Monthly Archives: July 2011
11:00 am: The day has almost arrived. Victory on Monday means the process continues to keep the Islanders in Nassau and develop a new arena. If there is defeat, how could the Islanders get off the mat after the community tells the team that not enough people care to keep it here?
Here is our Plus/Minus look back at the weeks leading up to the Aug. 1 referendum on a new arena for Nassau County and on the future of the New York Islanders, followed by a prediction and some final thoughts.
Plus: Charles Wang has made it fairly clear that, “There is no Plan B” and the Islanders “will need somewhere to play” if Monday’s referendum fails or the deal is not later approved by NIFA and Nassau Legislature. His appearances on WFAN and local television stations were effective. Wang was well-prepared and he came off as a good person sincerely dedicated to Long Island.
Minus: To guarantee a big victory on Monday, Wang should have been even bolder and tougher about the Islanders playing somewhere else besides Nassau as soon as possible if NO wins. As crazy as this may sound to some who have followed this saga daily, there are still plenty of people who do not grasp how important Monday is.
Plus: Wang and Ed Mangano are hosting an election night-type reception at the Coliseum on Monday night starting at 8:30. It’s not over-confidence, but a way to thank supporters, volunteers and employees. For the media, the event will also serve as an ideal backdrop – win or lose.
Minus: Point Blank has learned that Billy Joel, who cashed in at the Coliseum for more than a generation, has so far decided to not be involved in the new arena issue because he was concerned about the “controversy.” In the last twenty years – unlike contemporaries such as Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Jackson Browne, Joel has not produced any new rock music. He has not taken a stand on anything except repackaging his greatest hits and making a fortune playing nostalgia concerts. Hey Piano Man, grow a pair.
Plus: The support from Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils was well-done.
Minus: Ed Westfall, Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier, Pat LaFontaine, Patrick Flatley, Kenny Jonsson, Bill Torrey, Al Arbour, Michael Peca, John Tavares…by the looks of it, the Islanders chose to not invite them to get involved. But Ty Wishart, in town for the week, spoke at the rally. You don’t think gentlemen like Torrey and Arbour would not make an impact with older, possibly lapsed Islanders fans? Should the Edmonton Oilers need support, can you envision them not enlisting Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Taylor Hall?
Plus: Newsday‘s lead editorial giving a very big thumbs up to voting YES was well-written, balanced, informed and perfectly timed.
Minus: The paper’s fair account of the likelihood of commercial taxes rising with a new arena awoke some deal critics who probably weren’t inspired enough to vote NO on Monday, but are now motivated. (Again, with Newsday, do not shoot the messenger).
Plus: Giving voters a taste of what the proposed arena would look like – see Sunday’s Newsday – was a good idea.
Minus: Desmond Ryan of the developers’ group Association For A Better Long Island surprisingly never effectively proved any points. He came off like an annoying hockey blogger constantly jabbing at a general manager about a minor trade. Ryan’s not a bad guy, but he did not serve his partners well. I guess we’ll see on Monday if he had any impact.
Minus: Jay Jacobs. Wow.
Minus: Kate Murray, puppet.
Plus: You can disagree with their views, but Nassau Legislature members such as Wayne Wink and Kevan Abrahams have been respectful in their criticism of the arena deal.
Minus: You can agree with his views, but Republican Majority presiding officer Peter Schmitt managed to come across as an ignoramous on the Wangano deal this month after playing a role in blowing up the Lighthouse Project a few years ago. Quite a feat, sir.
Plus: Islanders fans – including the fiercest critics of Wang and non-believers in the team’s slow and steady rebuilding program – put aside the hockey talk to get behind this arena deal. The Islanders are lucky to have them. Understand this: more than any other group, including the unions, the organization is counting on Islanders fans to be at the polls on Monday.
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Prediction: YES will win. The decision to hold the referendum on Aug. 1 continues to be key. YES will win because Islanders fans will not only show up to vote in the affirmative, but the majority of them will convince friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers to join them.
I do not share the high level of faith in union members that the Islanders and Mangano’s staff appear to have. Many care, but from the half-hearted “passion” I saw at the rally on Wednesday and what I have witnessed over the last several years of this process, I would not count on a massive display of support at the polls.
