Now that Forest City Ratner, owner of the Brooklyn Nets‘ Barclays Center, has been picked to renovate the Nassau Coliseum, there’s been increasing speculation whether this could mean the New York Islanders staying in Long Island instead of moving to Brooklyn in 2015. It’s mostly thanks to this Tom Van Riper piece in Forbes, which noted that 1) the Islanders were previously going to stay put if they got a renovated arena, and now FCR plans on renovating the arena; 2) at 13,000 seats, FCR’s arena plans wouldn’t take much expansion to beat out the 14,000 that Barclays will seat for hockey; 3) FCR can make more money selling signage at two arenas instead of one; and 4) the Islanders at least have a fan base on Long Island, and who knows how they’ll fare in Brooklyn?
All of which are reasonable points — as is the one that with Barclays Center doing bang-up business with concerts, they might no longer be so eager to jam up winter dates with hockey on top of basketball — but right now this is still just some Forbes writer thinking out loud. Bruce Ratner has come out and said that a renovated Coliseum will be too small for hockey, and the Brooklyn move is way too far along at this point to just up and abandon it for fear that fans won’t show up.
Ratner has indicated that the relocated Islanders could play six home games a year in Nassau under his plan, though, which leaves open an easy strategy to for him and Islanders owner Charles Wang to hedge their bets: Watch attendance in Brooklyn vs. Long Island, and tweak the number of home games hosted at each as they fit. (Ratner could even shift some games last-minute if, say, Beyoncé suddenly needs Barclays for some dates, but that would risk pissing off Brooklyn Islanders fans who have no idea where Nassau is and how to get there by artisanal transit.) It’s probably not a long-term solution — eventually the team needs to have an identity, and Brooklyn and Long Island are very distinct markets — but it would be one way to keep their options open.
Didn’t Ratner once say/suggest that Atlantic yards wasn’t going to be able to host NHL hockey either?
I’m not sure I understand the logic behind “Nassau will be too small for hockey” and “we’ll play six games there”. Either it’s going to be too small for hockey or it isn’t.
This is most likely just an effort to continue extracting cash from the few people in Nassau county that Wang hasn’t already completely alienated. Having said that though (as noted elsewhere on this site and in the article above), I don’t think having the Islanders in the arena is going to be nearly as lucrative for FCR & partners as the concerts/events they displace would be. I genuinely believe that FCR are surprised at how busy the facility is and how much they are making (reminds me of JFK’s quote about the only thing that surprised him once he took office was that things were as bad as he’d been saying they were during the campaign…)
It will surprise me if the renovated coliseum doesn’t have the ability to still host hockey, and have at least 14,000 seats available for same. It may be that the Islanders will be shared between the two markets over the next decade or two… at least until the fan base in Brooklyn is well and truly established… or the fanbase in Uniondale is completely alienated.
“and Brooklyn and Long Island are very distinct markets — but it would be one way to keep their options open.”
._ . Maybe its because I always think they should of included Queens and Brooklyn to the logo but why not tap into both potential fans in both markets?
In an interview Ratner did with WFAN the other day he claimed that the Islanders could not stay in a renovated Nassau Coliseum because there would not be enough restrooms and the corridors would be too narrow, etc.
In a prior CNBC interview Ratner said it would cost (approximately) an additional $100 million dollars more to bring the renovated Coliseum up to standards as a NHL venue.
I believe the real reason is that the the construction of new luxury suites are not included in the renovation or, they have not been announced as being included.
Does Ratner want Nassau County to contribute public funds to the renovation process or will Wang do so (in exchange for a percentage of the lease agreement) in order to keep the Islanders on Long Island?
In any event, the Islanders will have to play in Brooklyn for at least two years while the renovations are being done.
With the election for Nassau County executive in November, would a new county executive agree to amend the lease agreement (with public funds) to include the amenities needed?
These questions will probably be answered within the next year.
I still say that they should figure out a way to do a minor renvoation at Barclays that will allow for the ice to be centered so that attendance can come close to 17,000 as opposed to stay at 14,000. The amount of money that they lose by having 3,000 less fans per game in the event that the Islanders get good and demand increases, is probably a lot more over the course of a 25 year lease than the money that they spend in renovations. You may say that’s crazy since the Islanders don’t draw well but neither did the Nets before they came to Brooklyn. Now they’re in Brooklyn and they sellout every night. Same can happen for the Islanders.
As usual Forbes with it’s usual guesswork shock jock speculation for page views. If Forbes wants to impress it’s should discuss it’s own financial issues along with now renting space it used to own.
As for the New York Islander the Ratner NEC bid only contains 89m in Coliseum renovations. No expanded corridors, no raised roof. As anyone can see with the 40m done in Tampa to the St Pete Times Forum it does not buy that much. Sure Ratner’s renovations will put in bigger seats reducing capacity. and redo the exterior but for the most part the interior of the Coliseum will remain as is with some tweaking. The other 100m is for a few restaurants, bowling alley, theater but it’s very small and very condensed as if attached to the Coliseum inside Wang’s connecting abatement to the hotel which will still be owned by Wang.
The rest of the NEC Ratner RFP is around only the tiny footprint of the Coliseum because Master Developer Don Monti has his own plans for the bulk of the HUB.
Trueblood: I’m not sure that would be a minor renovation. I haven’t sat there with diagrams, but my sense is that centering the ice would just mean that both ends of the arena wouldn’t be able to see, rather than just one.
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/assets/photos/35/20/all_horseshoearena_2012_05_18_bk02_z.jpg Looks like a tough fit to center it… unless you want the balcony to get a decent view by raising the whole rink.
Just move the islanders to brooklyn full time. This 6 game plan for the islanders to play at the coliseum is garbage. The rangers and knicks should look at Pilgram State in Brentwood.