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Post by mikecubs on Aug 20, 2013 23:47:10 GMT -6
Ya, they will fill in the blank sections in front of the glass on the left end with something. I'm hoping they can make the scoreboard moveable so it doesn't hang over the blue line like it did at American West Arena in Phoenix when the Coyotes played there.
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 21, 2014 8:09:57 GMT -6
Fans Come to See Isles in Future Home. Not All Succeed. At Barclays Center, Islanders Fans Discover Seats With Obstructed Views John and Nizzette Conlon and their two sons, all Islanders fans from St. James, N.Y., walked to their seats in Section 3 at the southwest end of Barclays Center and took one flabbergasted look. “What is this?” Nizzette said. John just laughed. Their seats for Friday night’s preseason game against the Devils, which the Islanders won, 3-2, in a shootout, were suspended right above one end of the rink, only 20 feet up, blocking their view of the ice directly below them. In fact, that entire section of the rink — from the face-off dots to the end boards — was blocked from the fans’ sight. The Conlons were not alone in their plight while attending the Islanders’ only visit this season to Barclays Center, their future home. The view from several hundred other seats at one end of the rink was also obstructed, though arena officials said many of those would not be offered for sale when the team starts play there next year. “The seats with horrible views, they are off the manifest,” said Brett Yormark, the chief executive officer of Barclays Center, which is also home to the Nets. Yormark said that about 400 of the 15,795 seats that will be sold next season for hockey would have some obstruction. Those tickets will be clearly marked. “We’re upfront about it,” Yormark added. “Fans knew the seats are obstructed when they bought them.” The question is whether fans will travel from Long Island and the five boroughs to fill the rest of the two-year-old arena when the Islanders arrive after playing 43 years at the now-dilapidated Nassau Coliseum. Though the Coliseum is ancient by modern sports standards, longtime fans emphasize that there is not a bad seat in the house. But the move to Brooklyn is meant to give the long-struggling club an infusion of much-needed revenue and glamour. “We’re aiming to give N.H.L. hockey a strong presence in Brooklyn,” Yormark said. But Yormark did not share many specifics on which seats would be excluded when the Islanders arrive. A pregame walk at one end of the arena found far more than 400 seats with obstructed views Seven sections had no view of the goal at one end of the building. Most seats in nine other sections had a view of the net, but not of the near corner of the rink. “When they built this place, did they not know they’d be playing hockey here?” Nizzette Conlon asked in exasperation. Actually, they did not. Frank Gehry’s original design for the arena accommodated hockey as well as basketball. But when he was replaced by SHoP Architects and the company now known as Aecom, the new, more compact design had room for the Nets, and basketball, only. Hockey rinks are about 100 feet longer and 25 feet wider than basketball courts, leaving one end of the building with poor sightlines. For some fans, that was not a problem. “I purposely wanted to have a obstructed view seat because of the price,” said Steven Chatterton, 45, of Queens, who paid $15 to sit five rows up in Section 205, where he could not quite see the corner to the left of the net below. “I don’t mind having to stand up to see the whole rink. I just hope this price holds next season when they move for good.” Ryan Yuhas of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., said, “It’s not ideal, but it’s not awful.” Yuhas, 28, paid $40 to sit just a few rows off the ice in Section 29. But his view of the same net was hampered by bars of protective fencing above the Zamboni entrance. Last year, when the Islanders played their only previous game at Barclays, members of the news media were given a tour of the sparkling new arena by Yormark and the developer Bruce C. Ratner, and Charles Wang, the Islanders’ mercurial owner. But after the game, many fans complained about the obstructed sightlines at the end of the rink. This time there was much less hoopla. Very little promotion preceded the game. Wang was not available Friday. The journey for him has been especially arduous since he spent many years battling Nassau County over proposed plans to keep the team on Long Island, where it began as an expansion franchise in 1972. He recently agreed to sell his majority stake in the team to the businessmen Jonathan Ledecky and Scott Malkin by the 2016-17 season. On Friday, with attendance at 11,823, the obstructed seats were not much of an issue. Fans moved to better seats. The Conlons moved down to the bottom row of their section and leaned over the railing, right above the top of the glass at the end of the rink. “But what if the Islanders make the playoffs?” asked Greg Ferrone, an Islanders fan from Merrick, N.Y., who sat in an obstructed-view seat in Section 102 with his son, Matteo. “This place will be full, and people will have to sit in these seats. It’s going to be a major problem.” Would he pay for such seats if the Islanders made the playoffs? Ferrone was asked. “Yes, because I’m an Islanders fan,” he said. That was the answer Yormark was probably hoping for. www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/sports/hockey/fans-come-looking-to-see-islanders-in-future-home-some-of-them-succeed.html?_r=0 (check out the pics in the article)
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Post by wolfmannick on Oct 21, 2014 12:14:04 GMT -6
^ Yikes not a good start to the new building.
