After being out on Long Island since 1972, the New York Islanders will soon announce that they are leaving Long Island and heading towards New York City. When their lease with the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum ends in 2015, the team will relocate to the Barclays Center, a source indicated to ABC 7 Eyewitness News in New York. Chris Botta of Sports Business Journal tweeted the news that they would be going in 2015. A press conference is scheduled today featuring Gary Bettman, Michael Bloomberg and Charles Wang, the Barclays Center owner, according to the NY Islanders team website, for 1 p.m. to announce the move.
All things considered, this is probably the best move that the Islanders could make. The Nassau Coliseum at this point is nothing short of a wasteland. Nassau County has theoretically given up on them. The probable moves to Kansas City or Quebec City would have been much tougher pills to swallow for those fans out on the Island. Even as big of a hassle as it is to go from Long Island to Brooklyn (and vice versa), it is going to seem effortless instead of having their team relocated thousands of miles away from them.
This was a move that all things considered had to be made. I for one am going to have to feel strangely about it, given the fact that I, much like everyone else, have seen the Islanders only be out on Long Island. The Brooklyn Islanders, or whatever they will be called (a friend of mine suggested the 'Coney Islanders') are going to take some getting used to, but this is better than Kansas City or Quebec City for this instance.
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