Fans seemed to have a profound reaction to every negative bump-in-the-road...
Why couldn't we have been better? Why has had this team faltered? Fans seemed to nitpick this team incessantly with an emotional fury every step of the way....
Do we really mean – WHY did it have to be this way?
Why did this team need to leave Long Island?
I believe the reality of the Islanders heading to Brooklyn had a deep effect on fans expectations and frustrations.
Having focused intensely on the circus that was the Nassau Coliseum venue situation in my writing life over the years, this has been especially hard to write about. Historically, no fan should have gone through what Isles fans have gone through.
But nobody will offer an apology or assuage that pain.
Nor can we accept the empty promises by the very people who drove them out of town when they try to blow smoke that they may return.
The politicians have played political ball with fans, the venue and team for years. It is the beginning, middle and end of this
sad tale.
Don't buy any of their words; because the blind, deaf, dumb and eternally soulless politicos of Long Island have nothing of substance or truth to offer.
The truth is that the Islanders will not be back to Long Island, and for most – that is a terrible reality and finality to hear.
Fans deserve better. But most of all, we deserve the truth. The truth is the new ownership has no interest in returning when having spent half a billion dollars on the Islanders.
That's half a billion... Brooklyn money.
According to those close to John Ledecky and Scott Malkin, there is no fiscal way this team returns because there is simply no return on their investment thanks to the smaller market and overall languishment Nassau County. It simply cannot and will not be done.
Nassau is simply not a place that a half-billion-dollar team resides.
They had their professional team and they blew it. They blew it so spectacularly and embarrassingly that the reverberations of all this will be felt in every Nassau taxpayers pocket because Nassau lost key taxable revenue.
As I cited on twitter and TheFourthPeriod.com, there is only a MUTUAL opt-out in 5 years of the lease. The chance of the Islanders refusing the $50 million a year guaranteed by Barclays is minuscule.
In fact, if the Isles and Barclays were to opt out mutually, Long Island fans should shake in their boots. With a half of billion spent, sources cite that ONLY a sale out of the area would allow the owners to recoup their investment.
Per a source, the Barclays deal for the Islanders is so good that the difference in revenue for the team between winning and losing is minor. Winning can be about pride and hockey development, not about just hockey business.
In fact, Brooklyn season tickets sales are currently AHEAD of projections. Only 30% of Nassau Coliseum season ticketholders are buying-in. These two things in unison give clear indication that a NEW fanbase and group ticketholders COULD begin to develop.
In other words, it might not matter as much as fans think if they buy-in to Brooklyn
or not.