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 21, 2014 15:12:19 GMT -6
No, but the Islanders are guaranteed a certain amount of money from Barclays so attendance/seats with bad views isn't that important to them. Overall this is still a good thing. Islanders will be much better off(look at the sale price) but there's no doubt there's a lot a flaws with this.
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Post by Bruinsfan on Oct 24, 2014 20:43:23 GMT -6
Tons of flaws...mostly i blame bettman and wang. They should have been in on brooklyn from the very beginning...i have no clue what they were thinking. should have been no flippin question! Brooklyn was being built make sure you are in on it stop dicking around in suffolk county.
Wang could have easily thrown some cash into that deal to make it hockey friendly.
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Post by Bruinsfan on Oct 24, 2014 20:43:45 GMT -6
but it doesnt matter, the gate really wont be important
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Post by mikecubs on Sept 30, 2015 5:45:13 GMT -6
Islanders fans lukewarm about Brooklyn: 'Corporate America has won again'It might not seem like it to those of a certain age, but Nassau Coliseum once was nicknamed Fort Neverlose. During the early 1980s, the New York Islanders simply did not lose many games, especially during the postseason. The Islanders won 19 consecutive playoff series between 1980 and 1984 — before the streak was halted by Wayne Gretzky and the upstart Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final. But all things pass, and the Islanders dynasty went. The Islanders struggled on the ice and the Coliseum became outdated. And with Nassau County unwilling to foot the bill for a new arena, the team’s future on Long Island became in doubt. The Islanders finally got their shiny new arena, and it technically is still on Long Island. Still, when the puck drops on the team’s inaugural season at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, on Oct. 9 against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, the building likely will be full, but many Islanders fans won’t be happy. “The pain of seeing the Isles leave the Coliseum is beyond real, but that doesn’t mean my support for this team will go,” said Matthew Grieco, a 23-year-old Islanders fan from Searingtown, N.Y., whose family had season tickets at the Coliseum since 1994. “My father and I have bought a weekend package at Barclays this year not because we support the move but because we support this team.” Although Brooklyn is one of New York City’s five boroughs, Kings County — where Brooklyn is located — is the westernmost territory on Long Island. The Islanders will move 28 miles from their old home to their new one, twice the distance their new roommates, the NBA Nets, moved from New Jersey, but still better than departing thousands of miles. “Nobody likes to move, whether it is residential or industrial,” said Doug Weight, a former Islanders player who is the club’s assistant general manager and assistant coach. “I’m sure people are anxious, and that’s understandable. “This is still their team,” Weight added. “We’re still on the island — Brooklyn is part of Long Island. It’s still the same organization that won four Cups and had that dynasty.” Plus Barclays Center is at the end of the Long Island Railroad’s busy Atlantic Avenue line, meaning fans can take mass transit to the games instead of driving. That wasn’t possible at the Coliseum, where the closest LIRR stop was more than 4 miles away. The arena concourse will be easier to navigate in Brooklyn, as the Coliseum’s was crowded on only one level. Food options will improve, and there will be fewer lines for bathrooms as fans will enjoy all the modern amenities of a new arena.
