Is NYI Iron-Clad Lease At Barclay's With "Someone" Really Binding?

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/21/2014 07:15:00 AM |
Let's be clear very about this, we have no idea who Charles Wang signed that 25 year iron-clad lease with which he said closed around 7am before that press conference. Bruce Ratner being there does not make this one hundred percent with him because he does not fully own the facility. 

In Nassau it was very simple, the Islanders lease was with the county, we saw how hard they fought to enforce it against Howard Milstein.

Nassau County cannot be sold/moved. (insert joke)
Nassau's had it's lease with Smg to operate the building until 2015, and the Isles 1985 agreement with Smg were both basically iron-clad despite all the rhetoric about condemning or buying it out. All Wang could do is get a sublease done with Smg which required Nassau approval & met Mangano criticism because Tom Suozzi made the agreement in the final days of his administration.

And of course when the schedule is released 6/22/14, we will know the final forty two days the New York Islanders will ever play at the Coliseum full time. 

So Who Is This Iron Clad Lease With?
 Bruce Ratner owns 55 percent of Barclays Center. Russian industrial magnate Mikhail Prokhorov owns 45 percent of Barclays Center at this time.

Both are/have sold/bought Nets ownership shares. Ratner has sold off his stake in Nets, while Prokhrov wants to transfer basketball operations to Russia with stakes he's acquired from Ratner.

Onexim Sports and Entertainment
Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holding USA, Inc., a new company established by Mikhail Prokhorov, closed on the agreement for the purchase of an 80% stake in the capital of the Nets basketball club and a 45% share in the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn on May 12, 2010.

Jay Z owned a little less than one-fifth of one percent of the venue, a stake that's currently valued at about $1.5 million.

If They Sell Their Shares In The Facility, What Becomes Of The Islanders Lease?
Good question, impossible to know the language of the terms. If their stakes in the Barclay's Center are sold all leases likely transfer to who new buyer and become binding on them, same for Wang's successor's as owner when that day comes. 

But again, we don't know when it's no longer binding. 
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Comment: 
Outside of  Charles Wang's statement on the teams website, nothing from the credible professional media has been release on any possible sale of this team to anyone.