NYI Own All NHL Territorial Rights To Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk

New York Islander Fan Central | 7/26/2013 11:20:00 PM |
The New York Islanders paid a four million dollar territorial rights fees to join the NHL in 1972. In 1986 an amendment was added to include Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk.

This means no other NHL team can move into that territory for the same reason Bruce Ratner could not construct an arena in Manhattan then decide to move the Nets there.

Whether the Islanders play in the Barclay's Center,  Nassau Coliseum, or if a faclity was agreed to in Queens or Suffolk does not change this.

Of course it would be fun to see Ratner win the rights to construct a new Penn Station, and a New York Islander Live Zone on Msg IV grave in ten years, but that's for another time. 

Obviously territorial rights do not apply to the AHL, as we'll learn soon enough. 

The Knicks do have territorial rights on Long Island as of 2001 unless Alan Hahn got it wrong because the Nets were the host preseason team against the Knicks at the Coliseum the day the Islanders announced their move to Brooklyn. 

The Nets had to pay Msg four million dollars twice, once to join the NBA at Nassau Coliseum, then another four million to move into New Jersey with lawsuits flying here.

In 1996 Dolan needed Nets approval to become sole owner of the Knicks, so he signed away the territorial rights to Brooklyn here which is how the Barclay's center became a reality. 

The Devils had to pay the Islanders, and Flyers territorial rights fees to move from Colorado to New Jersey here, that meant when the Devils relocated to Newark from East Rutherford they did not have to pay another team for moving inside their established territory because they had already done so.

Bottom line it's the New York Islanders in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Brooklyn. No other NHL team can play a regular season NHL game there unless the Islanders leave the area entirely, and sign away the territorial rights.
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Is there one paper/editorial in NYC willing to report all that taxpayer exemption money Msg has received since 1982 to go with the 200m for the 1990 Msg renovation is why Dolan renovated to keep that 16.5 million dollar growing check coming in perpetuity each year because even moving across the street meant the exemption was forfeit?

I guess those publications need their Msg ad money. 

I bet all that taxpayer revenue could have created a lot more full time jobs in New York City, and revenue for NYC than a sporting event.

Of course Charles Wang & his predecessors did not get a check every year from Nassau County for owning the New York Islanders. Our teams owners got no revenue from parking, concessions, had to give up eleven percent of it's ticket sales, and forty percent of it's advertising revenue to Smg, plus pay Nassau County rent while Wang renovated an arena he did not own, ending all past litigation with Smg from the time he became co-owner. 

Then Wang got the added privilege of spending his own money to replace scoreboards, add matrix boards, weight rooms that flooded, update the lockeroom/players area, with his share of 20m/over 200 meetings with Scott Rechler for the Lighthouse.

Smg in Dec 2009 gave Wang the added privilege of spending another 17m of his money (3.5m through 2015) to finally get his ticket money, parking, concessions, and advertising.

Many wrote that was a free gift.