The Islanders also will collect $50 million annually from Barclays Center — one arena official said it could be as much as $65 million — to play their games in Brooklyn. But for Long Islanders, all that means little, as they’ll lose their last remaining pro sports franchise — and the relationships and friendships built along the way — to New York City’s bright lights. “Corporate America has won again,” Grieco said. “We have become closer to what we hate the most, which is a city team, a team whose stands are filled with suits instead of family and friends.”Plus, what the team gains in mass transit convenience, it loses for those who prefer to drive. Long Island is full of suburbanites, and they’d rather take the car to the arena than try to make it on the LIRR’s schedule. “I think I will miss the pure convenience of it and the camaraderie with the friends I have made over the years,” said Robert Goldman, a Plainview, N.Y., season ticketholder since 2000. “Sitting in the same seats for the last 10 years, you make friends. None of my friends at the Coliseum have taken tickets as of yet at Barclays.” Weight and the rest of the organization understand the fans’ disappointment about the move. But he credited former owner Charles Wang’s commitment to the franchise’s history for keeping the Islanders in existence. Wang, who sold the team in 2014 after agreeing to a 25-year lease in Brooklyn, could have sold earlier to prospective buyers who hoped to move the team. “Things could’ve been worse. Charles kept us relatively close,” Weight said. “He’s lived here a long time. He put his stamp on the island, and he wanted the team to stay here for the tradition. Charles was adamant about keeping the New York Islanders name and logo.” Led by captain John Tavares and a budding crop of young talent, the Islanders have made the playoffs in two of the last three seasons and have a bright future. The team has secured more than 8,000 season ticketholders for the first year at Barclays and has signed many of its good young players, thanks to the influx of revenue from the building.
“We’ve got unbelievable, top-notch players as a core, and we believe the best is yet to come,” Weight said.The team appears poised to win its first playoff series since 1993, but the fan base is upset that it won’t win another on Long Island for the foreseeable future. “We love this team and its players, and we will be there to support this team whenever we need to,” Grieco said. “But we are hurting at the same time. The future is as bright as it’s been since the late 1970s. The light is just shining (28) miles west of where it’s supposed to be.” www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2015/09/27/new-york-islanders-brooklyn-move-barclays-center-nassau-coliseum/72924262/
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Post by mikecubs on Sept 30, 2015 5:52:26 GMT -6
Barclays Business: Islanders marketing push includes Bettman behind-the-scenes and kids clinicsBeyond the history and tradition of the Islanders move from Nassau County to Brooklyn is the day-to-day business machinations by the suits charged with taking an established team and moving it to a still relatively new locale. The Barclays team took over the Islanders PR a while ago, and is now fully in charge of everything that isn't hockey (save for a few office types back in Nassau). Their job has been figuring out how to move a 43-year-old team and its fans to a new borough and attract new fans to that same old team. A story by Alex Silverman published yesterday at Sports Business Daily ($) looks at some of the team's marketing strategies, from billboards to youth outreach, and some of the thinking that went on behind them. "I think that as the season progresses, you're going to be seeing a little bit more of the Brooklyn coolness infused into the brand," said Barclays Center CMO Elisa Padilla. "But again, we're being very respectful and we want to pay homage to the Islanders' history." We've known for a while that the new black alternate uniforms were once part of a larger re-branding effort by Nets and Barclays CEO Brett Yormark (Note: I've typed that phrase so many times over the past two years that I think I'm just going to shorten it to NABCCEOBY from now on. Or maybe just "Yormark.") that was scuttled after he considered feedback from fans. Turns out Yormark also went to another source for ideas on how to bring the team to Brooklyn: some old Islanders fan named Gary. Yormark revealed he has conferred with the NHL commissioner regarding a game presentation style that will jibe with existing fans' expectations. "We can mix a little bit of the old with the new," Yormark said. "But Gary Bettman was very clear to say to me, ‘Brett, we're not the NBA.' So we leaned on him and his staff to make sure they guide us the right way in what the fans' expectations are." "The NBA is very much also about entertainment," Yormark added. "The hockey fans are a little bit more of a traditional fan, and hockey is what they're coming out