On October
9th, Brett Yormark of the Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment group gave an
interview to John Lombardo of sportsbuisnessdaily.com. Yormark contends his aim is a Brooklyn
centric approach to marketing the Barclays Center. When asked about the
Islanders relationship while playing at the Barclays, Yormark said, “The
economics just don’t work. It’s a Long Island team trying to create a fan base
in Brooklyn, and to date it has been met with very modest success and not at
the numbers we have hoped.” In January, Bloomberg News reported, "the
owner of both Barclays and the Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, shared a financial projection
with prospective investors that showed the Islanders won’t contribute any
revenue after the 2018-19 season.
John
Ledecky, co-owner of the New York Islanders responded in kind with Newday. “I guess he’s
saying that perhaps that the people on his side didn’t make a good deal …
Unfortunately when the facility (Barclays) was built it was not built with hockey in
mind,” Ledecky said.” The bad ice coupled with the many obstructed views and
bad sight-lines has been a sore spot for most fans since the
Islanders signed a 25-year lease in 2012 (started in ’15-16) that has an opt
out clause built into the agreement for either side.
Yesterday,
Jim Baumbach and Robert Brodsky wrote how Ledecky feels about the Islanders
and their future venue plans. Those plans are to focus on putting a new
state-of-the-art building on the Belmont property. Per Kevin Maher on Ledecky,
“Islanders will win the RFP for Belmont site. At one point he corrected himself
while talking to say "when we win it."
“We
are locked and loaded on Belmont,” Ledecky said at a luncheon with reporters in
Manhattan. “We have blinders on for Belmont. We are not looking at other places
or other opportunities. We want to make Belmont a reality.” Newsday repeated,
“The Islanders last month confirmed that they ‘submitted a comprehensive
proposal to create a world-class sports and entertainment destination at
Belmont Park.”
Brian
Compton’s point is well taken on other destinations or rumors the team will
move, “Ledecky and Malkin have pumped $60M into practice facility. Doesn’t
sound like a team leaving town to me. Ledecky said he wants his legacy to be
getting this building done and winning more Cups.” He wants it to be a legacy
project for the franchise in an area that is “strategically located” with easy
access to LIRR.
Jon
Ledecky says Isles are contractually obligated to play at Barclays Center next
year. He had no comment when asked where the team would play if the Belmont bid
was turned down or even accepted and not ready for the team the following
season. Per Newsday, “Ledecky said the Coliseum, which underwent a $165 million
renovation and seats 13,900 for hockey, was not in consideration, citing its
capacity and lack of luxury boxes and suites. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman
said last month that the Coliseum “is not a viable option” for the Islanders,
even on a temporary basis.”
“Nassau
and Suffolk lawmakers have urged the team to return to the Coliseum, with many
expressing concern that a new Belmont arena could irreparably hurt the
Coliseum’s ability to attract shows and drive revenue to the county.” Ledecky says
total focus is on securing Belmont arena.
“We
don’t want to be nomads,” he said. “We don’t want to be wandering folks. We
want to be in our own home in a custom-built arena.” I think John Tavares and a
legion of fans would agree.
The most used KoC JT picture in blog history because its awesome.
Isles
Notes:
The
Islanders are 1-1-1, 3 games in and sit 6th in the Metro ahead of
the Penguins and last place NYR. They play in Anaheim tonight at 10pm, SJ
(10:30pm) on Saturday and LA on Sunday at 10:30pm. They conclude their road
trip against the Rangers in MSG on Thursday, 10/19 at 7pm before a 2 game
homestand against SJ (10/21) and ARI (10/24).
Sound
Tigers Notes:
Eamon McAdam
(G) has been reassigned to the @RailersHC.
The
Islanders had 22 AHL grads on their opening night roster. There were 640 league
wide.
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