The timing is odd for anyone to care by February about something trivial like this, but then again our fans did not get their own post-game show on Thursday because Msg changed their hockey show from Saturday to Thursday.
Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions here.
Please don't tell me after all these years of 3rd jersey games scheduled never changing, someone did not stand up, and demanded the Islanders wear their home jersey's for that second Ranger game out of nowhere with those big Islander logo's making their debut that night.
The Islanders & Devils eliminated the Gary Glitter goal song after fans went too far with the chants after it, the song came/went over the years at the Coliseum after singer's personal issues.
The infrequent chicken dance music at the Coliseum which was faded out around 2007, was gone for good after 2011.
And it's possible the NHL PC police asked it be stopped. After the all-star game fiasco with an enforcer, this league is more sterilized than ever, forbidding anyone to even speak under threats of fines/suspensions, and now trades?
What's also very possible is Yormark/his people were told by Msg/Dolan they do not want this played any longer at Barclay's. It was not like this music did not come to Barclay Center from the Nassau Coliseum or was played at games all season until a few games ago.
It would not shock me if Ratner/Yormark/Prokhorov made an agreement at some point before 2013-14 with Dolan as part of the Brooklyn spam campaign (to stay out of NYC) because in 2013 the Islanders preseason game at Barclay's was entirely ignored by Msg Network, even on social media.
After that our fans even got two preseason games televised at Barclay's in 2014/2015.
Before that we know how Dolan's reacted to that billboard in 2010, it was a flat-out war.
Historically the days of preseason games vs Rangers are long gone, despite the one Knick-Net preseason game at Coliseum.
Folks still do not get how much daily control Dolan/Msg/Newsday have over this franchise, and it's businesses.
If Dolan veto's the four regular season games at Coliseum, Mr Prokhorov/Ratner owe an extra million dollars per year for those lost games per their lease with Nassau County over ten years.
That's ten million dollars.
And Mr Yormark's testimony in 2013 (page 157-159) about "good citizen" Dolan's approval for Islanders four regular season games at a renovated Coliseum.
Good luck finding anything positive about the Coliseum renovation in a newspaper still owned (for now) by the losing bidder, who's editorial board/political reporters did a lot of creative editing omitting Dolan wanted more than Ratner in his bid from Nassau's own documentation as to why Dolan lost.
Am I going to tell you Bruce Ratner selling most of his Coliseum stake to Prokhorov is what Nassau signed up for in 2013? No, but it was never reported Dolan met with Nassau in 2013 anywhere.
Bottom Line:
#isles Don't put song elimination on @brettyormark great chance Dolan/Msg demanded it be stopped & he cannot blame them or big consequences.— NYI Fan Central (@nyifancentral) February 13, 2016
And sorry to write as usual making an enemy of the Dolan family in New York is not a good idea if you want a career in entertainment, marketing, booking events, sports business.#isles Dolan owns pregame/postgame +2 hide games. Joke Newsday writers + can veto future games at Coliseum with NHL + #bst future home.— NYI Fan Central (@nyifancentral) February 13, 2016
Christopher (Chris) Botta praised the Rangers/Msg non-stop (after ripping them for years with Islanders) and all that positive spin (while becoming an Islander watchdog about every facet of their business/never Rangers beyond reprinting their press releases) finally landed him his job with them in 2014. Jim Cerney before that.
If Mr Prokhorov is in short-term with Barclay's/Nets, there is a good chance the next owner will want his own CEO, which means Mr Yormark, Barry Baum, and most of people running this facility with AEG (and for now the renovated Nassau Coliseum) will be looking for work elsewhere so making an enemy of Msg, and their media reach is not good for the resume.
And there is the Sound Tigers issue.
Many Ct writers love writing Fairfield is Ranger country so a natural fit for the Wolfpack relocation to Wang's operated arena in 2017-18 which is comical with no evidence of this because the Bruins packed Webster Bank Arena for preseason vs Islanders, while Rangers AHL team drew 1,100 there as home team for 2012 playoff game because their rink was not available.
Once Altice takes most of Dolan's media wing (Newsday, News12LI/AMNY) there is always Rupert Murdoch's NY Post, which has a stake in Msg/teams, and the NHL employees who used to work at Daily News or for the Rangers outright, and plenty of NBC employees with NY ties to Msg or past Dick Ebersol people.
Brett Yormark is not going to blame the Dolan's if they demanded the music be eliminated, he cannot if they did nor do I believe he's going to blame the NHL.
If it's put back in we know this was another mistake by him/his staff which they have done often or he asked whoever wanted it changed for a favor to get the fans off his back again.
All I'm writing is he may have been asked to have this dropped from the game program, sure maybe someone from Prokhorov's people getting more involved in arena operations requested the change?