to see every night. We just need to be mindful of the balance. Obviously if that comes from the commissioner, I'm going to pay close attention to it." The article also mentions some outdoor skating sessions to get the kids of Brooklyn into the sport, with Islanders alumni expected to participate in the clinics. It will be interesting to see how the legends are received away from the team's traditional base, where anyone who was on the team between 1979 and 1984 probably hasn't had to buy a meal or a beer in almost 40 years. As for inside the arena, Barclays has sold 80 percent of its suites, with the rest being left for game day rentals. The arena has also brought in a raft of new sponsors, including Xerox, Jet Blue, American Express and Honda, who had been a Nets sponsor. Sorry, Compression Socks and Dial-A-Bug.Another new sponsor is the Las Vegas Tourism Board, which is a slightly ironic twist for those of us that endured relocation rumors for a couple of decades. The season is only one exhibition game old so far, so how this all turns out is anyone's guess. Things could change for the better or for the worse. But they will change. And we have a unique opportunity to watch our team grow in real time. Not everything is going to go smoothly, but as Brian Schiazza put it in a nice write-up from last night's preseason game, we all - fans, suits, fans that don't know they're going to be fans - want the same thing: a team that's ours and that speaks to us. If this Brooklyn shift is all going to work, it's really on the play of the team and the devotion of the fans equally. Who knows how the Isles will draw at the building in mixing old fans who can make it, and newer fans. I talked to a pair of what everyone would consider to be typical hipsters who seemed to be there just to check things out. They had no idea what the history of the team is, nor the adjustments that the fans are making to having this team here. They didn't even mind the obstructed views. But if they are ready to become fans and learn, the more, the merrier, right? One minute, you're crawling and the next - boom - baby steps. www.lighthousehockey.com/2015/9/22/9373115/barclays-business-marketing-brett-yormark-gary-bettman
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Post by Bruinsfan on Oct 1, 2015 15:25:01 GMT -6
Islanders fans lukewarm about Brooklyn: 'Corporate America has won again'It might not seem like it to those of a certain age, but Nassau Coliseum once was nicknamed Fort Neverlose. During the early 1980s, the New York Islanders simply did not lose many games, especially during the postseason. The Islanders won 19 consecutive playoff series between 1980 and 1984 — before the streak was halted by Wayne Gretzky and the upstart Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final. But all things pass, and the Islanders dynasty went. The Islanders struggled on the ice and the Coliseum became outdated. And with Nassau County unwilling to foot the bill for a new arena, the team’s future on Long Island became in doubt. The Islanders finally got their shiny new arena, and it technically is still on Long Island. Still, when the puck drops on the team’s inaugural season at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, on Oct. 9 against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, the building likely will be full, but many Islanders fans won’t be happy. “The pain of seeing the Isles leave the Coliseum is beyond real, but that doesn’t mean my support for this team will go,” said Matthew Grieco, a 23-year-old Islanders fan from Searingtown, N.Y., whose family had season tickets at the Coliseum since 1994. “My father and I have bought a weekend package at Barclays this year not because we support the move but because we support this team.” Although Brooklyn is one of New York City’s five boroughs, Kings County — where Brooklyn is located — is the westernmost territory on Long Island. The Islanders will move 28 miles from their old home to their new one, twice the distance their new roommates, the NBA Nets, moved from New Jersey, but still better than departing thousands of miles. “Nobody likes to move, whether it is residential or industrial,” said Doug Weight, a former Islanders player who is the club’s assistant general manager and assistant coach. “I’m sure people are anxious, and that’s understandable. “This is still their team,” Weight added. “We’re still on the island — Brooklyn is part of Long Island. It’s still the same organization that won four Cups and had that dynasty.” Plus Barclays Center is at the end of the Long Island Railroad’s busy Atlantic Avenue line, meaning fans can take mass transit to the games instead of driving. That wasn’t possible at the Coliseum, where the closest LIRR stop was more than 4 miles away. The arena concourse will be easier to navigate in Brooklyn, as the Coliseum’s was crowded on only one level. Food options will improve, and there will be fewer lines for bathrooms as fans will enjoy all the modern amenities of a new arena.
