Sandra dissing the Islanders blast in T-minus.... 10, 9, 8, 7........
Well, really, what's to diss anymore? I do think the vote is more a rejection of additional taxes for Nassau county residents than it is a rejection of the Islanders, but then again (ok, I TRIED to resist a diss, I really did!) how much can it cost to erect another circus tent for the clown organizatoin to play under?
Their lease at the Mausoleum runs to 2015, so nothing has to happen immediatelly. The options are now as follows:
1. The most likely option...over the next couple of years there will be a few more attempts at finding a way to fund a new arena at the site of the current disgrace of an arena. But, regarding what Stone Phillips said, it's difficult to imagine any scenario where the Lighthouse Project is reborn. The extremely stripped down version of the project, at much lower cost, was just rejected.
If number one doesn't work, the other options are...
2. Wang sells the team to an owner who either attempts to get a new arena funded in a different way, or funds it (or partially funds it, at least), himself. Bettman will stay out of Nassau county politics, but if it gets to this point he will jump in with both feet to help find an owner.
3. The team tries to build an arena in Suffolk county, which does not have quite the same fiscal issues Nassau county has...but Suffolk is WAY out on what really is a LONG island...beautiful, but remote. Difficult to imagine.
4. The team can move to the Barclays Center, the new arena being built in Brooklyn for the Nets. This can happen either with Wang as owner, or Prokhorov can buy the team. The problem is that by all accounts the Barclays is being built purely for basketball, and while it can hold an ice rink, it would only seat 14,000 for hockey, and some of that with limited sitelines. I also read in one place that when the Islanders came into existence in 1972 they paid a boatload of money to the Rangers for geographical infringement, and that does not extend to New York City itself...and I read somewhere else that's not the case. Not sure.
5. Wang can pull an Atlanta Thrashers and sell the team to somebody who will move it...to Kansas City, Quebec City, southern Ontario city, Saskatoon, Yellowknife NWT, or Omsk. Bettman will fight with all five feet four inches of his being any sale to Jim Balsillie, who is looking for a team to move to southern Ontario, but there are other potential owners out there not named Balsillie.
What would be hilarious to Ranger fans is if the Islanders do move in four years, and the Rangers move their AHL team from Hartford to to Long Island. Forget rubbing salt in the wounds, that would be like running Islander fans over with a salt truck!
My prediction? One way or another, an arena is built in Uniondale.
Sandra
