Av-merican wrote:
How are people feeling about the move to Brooklyn?
Totally mixed. I like it, but a ton of season ticket holders vow they will never go to Brooklyn. Doubt they'll hold on to that, but Long Island is a strange place. It's so close to NYC, but has a totally different culture. Brooklyn & Queens are physically on Long Island, but are politically part of NYC, which "Long Island, proper", isn't. So there is major culture clash. Lots of Long Islanders are considering the Isles sell outs, saying they're catering to the hipster crowd, trying to be the Rangers Jr., etc. None of it makes sense. I believe the move is less than 30 miles, but many of these old Isles fans apparently would have rather seen them move to Quebec, Seattle, KC... There is a call for them to change the team name, since they won't be "in" Long Island anymore.
Some people see the new ownership group as hope that the team can move back into the Coliseum after it's renovated. I seriously doubt that. The story around the lease in Brooklyn has been that it is "iron clad". Don't think a new owner can simply wave a wand and delete the lease. Story I've heard is that the Sound Tigers will be moved to the Coliseum after it's renovated, to try and appease the Long Island fan base. The obvious punch line is that they watched a minor league Islanders team for 20 years, why not going forward? Follow-up rumor to that is the Wolf Pack (Rangers affiliate) will move from the ancient Hartford Civic Center into the Bridgeport arena. It's 8k seats vs the always empty 12k seat Civic Center, so it makes sense for them. Not to mention the Bridgeport arena is like 40 years newer.
Overall, the situation is still a shit show to some, but looks way better to me.
Ledecky's business reputation is that he likes to buy "fixer-upper companies" and make them successes. Well dude, you found a good candidate!