The Islanders also will collect $50 million annually from Barclays Center — one arena official said it could be as much as $65 million — to play their games in Brooklyn. But for Long Islanders, all that means little, as they’ll lose their last remaining pro sports franchise — and the relationships and friendships built along the way — to New York City’s bright lights. “Corporate America has won again,” Grieco said. “We have become closer to what we hate the most, which is a city team, a team whose stands are filled with suits instead of family and friends.”Plus, what the team gains in mass transit convenience, it loses for those who prefer to drive. Long Island is full of suburbanites, and they’d rather take the car to the arena than try to make it on the LIRR’s schedule. “I think I will miss the pure convenience of it and the camaraderie with the friends I have made over the years,” said Robert Goldman, a Plainview, N.Y., season ticketholder since 2000. “Sitting in the same seats for the last 10 years, you make friends. None of my friends at the Coliseum have taken tickets as of yet at Barclays.” Weight and the rest of the organization understand the fans’ disappointment about the move. But he credited former owner Charles Wang’s commitment to the franchise’s history for keeping the Islanders in existence. Wang, who sold the team in 2014 after agreeing to a 25-year lease in Brooklyn, could have sold earlier to prospective buyers who hoped to move the team. “Things could’ve been worse. Charles kept us relatively close,” Weight said. “He’s lived here a long time. He put his stamp on the island, and he wanted the team to stay here for the tradition. Charles was adamant about keeping the New York Islanders name and logo.” Led by captain John Tavares and a budding crop of young talent, the Islanders have made the playoffs in two of the last three seasons and have a bright future. The team has secured more than 8,000 season ticketholders for the first year at Barclays and has signed many of its good young players, thanks to the influx of revenue from the building.
“We’ve got unbelievable, top-notch players as a core, and we believe the best is yet to come,” Weight said.The team appears poised to win its first playoff series since 1993, but the fan base is upset that it won’t win another on Long Island for the foreseeable future. “We love this team and its players, and we will be there to support this team whenever we need to,” Grieco said. “But we are hurting at the same time. The future is as bright as it’s been since the late 1970s. The light is just shining (28) miles west of where it’s supposed to be.” www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2015/09/27/new-york-islanders-brooklyn-move-barclays-center-nassau-coliseum/72924262/ boo hoo, your team moved an hour away instead of to quebec city...i think thats a win. The biggest issue i have with brooklyn is the NHL being shortsighted and not immediately pitching in cash to the barclays center to make it an NHL rink.
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Post by sting on Oct 1, 2015 17:08:57 GMT -6
Islanders fans lukewarm about Brooklyn: 'Corporate America has won again'It might not seem like it to those of a certain age, but Nassau Coliseum once was nicknamed Fort Neverlose. During the early 1980s, the New York Islanders simply did not lose many games, especially during the postseason. The Islanders won 19 consecutive playoff series between 1980 and 1984 — before the streak was halted by Wayne Gretzky and the upstart Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final. But all things pass, and the Islanders dynasty went. The Islanders struggled on the ice and the Coliseum became outdated. And with Nassau County unwilling to foot the bill for a new arena, the team’s future on Long Island became in doubt. The Islanders finally got their shiny new arena, and it technically is still on Long Island. Still, when the puck drops on the team’s inaugural season at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, on Oct. 9 against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, the building likely will be full, but many Islanders fans won’t be happy. “The pain of seeing the Isles leave the Coliseum is beyond real, but that doesn’t mean my support for this team will go,” said Matthew Grieco, a 23-year-old Islanders fan from Searingtown, N.Y., whose family had season tickets at the Coliseum since 1994. “My father and I have bought a weekend package at Barclays this year not because we support the move but because we support this team.” Although Brooklyn is one of New York City’s five boroughs, Kings County — where Brooklyn is located — is the westernmost territory on Long Island. The Islanders will move 28 miles from their old home to their new one, twice the distance their new roommates, the NBA Nets, moved from New Jersey, but still better than departing thousands of miles. “Nobody likes to move, whether it is residential or industrial,” said Doug Weight, a former Islanders player who is the club’s assistant general manager and assistant coach. “I’m sure people are anxious, and that’s understandable. “This is still their team,” Weight added. “We’re still on the island — Brooklyn is part of Long Island. It’s still the same organization that won four Cups and had that dynasty.” Plus Barclays Center is at the end of the Long Island Railroad’s busy Atlantic Avenue line, meaning fans can take mass transit to the games instead of driving. That wasn’t possible at the Coliseum, where the closest LIRR stop was more than 4 miles away. The arena concourse will be easier to navigate in Brooklyn, as the Coliseum’s was crowded on only one level. Food options will improve, and there will be fewer lines for bathrooms as fans will enjoy all the modern amenities of a new arena.
