Are The Islanders Moving To Queens?
Bloomberg – The New York Islanders are in talks with the owners of baseball’s New York Mets about building a hockey arena adjacent to Citi Field in Queens, people with knowledge of the discussions said.
Willets Point is emerging as a persuasive alternative to the team’s current home at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center if the Islanders’s owners and arena officials can’t agree on a series of hockey-specific improvements, said the people, who asked for anonymity because the negotiations are private.
The Islanders, who are owned by Value Retail Plc founder Scott Malkin and Jonathan Ledecky, and Sterling Equities, which owns the Mets, have been discussing a possible move to Queens for months, said the people.
First off, it being the dog days of summer or not, this isn’t as big of a story as people want to make it out to be. Of course, anything involving the Islanders and just where they’ll be playing their hockey will get some sort of buzz, that sort of publicity just comes with the territory once you win your first playoff series in 20 years. I get it, Haters won’t.
The fact that both the Isles and Mets are discussing the idea of building an arena in Queens shouldn’t be all that surprising given the speed bumps following the Barclays Center’s first year hosting hockey. Much like with the forever debated opt-out clause, that may or may not kick in after the Isles 4th year in Brooklyn, Ledecky and his people are expanding their backup plans in case Barclays can’t find ways to improve both the on ice and off ice experience. With the team’s new owner having pledged his allegiance to Brooklyn just last week, Ledecky has made it clear that his goal is to make it the team’s long-term home, but I can’t blame him for exploring fallout plans if Brooklyn doesn’t want to play ball down the road.
With all of that being said, as much as I hate blogging about arenas and Brooklyn in general, I honestly wouldn’t mind having the Isles move to Willets Point alongside Citi Field. Having that much sports induced depression in one place probably isn’t safe, but Philly has all four teams within a quarter mile radius of each other so how bad can it really get? And obviously the relationship between the two teams is there, as everyone from Montauk to Hell’s Kitchen knows it’s Isles/Mets and Yankees/Rangers if you’re in New York and you’re a flat out weirdo if its any other way.
I’m all for making it work in Brooklyn, and that is clearly a main priority for the team’s new owners, but if the people at the Barclays Center can’t get it right, and down the road the question of moving the team to Queens comes up for real, who says no?
PS – For whatever it’s worth, Wang approached the Mets with the same idea back in 2010 and no moves were ever made.
PPS – 83 days
