Pokecheque wrote:
Ehhhh...I wish they had been able to stay in Nassau and a new barn got built there. I don't get why new arenas have to be these gaudy, palatial venues. Just make sure there are good sight lines and the ice is cold. Why is this so hard?
And aren't they, like, not gonna be on the island now?
Well, Wang tried to develop the old NVMC but his project was killed every time the changed it to what the town said they wanted. the property is in both Uniondale and Hempstead. Hempstead were just assholes. So the Isles left for Brooklyn, which the towns apparently never thought would happen. Then they were looking at the building like "oh fuck. Now whatta we do?" So THEN they were willing to let someone renovate it, which basically means putting new paneling up inside and out, not making the concourse wider, etc. So it's still the same old building, with the same old problems. It's like polishing a turd.
Barclays could have originally been designed to include the Isles. Wang was asked if he'd consider moving the team there while Barclays was in design phase. At the time the Lighthouse was his golden goal so he said no. Fast forward a few years, and Barclays had to be retrofitted to accept hockey. No idea who approved PVC instead of metal piping, but it's never really worked well. So the sight lines suck, the ice sucks, the commute sucks, the fans hate it, there's an SUV in the corner where prime seating should be, the scoreboard is off-center, the ice still sucks more, there are very few seats and most have obstructed views (those last 2 are doubled because people talk about them that much).... So Barclays isn't working.
Belmont Park is in Elmont, which is in Nassau County, so it is technically and politically, Long Island. So they're moving about 15 miles and 2 counties east, out of NYC, and back into Long Island proper. Brooklyn is physically on Long Island, but not socially or politically, as Brooklyn is one of the 5 boroughs of NYC. Fans are rejoicing. It not only means they're back on LI, the arena question was supposedly the biggest stumbling block to Tavares re-signing. So this should clear things up more.
17,200 doesn't seem big to me. Still one of the smaller NHL arenas as far as I know. But not as small as Barclays, which everyone makes fun of.
Side notes- Most people expect the Isles to play at NVMC in the 19-20 season, since they want out of Barclays ASAP and the Coliseum is renovated, even with only new paneling. The ice is far superior, so screw Barclays. At least that's the thought. The follow-up thought is that the Sound Tigers not only end their lease in Bridgeport in spring of 2021, they may leave early due to a fight with the city over the empty baseball stadium next door being used for concerts by the city, which is a breach of the Sound Tigers' contract. So lots of people think the plan is to move the Sound Tigers into the NVMC permanently, and that way the Barclays folks get some sort of hockey tenant long term, and the Isles get to reconnect with their LI fan base before opening their own digs 10 miles away the following season. So it may or may not be early, but Isles could end up with their farm team down the road in their old house. That would be great. Even without the Sound Tigers that close, this is a huge win for the Isles and their fans. Getting to the Barclays sucked dog balls. I went ONCE. I said I wouldn't go again unless the tickets were free. It should be like 1:40 from my house but was well over 3 hours with traffic. We missed warm-ups, which I really like watching. I figure they're part of what I pay for... I was pissed. Also had to park like 4 blocks away. Just happened to find free street parking. Yay it was free! But it was far and it was not fun walking through Brooklyn at night with my kids, down dark streets. Not a horrible area, but not great either. Belmont is more of an open air area, which will take like 1:20 for me to get to with average traffic. So that's way better too. As long as they get the ice right, Belmont should be awesome for the Isles. First time in 45 years with their own building. They've always rented and were treated like shit most of that time. Moving up in the world!