The Islanders also will collect $50 million annually from Barclays Center — one arena official said it could be as much as $65 million — to play their games in Brooklyn. But for Long Islanders, all that means little, as they’ll lose their last remaining pro sports franchise — and the relationships and friendships built along the way — to New York City’s bright lights. “Corporate America has won again,” Grieco said. “We have become closer to what we hate the most, which is a city team, a team whose stands are filled with suits instead of family and friends.”Plus, what the team gains in mass transit convenience, it loses for those who prefer to drive. Long Island is full of suburbanites, and they’d rather take the car to the arena than try to make it on the LIRR’s schedule. “I think I will miss the pure convenience of it and the camaraderie with the friends I have made over the years,” said Robert Goldman, a Plainview, N.Y., season ticketholder since 2000. “Sitting in the same seats for the last 10 years, you make friends. None of my friends at the Coliseum have taken tickets as of yet at Barclays.” Weight and the rest of the organization understand the fans’ disappointment about the move. But he credited former owner Charles Wang’s commitment to the franchise’s history for keeping the Islanders in existence. Wang, who sold the team in 2014 after agreeing to a 25-year lease in Brooklyn, could have sold earlier to prospective buyers who hoped to move the team. “Things could’ve been worse. Charles kept us relatively close,” Weight said. “He’s lived here a long time. He put his stamp on the island, and he wanted the team to stay here for the tradition. Charles was adamant about keeping the New York Islanders name and logo.” Led by captain John Tavares and a budding crop of young talent, the Islanders have made the playoffs in two of the last three seasons and have a bright future. The team has secured more than 8,000 season ticketholders for the first year at Barclays and has signed many of its good young players, thanks to the influx of revenue from the building.
“We’ve got unbelievable, top-notch players as a core, and we believe the best is yet to come,” Weight said.The team appears poised to win its first playoff series since 1993, but the fan base is upset that it won’t win another on Long Island for the foreseeable future. “We love this team and its players, and we will be there to support this team whenever we need to,” Grieco said. “But we are hurting at the same time. The future is as bright as it’s been since the late 1970s. The light is just shining (28) miles west of where it’s supposed to be.” www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2015/09/27/new-york-islanders-brooklyn-move-barclays-center-nassau-coliseum/72924262/ boo hoo, your team moved an hour away instead of to quebec city...i think thats a win. The biggest issue i have with brooklyn is the NHL being shortsighted and not immediately pitching in cash to the barclays center to make it an NHL rink. Why would the NHL put money in a rink? I'm sure True North would like some money to fix the loge seating.
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Post by Bruinsfan on Oct 1, 2015 17:16:40 GMT -6
boo hoo, your team moved an hour away instead of to quebec city...i think thats a win. The biggest issue i have with brooklyn is the NHL being shortsighted and not immediately pitching in cash to the barclays center to make it an NHL rink. Why would the NHL put money in a rink? I'm sure True North would like some money to fix the loge seating. By NHL i mean the Islanders with the NHl assisting in the lobbying to get them in the project. It should have been done.
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 2, 2015 0:05:34 GMT -6
Islanders fans lukewarm about Brooklyn: 'Corporate America has won again'It might not seem like it to those of a certain age, but Nassau Coliseum once was nicknamed Fort Neverlose. During the early 1980s, the New York Islanders simply did not lose many games, especially during the postseason. The Islanders won 19 consecutive playoff series between 1980 and 1984 — before the streak was halted by Wayne Gretzky and the upstart Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final. But all things pass, and the Islanders dynasty went. The Islanders struggled on the ice and the Coliseum became outdated. And with Nassau County unwilling to foot the bill for a new arena, the team’s future on Long Island became in doubt. The Islanders finally got their shiny new arena, and it technically is still on Long Island. Still, when the puck drops on the team’s inaugural season at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, on Oct. 9 against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, the building likely will be full, but many Islanders fans won’t be happy. “The pain of seeing the Isles leave the Coliseum is beyond real, but that doesn’t mean my support for this team will go,” said Matthew Grieco, a 23-year-old Islanders fan from Searingtown, N.Y., whose family had season tickets at the Coliseum since 1994. “My father and I have bought a weekend package at Barclays this year not because we support the move but because we support this team.” Although Brooklyn is one of New York City’s five boroughs, Kings County — where Brooklyn is located — is the westernmost territory on Long Island. The Islanders will move 28 miles from their old home to their new one, twice the distance their new roommates, the NBA Nets, moved from New Jersey, but still better than departing thousands of miles. “Nobody likes to move, whether it is residential or industrial,” said Doug Weight, a former Islanders player who is the club’s assistant general manager and assistant coach. “I’m sure people are anxious, and that’s understandable. “This is still their team,” Weight added. “We’re still on the island — Brooklyn is part of Long Island. It’s still the same organization that won four Cups and had that dynasty.” Plus Barclays Center is at the end of the Long Island Railroad’s busy Atlantic Avenue line, meaning fans can take mass transit to the games instead of driving. That wasn’t possible at the Coliseum, where the closest LIRR stop was more than 4 miles away. The arena concourse will be easier to navigate in Brooklyn, as the Coliseum’s was crowded on only one level. Food options will improve, and there will be fewer lines for bathrooms as fans will enjoy all the modern amenities of a new arena.
