NYI first team to Relocate...

Today at 1pm the New York Islanders will announce their move at the end of the 2014-2015 season to begin the 2015-2016 season from the Nassau Colosseum to downtown Brookline, NY at the Barclay's Center (already the new home of the Nets - NBA).

This marks the first official movement of a much needed change for 1 of the 3 franchises that require relocation in the next 3-6yrs. The Edmonton Oilers are rumored to move to Seattle. The Phoenix Coyotes would be next on the table rumored to move to Hamilton, ON or placing a 2nd team in Toronto, ON The NYI's to the Barclay's Center makes sense for 3 major reason. First being that they were no longer wanted in that community on long island. The city voted the continued lease of the team down multiple times in the past 3yrs and ticket sales were down. Second being ticket sales, the Barclay's Center only holds about 14,000 capacity for hockey and will allow the Islanders to better price and maximize the capacity of a smaller venue (same model that the Atlanta Thrashers used when moving to Winnipeg). These smaller teams need to make these types of moves and as a fan of the game in general this is the right move (let's just hope that area can support 2 teams). Third reason this makes sense is because of the location. New Yorkers didn't want to travel across to Long Island or take the longer train commute. They will maintain their die-hard fans by staying within range for the true fans of the franchise, and will gain a new fan basis, which the league has continued to emphasize. They will get all the help they can get, and if it doesn't work here, then there are more problems than the Islanders can fix themselves...