I haven’t gone off-topic for a while, but I felt like writing about the Islanders move to Brooklyn.
I think the best line I heard was that it was both an incredible disappointment and a relief. It is a relief that this team is not heading to Kansas City or Quebec, but for folks on Long Island (and I loved out there for a while) it’s disappointing.
It remains to be seen if people will actually take the LIRR into Brooklyn for games. I really have my doubts.
I’m not sure who will go to these games. Local Brooklynites? Super-diehard Islanders fans? Ramgers fans 4 times a year?
Think about if the Mets had moved to say the Nassau/Suffolk border. Would you go to fewer games? For some of you it would get harder, for some easier. You still might watch but you might not feel like going to Plainview on Tuesday night.
I think it would have been interesting had the Islanders moved to near Citi Field. I think it would have been a little easier for the guy who commutes to Manhattan (dump your car at Citi in the morning and take the 7 to work) than Brooklyn will be. Some disagree with me.
Even if you’re the biggest Rangers fan I bet you’re glad they are still around. Playing the Kansas City Dragons is no fun. The fun is in playing the local team. Now they will be even more local. The little brother has grown up a little…but is still the little brother.
Back when I lived in Nassau I went to a few games a year. I can’t imagine that I would have trekked into Brooklyn ever.
Will you attend games?
If they win, people will go. Will the fan base change? Probably. I live on LI and have taken the train to Barclay’s. It’s not bad, it’s not great. It just is what it is. Probably the best comparison I can think of is the NFL Giants and Jets moving to NJ. While I don’t know what popular opinion was at the time, I would say they are doing ok with attendence.
As a lifelong Islanders fan from southwest Queens (and a working schlep in downtown Manhattan), never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would ever see the day that I could take the A train from home to an Islanders home game. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
The bigger question might be: will the NHL get its act together and start playing games again while some fans still care?
Spell. Check.
I moved off Long Island, so I’m certainly not going to fault the Islanders for doing so. Queens would’ve been so much better, but the city isn’t exactly moving swiftly with the Willets Point stuff so that was probably out.
Brooklyn is not as good as Queens, particularly from a North Jersey standpoint (meaning I have to park, because NJ Transit sucks) But when I was living in Long Island, absolutely I would’ve gone to more games in this scenario. So many more fans, and soon to be fans, living and working in/near the city versus out in Suffolk County. A lot of the people out there, and Nassau as well, were against advancement and growth with things like the Lighthouse Project that would’ve kept the Islanders around. They had their chance, and clearly represent a minority.
When they make the move I’ll catch a couple of games. I’m a casual hockey fan but live in Brooklyn, 8 minute train ride from Barclays.