Nassau County had a special referendum Monday to vote on whether property taxes should be raised in order to fund a new arena for the Islanders. It failed. Good for the people of Nassau County for not spending money they don’t have on an arena. Too bad for the Fishsticks the vote was held on a Monday. The B&T douchebags were probably too tired from heading to the City over the weekend and pretending to be New Yorkers to hit the polls. The area already has arenas in Manhattan, Newark, and the Meadowlands with one on the way in Brooklyn. We don’t need another one, especially with all the economic problems the state has been having.
The Isles’ current albatross of a lease lasts until 2015 and the team has stated that they will honor it despite unfavorable terms. However, past that their future is very much in doubt, especially in Nassau County. A lot of people have been throwing out Queens as an option but that’s even worse than Nassau. It’s far from the Islanders’ existing fan base, the public transportation isn’t much besides the 7 train and minimal LIRR coverage, and again, there’s already too many arenas in New York.
The Brooklyn arena would seem like a logical solution but it’s built for basketball and apparently would have the smallest capacity in the NHL. I feel like that’s a problem Mikhail Prokhorov could fix, though. Why couldn’t he buy the team? Even if they didn’t make too much money, it would boost the status of his new digs. It’s not like he’s hurting for cash, plus the building is already going up and it has a ton of transportation. It also maintains the existing Rangers-Islanders rivalry, which is nice but maybe a bit overrated.
If the New York area can’t handle a third hockey team, there are many markets that would be willing to give it a chance from Quebec City to Kansas City. As a Rangers fan, I won’t be crying if the Fishsticks move away. I’ll help them pack their bags, but it’s never good to see an established team with a championship pedigree move. At the same time, this situation has been simmering for a while and will hopefully result in a better situation for both the team and league. The best thing for everybody is a quick resolution.
Rainman Suite 
