[News] Islanders announce move to Brooklyn in 2015

[sureLoss]

Islanders have called a press conference today at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn.

Chris Johnston ‏@reporterchris The #isles will make a "major announcement" at Barclays Center today. Attendees include Bettman, Bloomberg, Wang and numerous others.

http://islanders.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=644105

WHAT: Press Conference
WHO: New York Islanders Owner Charles B. Wang, Barclays Center Majority Owner and Developer Bruce Ratner, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Islanders General Manager Garth Snow, and Barclays Center and Brooklyn Nets CEO Brett Yormark

WHERE: Barclays Center
620 Atlantic Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Media to enter main entrance.

WHEN: TODAY, Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 1 p.m.
Located atop one of the largest transportation hubs in New York City, Barclays Center is accessible by 11 subway lines, the Long Island Rail Road, and 11 bus lines.

[kyuss275]

If true it's a good move. Wang was never going to get his real estate deal with a new arena aproved on Long Island.

[sureLoss]

Interesting that the Barclay's Center only seats 14,500 for hockey. (Insert jokes that the Islanders won't be able to fill those seats anyways)

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nhl/stor...ful-nhl-tenant

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Interesting that the Barclay's Center only seats 14,500 for hockey.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nhl/stor...ful-nhl-tenant

Ouch that seems small. That said they have a better chance of getting 14,000 to a game in Brooklyn than getting 14,000 on long island.

[shermanator]

14500 in Brooklyn > 16000 in Nassau

Not the ideal move for the team, but with the arena being held up by local politicians they didn't have a choice.

[Vinny01]

Makes sense the market is virtually the same and even though Barclay's is not the greatest building for hockey (smallest capacity I believe?) it is a state of the art building and an improvement for the Islanders.

[Muta]

Wow, huge news if true, given the legacy of that franchise.

[Jayems]

The Isles averaged just over 13,000 last season in Nassau.

[kirant]

If this Twitter account (ABC) is correct, then it's a move:
https://twitter.com/eyewitnessnyc/st...09877353615361

#BreakingNews Sources say Islanders moving to #Brooklyn @BreakingNews

[sureLoss]

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie New York Islanders will indeed be moving to Brooklyn, NY, upon expiry of lease on Long Island.



Believe the lease ends in 2015

[Freeway]

McKenzie and others are reporting that they're headed to Brooklyn in 2015 when their least expires at Nassau Coliseum.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Jayems

The Isles averaged just over 13,000 last season in Nassau.

I watched a couple of games of the Isles last year and there is no way they had 13,000. I would also think that of that so called 13,000 there were a lot of free or very cheap tickets.

[North East Goon]

Will they change the name to the Brooklyn Americans?

[getbak]

Oddly enough, the Knicks and Nets are playing a pre-season game on Long Island tonight.


Higher ticket prices will likely offset the smaller capacity.

3 years before they move. I wonder if they can make changes in that time to increase capacity (which would be odd for a newly constructed building)?

[Brannigans Law]

Good move for the Islanders but 14~K is small. How much will they able to charge for tickets in Brooklyn?

This will definitely be easier on Flames roadtrips for me in the future. Getting to Nassau from Manhattan was a total pain. So in a selfish way I approve of this mode from a Flames fan perspective

[the_only_turek_fan]

Any chance of them keeping the NY Islanders name and logo?

[Brannigans Law]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Any chance of them keeping the NY Islanders name and logo?

Sure why not? Brooklyn is in New York and it's still on the same Island.

[ernie]

3 years gives them plenty of time to plan and make building modifications. It would have been better to build it for hockey in the first place but c'est la vie. From what I understand they can add seating and make the facility a bit bigger. Still, 14,500 in Brooklyn/Queens is a heck of lot better than what they had.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Makes sense the market is virtually the same and even though Barclay's is not the greatest building for hockey (smallest capacity I believe?) it is a state of the art building and an improvement for the Islanders.

It's actually a very different market (a lot of Islanders fans are further east on Long Island, mostly in Nassau and Suffolk counties, they'll be able to get to games pretty easily via train but this definitely takes things to a new market) but they weren't left with much of a choice. The politics in Nassau had pretty much killed any chance of a new development out there. Barclays isn't ideal, but it's not terrible and at least it keeps the team nearby. It's also going to be great for me personally when I finally cave in and move myself to Brooklyn.

[FlamesAddiction]

I wonder if the arena was engineered with thought that they would eventually expand the seating capacity one day. It looks small from the outside though too.