As much as the insecure members of Islanders Country wanted to make this about more than the team and also about concerts, family shows, trade shows, exhibitions and…sorry, I fell asleep there for a bit…in the end this vote is about the future of the New York Islanders. The Islanders are the primary tenant and most important occupant by far. Wang is in this position because he owns the Islanders. Lou Lamoriello, Glen Sather and Gary Bettman have released statements of support because they are partners in the National Hockey League. Have Jay-Z, Joel or even one popular musician? Disney on Ice? Ringling Brothers?
Of course not.
I will estimate that less than 10% of the Nassau residents who vote YES on Monday will be a) not Islanders fans or b) not encouraged to vote by an Islanders fan or – to a far lesser extent – by a member of the supporting unions.
YES will win, but will it be enough for smooth approvals by NIFA and in the legislature? Of course not.
On Monday, it will be about the final results. Tuesday will be about turnout.
The successful referendum will be a cause for celebration at the Wang and Mangano party on Monday night, but I believe the opposition – led by the Democrats – will sink their teeth into the voter turnout numbers by the following morning.
There are approximately 900,000 registered voters in Nassau County. For all of the front-page stories in Newsday, are enough residents engaged in this issue to take a few minutes between 6:00 am and 9:00 pm on Monday to vote? It certainly doesn’t feel like enough are.
If voter turnout is weak, NIFA will view the results as meaningless. The Democrats will say they learned little about what their constituents truly want. Negotiations on the arena deal will re-start, and then it will be up to whether Wang has any more patience, whether Wang wants to bend some more. If you really want to make a difference on Monday, just voting YES is probably not good enough. Bring 100 or so of your registered friends.
Because, consider this. There is a lot of tough talk here and elsewhere by Islanders fans and union leaders about voting politicians out of office. If there isn’t enough support to win a vote, purposefully set for a Monday in August to give the referendum the best chance to win, how can anyone possibly think they have enough influence to impact a November election?
Comments welcomed. Good luck on Monday, everyone.
4:10 pm: SNY Point Blank has learned that the Islanders will release visuals of the proposed new arena prior to the Aug. 1 “Election Day.” My educated guess: Sunday’s Newsday. Newsday has also just published the major thumbs-up lead editorial I mentioned a few days ago.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has released the following statement to Islanders Point Blank:
“The Islanders’ goal is to stay on Long Island, playing in an arena which they – and the Nassau County community – can be proud to call home. The National Hockey League enthusiastically supports the Islanders’ pursuit of that objective and encourages all to vote ‘Yes’ on August 1.
“A new arena will power the engines that are essential to economic growth while also ensuring the enduring connection of Long Island’s only professional sports franchise with its loyal fans. Plainly, the Islanders’ long-term future in Nassau County beyond 2015 hangs in the balance.”
9:45 am: So there can be no misunderstanding, Charles Wang’s representatives this week included an amendment in the lease agreement with Nassau County. The county retains all development rights to the property beyond any potential new arena. The Islanders do not have the development rights. If there is any development, a parking garage for event attendees must be part of it.
This is worth repeating: Charles Wang and the Islanders do not have any development rights outside of the scope of a prospective new arena.
“The fact is, we never had development rights,” Islanders senior VP Michael Picker told Point Blank this morning. “This amendment just makes it explicitly clear.”
Asked if the amendment will satisfy the Association For A Better Long Island, the developers’ group adamantly opposed to Wang’s deal with Edward Mangano for a new arena, Picker declined to comment.
But another source close to the arena deal offered little hope that the changes will appease the opposition: “Nothing will satisfy ABLI.”
Comments?
9:10 pm: Jay Jacobs, the New York State Democratic Committee Chairman, is trying his best to get off the ground after his Jerry Lewis-like performance on WFAN on Tuesday. (Hey, a lot of people stumble in their first talks with Mike Francesa – just on less-important topics). Jacobs has been sending letters out to Nassau residents, registered Democrats and Islanders fans that have contacted him. Point Blank has received a copy of one of his letters.
What is notable about Jacobs’ efforts is not that he is taking the time to do this, or even whether any of his ideas have merit. The letter, however, does give observers a strong indication of what the Charles Wang – Edward Mangano deal is up against even after Monday’s referendum. Here’s the letter, unedited…
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From Jay Jacobs: July 28, 2011
We all want a new Coliseum. We all want to keep the Islanders. We all want to see more jobs and ensure that Nassau County grows and prospers. Charles Wang’s latest Coliseum plan – shifting the cost, debt and guarantees to Nassau taxpayers is just, in simple terms, a bad deal.
