Islanders Fans Are Petitioning to Get the Franchise Back on Long Island
On January 30, Bloomberg (dot) com published a hack job article including the click bait title, “Brooklyn’s Barclays Center is Dumping the Islanders.” The title would leads us to believe that the New York Islanders will be without a home in the immediate future.
Upon further investigation, the article is littered with the words “if,” “can,” and “would.” Neither the team or Barclays Center have confirmed this story. Although this is clickbait at its finest, it does shed light on an issue that Islanders fans have been speaking about for a while.
The issue is that the Barclays Center STINKS on ice. The arena, built in 2012, was built for basketball and concerts. It is not equipped to house an NHL franchise.
Since its opening, fans and players have complained about seat availability and obstructed views. And for an inexplicable reason, an SUV is parked behind one of the end boards. Former players like Kyle Okposo can’t stop talking about the quality of the ice.
It is likely the Islanders will be looking for a new home sooner rather than later. Fans have already started a petition on this subject. The petition likely won’t make a change since the proposed arena, the Nassau Coliseum, only seats about 13,000 people after renovations (the Barclays Center holds 16,000). While likely futile, this petition shows new Isles’ owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin that their loyal fans reside on Long Island and would do anything to get their team back.
