The New York Islanders have somewhat of a unique problem brought on by their legendary iconic logo.
The team represents all of New York/Tri State Area. It always has so the name New York Islanders cannot change. 1996 management logo disaster notwithstanding.
They are only one of two teams in New York/New Jersey with a logo that reflects a territory or an area of land.
The Mets logo shows a bridge and the background of Manhattan skyscrapers where they did play in 1962 at the Polo Grounds as an expansion team. It has nothing to do with Queens County since 1964.
Depending on how you see things the Islander logo requires a slight tweak to include the entire region which should also now include Manhattan if you care about being logistically correct.
Hypocrisy Vs Status Quo:
Nothing new.
We have two New Jersey football teams calling themselves New York since 1976/1984, with a media/league completely on board with that hypocrisy. The politicians wake up come parade time or when New Jersey is awarded a Superbowl.
Mayor Koch, who did not know Msg was getting a permanent tax exemption in 1982 in this 2002 interview got it right on the New Jersey Giants 1986 parade in Moonachie, N.J. which this week was underwater.
The Giants when they first relocated removed the NY from the helmet, going with Giants, that sensitivity has long since gone out the window with no semblance of pretense.
The New York Cosmos never changed names to New Jersey after settling in the Meadowlands, with a long history of being orphans from Long Island to Yankee/Shea Stadium to Randalls Island, back to the Coliseum as an indoor team before the brand folded to the current day with the North American Soccer League.
The New York/New Jersey Metro Stars, a franchise that has never played one game in New York, re-branded as the New York Red Bull in a taxpayer funded New Jersey stadium after they left the former Giants Stadium (1976 New Jersey taxpayer bonded) Meadowlands where the bonds were forgiven before it's demolition.
Dolan's WNBA NY Liberty, currently plays in New Jersey, but has Fox Woods Casino on the uniform as to what area they represent?
The other teams whether it be the Bronx Yankees, Manhattan Knicks/Rangers never had logo's that reflected a specific region.
The Nets since leaving the Coliseum as an ABA champion, were all over the map in name/logo whether it be Piscataway, Meadowlands, Prudential Center with New York/New Jersey on several versions, now Brooklyn which is ridiculous because the other teams do not call themselves by borough, and 1955 was a long time ago.
The Devils have consistently stayed New Jersey since day one, despite sharing a parking lot at the Meadowlands with all this team/media hypocrisy.
Yes, the media got far more honest about what state teams represented when the Nets/Devils went to their respective finals in the same year for about a week.
The New York Islanders Moving Forward:
Is this a big deal? No, because the Islanders can create tons of secondary uniform merchandising to represent any borough or community from New Jersey to Albany, to Montauk which is the true historic influence of the tri-state area fan base.
The Islanders current team store at the Coliseum has merchandise that has Long Island, New York.
Wang made his Long Island only bed far too often for the Lighthouse/Referendum as he discussed in 2011 his ticket demographics coming from inside the city limits which he did again last week. Wang's predecessor's also played the Long Island card, which many Ranger media fans made sure to keep them firmly in, despite the generations of fans who saw this team on channel 9, and considered them New York, and went in big numbers to Msg/New Jersey.
Wang's eventual successor may have his own concept of branding. Mike Bossy said it best for me when he spoke to Wang about his retired number.
A team with this legendary tradition cannot change what it represents, the greatest US dynasty in NHL history, the only pro team to win nineteen straight playoff series, the only Championship Tradition New York has ever known.
Arguably the greatest dynasty in NHL history.
Does it matter what professional media believe? No, simply because they have not been consistent in applying the same standards for all the teams.
Correct means a publication has to write the truth, even if the team does not want that branding perception and it may cost that paper ad dollars which is how this game always plays out so it becomes politically correct for that media companies bottom line.
Newspapers cannot afford to lose teams $$ support so they will call them what they are told by the team.
We all know the New York Islanders have the worst professional media of any team in North America, so the hypocrisy coverage standards (what saves x paper money) are part of this story.
That problem will continue in Brooklyn.
Notables:
What do you want me to write about Al D'Amato, politicians that was not on my twitter feed or in past entries?
If the New York Nassau County referendum was in the South Bronx (pick a New York/New Jersey team) it would have received far less than forty three percent.
The will of the people card gave every politician their out.
NYC Marathon NO. (completely agree with cancellation)
Cablevision
needs it's opening night renovation fund payday local resources
diverted notwithstanding (good for NYC healing spin) so papers who need
82 (not one yearly race) Knick games get on board with propaganda.
What Charles Wang is doing in Bridgeport (free tickets/two games) is a diversion.
Dolan giving back 500k of his 11m tax exemption from NYC is something else, despite his papers rhetoric.
Would
have been fun if Bloomberg called off the Dolan's party with the
Marathon. (West Side Stadium Shelly Silver for Mr Bloomberg on line two urgent)