There have been a host of studies, statistics and numbers thrown about, revised and then re-revised. The bottom line is simple: If the deal is as good as Charles Wang and County Executive Ed Mangano are telling us in their sales pitch, then why isn’t Charles Wang borrowing the money himself?
And that’s the simple answer to the whole problem. Nassau County should sell the Coliseum property to Charles Wang. The County should retain the remainder of the 77-acre site for future development. Until the development is finalized and approved, the Coliseum would have use of the land for parking. A part of any development deal would require the expenditure of $135 million to build the 6800 space multi-story parking lot, freeing up the remaining land.
With Wang as the owner of the site, he is then free to build the Coliseum he wants. He would own the asset and could sell it if he chooses – with or without the team. So, how would he pay for it? The way everyone else who buys a home or a business does. He would put down 25% of the total price and go to a bank for the rest – preferably Long Island-based banks.
Assuming the construction costs of $350 million, the costs of borrowing and some payment to the County for the value of the land (as a requirement of the purchase the existing building would be demolished so it should have no value in the transaction), the total package would be $400 million. Wang would have to come up with $100 million in cash.
Without a billionaire’s money, Wang could fund it himself, put together an investment group or combine those ideas with the use of PSLs for ticket-holders similar to what the Jets and the Giants did to help construct their stadium. Now, PSLs are unpopular because no ticket holder wants to pay them. I’m a Giants season ticket holder and I didn’t like it either. I also recognize that the NHL is not the NFL. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have a PSL program. It means you can’t charge anywhere near what the Jets or the Giants charged for their season ticket holder seats.
As an example: where the low-end PSL for Giants seats was $5000, if the Islanders charged $5000 a seat for their BEST seats and just $1500 for their least desirable seats, they could bring in between $25 and $50 million for the 17,500 seats and 51 luxury boxes. The PSLs could be paid in installments over 3 years and PSL holders could be offered discounts on non-Islander events held at the new Coliseum. Paid over 3 years, with 41 games, an Islander ticket-holder would pay about $12 more per seat per game for just 3 years – and they would have the PSL asset to sell once they give up their seats – hopefully at a profit depending upon the team’s performance.
While Islander ticket-holders will howl about paying anything, my question to them is: if you won’t chip in to help pay for your seat at a new Coliseum, why should Nassau taxpayers who don’t even sit in the seat do so?
And my question to Charles Wang is: If your projections are on target and you are so confident of the revenue, why don’t you back the investment with your money and get private banks to lend you the rest?
Under this plan, the Nassau taxpayer is off the hook, we don’t get encumbered by another $400 million in debt AND we keep the remainder of the 77-acre site open and available for future development around a brand new Coliseum. There are “many ways to skin a cat.” Let’s find the right one and VOTE NO on this Referendum.
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Point Blank has invited the Islanders organization to respond to Jacobs’ letter. If the team sends back a reaction, we will post it on Friday.
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Finally, consider this our July thank you to Islanders Country for the amazing feedback and support throughout this offseason. It’s been crazy ’round here. I am personally indebted to all of you and humbled by your readership and participation in the Comments thread and on Twitter. You are one of the most passionate and dedicated fanbases in the world of sports. Thank you…CB
Comments on this are encouraged. Hockey talk continues in next thread. Don’t miss our “Point Blank at the Rally” Emmy-winner below in the post after that.
7:00 pm: This is what SNY Point Blank has been told this evening. Another hockey move is on the way. For what it’s worth, we were also told that we’re going to like this one. In our view, it’s the only way spending $3 million on Brian Rolston instead of somebody younger and better makes sense. Comments?
You’ll see that my three sons look concerned about this arena issue. Is their concern justified?
Notes: Expect a very well-timed endorsement from the lead editorial writers of Newsday in Sunday’s editions.
Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather released a statement today urging all Rangers and Nassau hockey fans to vote YES on Monday.
The PR rep for the Association For A Better Long Island is Gary Lewi, who only happens to be the best person on Long Island at what he does and has been doing it for a long time. The ABLI’s budget may be miniscule compared to the Islanders’, but don’t under-estimate Lewi’s talents and connections.
The Islanders organization is not bursting with confidence about Monday’s referendum, worried about what they perceive as a campaign of misinformation by the opposition. Do you think the Islanders should be worried?
I’ll have one last column on how this referendum plays out soon.
Referendum comments are welcomed here. Hockey talk continues below.
