket price, which could drive away some of the potential season ticket holders that would've come over from Nassau. It's going to be a slippery slope for them when they sit down and try to figure out the optimal pricing model to maximize revenue. Hopefully they do a better job than Woody and his braintrust. It's a way better situation since most of those announced 13,000 were disguised as empty seats or were greatly (ridiculously) discounted. My brother's son is a big fan and they live in western Suffolk. They go to 8-10 games a year. for the last few years unless the Rangers were there, you were encouraged to move down and practically pick your seat at ice level. Instead they will actually have 14-15,000 paying fans buying concessions. Further their fan base can drive to their local LIRR stop and get right into the Barclays without even going outside-something the could never do at the Coliseum. And again they will now a whole new bunch of fans a 10-minute subway ride from Wall Street and 20 minutes from midtown. That's a tradeoff financially that will be well worth it. The price is going up. It is for everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMC Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Islanders fans are pretty diehard. Condolences on this one. So this makes Brooklyn fully evil now right? A Russian tsar, stealing two teams, and hipsters. LOL, but true. That said, the Isles didn't have much of a choice. They've been talking about a new arena since at least 2003. The interesting part is that Barclays doesn't have extra lockerooms, and only would seat 14K. Betman said they could go up to 15K, but that's still smaller than the Coliseum. They'll have to add new lockerrooms for hockey and the extra seats somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowmoe57 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Sure Beats Kansas City -- Now if we can get the season going... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Bit Special Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 Sure Beats Kansas City -- Now if we can get the season going... season! Maybe next year.... maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Bit Special Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ILK Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ILK Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 The Devils should move to Queens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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