Bettman/Dolan End Game On New York

New York Islander Fan Central | 4/23/2012 06:22:00 PM |
You asked so here is our response.

I put no little to no stock in Gary Bettman's comments to the AP because it was not an Islander centric interview, however it's not the first time he has come off as completely opposed to the Islanders staying where they are or relocating to Brooklyn.  

Gary Bettman has an endgame, make sure every franchise generates as much revenue as possible, he either does that or the owners will decide on a new commissioner to fill his position. Any franchise always at the bottom in attendance, not generating a lot of revenue is not good for his resume.

I'm not convinced Bettman speaks entirely for Charles Wang, who despite all the conflicting headlines after 2015 will still own a hotel next to the Nassau Coliseum he spent ninety million dollars for (with Scott Rechler in 2005) after he bought out Rechler's interest in 2010.  

Bettman did not call out older facilities earlier in his tenure or repeatedly say the league will not stay one minute longer than a lease in Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, Edmonton, Msg, Pittsburgh with many of those outdated facilities much older than the forty year old Nassau Coliseum. 

Given the last time the Isles were a playoff team, and Msg historically has thousands of Islander fans at games when they play in Manhattan (as well as New Jersey) it's obvious the New York Islanders are as much  New York City as the Yankees so Mr Bettman can give the LI-Queens fan-base issue a rest unless he wants to call out who owns the television/newspaper coverage for doing all they can to limit the fan-base which drives any teams ability to generate revenue?

Charles Wang said last year before the referendum on WFAN about thirty/forty percent of the season ticket base is not from Nassau County, which this blog discussed here.

7/26/11 WFAN Interview 2:30  Wang discussing where season ticket base comes from.

If Mr Bettman needs to make more revenue for the people who employ him, he should start by demanding more coverage for the New York Islanders. That starts in Dolan's Newspaper, on his network, along with the city newspapers, who also are doing all they can do save money on Islander coverage permanently.
   
The Daily News even botched the headline for a team they rarely cover.
Brooklyn may not be viable destination for New York Islanders.
Brooklyn not viable destination for Islanders

******************************
Dolan's endgame has never changed. 

Get out of paying close to three hundred million dollars in future cable contract money until 2030, expand their own teams brand officially into Nassau County, perhaps gain control of another sports/entertainment property with all the money saved.

That's why hockey games do not get the front page (or the back-page) for this team, and it's covered extremely poorly, but if something happens to sell what benefits Cablevision/Dolan/Msg, you can bet it will receive inflated headlines, even when Bettman's comments are nothing new.

That's why Bettman's comments are on the front-page of Dolan's newspaper.

Updated:
Dolan's paper on 4/23 also provided room for an editorial by James Darcy, who serves on the Hempstead Town Council praising Kate Murray's Town Of Hempstead for rushing the process, while blaming the developers for the Lighthouse, and that the NHL owners should pay for a new arena, ignoring how every other NY/NJ team had their facilities financed by taxpayers.

Mr Darcy is on team Kate Murray according to his website.

Darcy would also be the person long ago who said the Lighthouse EIS was too long.

He supported a referendum vote, but had a cryptic answer on the information process in 2011.
***************
NYIFC Comments:
I guess George Marlin of NIFA was not available for another Dolan exclusive.