The Islanders also will collect $50 million annually from Barclays Center — one arena official said it could be as much as $65 million — to play their games in Brooklyn. But for Long Islanders, all that means little, as they’ll lose their last remaining pro sports franchise — and the relationships and friendships built along the way — to New York City’s bright lights. “Corporate America has won again,” Grieco said. “We have become closer to what we hate the most, which is a city team, a team whose stands are filled with suits instead of family and friends.”Plus, what the team gains in mass transit convenience, it loses for those who prefer to drive. Long Island is full of suburbanites, and they’d rather take the car to the arena than try to make it on the LIRR’s schedule. “I think I will miss the pure convenience of it and the camaraderie with the friends I have made over the years,” said Robert Goldman, a Plainview, N.Y., season ticketholder since 2000. “Sitting in the same seats for the last 10 years, you make friends. None of my friends at the Coliseum have taken tickets as of yet at Barclays.” Weight and the rest of the organization understand the fans’ disappointment about the move. But he credited former owner Charles Wang’s commitment to the franchise’s history for keeping the Islanders in existence. Wang, who sold the team in 2014 after agreeing to a 25-year lease in Brooklyn, could have sold earlier to prospective buyers who hoped to move the team. “Things could’ve been worse. Charles kept us relatively close,” Weight said. “He’s lived here a long time. He put his stamp on the island, and he wanted the team to stay here for the tradition. Charles was adamant about keeping the New York Islanders name and logo.” Led by captain John Tavares and a budding crop of young talent, the Islanders have made the playoffs in two of the last three seasons and have a bright future. The team has secured more than 8,000 season ticketholders for the first year at Barclays and has signed many of its good young players, thanks to the influx of revenue from the building.
“We’ve got unbelievable, top-notch players as a core, and we believe the best is yet to come,” Weight said.The team appears poised to win its first playoff series since 1993, but the fan base is upset that it won’t win another on Long Island for the foreseeable future. “We love this team and its players, and we will be there to support this team whenever we need to,” Grieco said. “But we are hurting at the same time. The future is as bright as it’s been since the late 1970s. The light is just shining (28) miles west of where it’s supposed to be.” www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2015/09/27/new-york-islanders-brooklyn-move-barclays-center-nassau-coliseum/72924262/ boo hoo, your team moved an hour away instead of to quebec city...i think thats a win. The biggest issue i have with brooklyn is the NHL being shortsighted and not immediately pitching in cash to the barclays center to make it an NHL rink. I agree. Islander fans never showed up in Nassau anyway then complain it's the greatest tragedy of all time the team moved to Brooklyn.
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Post by Bruinsfan on Oct 2, 2015 15:12:10 GMT -6
boo hoo, your team moved an hour away instead of to quebec city...i think thats a win. The biggest issue i have with brooklyn is the NHL being shortsighted and not immediately pitching in cash to the barclays center to make it an NHL rink. I agree. Islander fans never showed up in Nassau anyway then complain it's the greatest tragedy of all time the team moved to Brooklyn. 100% agree. Their team moved a couple miles away on the same small island that they live on
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 3, 2015 9:35:40 GMT -6
A map from HF boards on how close the 3 New York area teams are.
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Post by wolfmannick on Oct 3, 2015 16:12:06 GMT -6
What did all the Islanders fans who are complaining expect? They played in a dump and couldn't get a new arena built so they moved a few miles away to a brand new arena where it is likely they will be financially successful. They tried for like 10 years to get a new arena built in Nassau and it never went though did they think the team would play in the Coliseum until it collapsed?
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