Islanders Will Play Preseason Game In Brooklyn

Islanders Schedule Exhibition Game In Brooklyn

This morning the New York Islanders announced that they will be playing a pre-season game next year in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center. Currently being built, the new stadium is scheduled to be completed on September 28th of this year. The exhibition game will be played on October 2nd between the Islanders and Devils, and it will be the first sporting event held at the Barclays Center. The one billion dollar stadium only has a 14,500 seating capacity for hockey games which is 515 seats less than the smallest arena in the NHL, the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. Despite that, Barclays Center has made it clear that they would be extremely interested in having the Islanders play at their stadium. According to Brett Yormark, the Barclays Center CEO, the idea for the pre-season game was initiated by the arena management, and they think their stadium would be perfect for the Isles and their fans.

“We feel Brooklyn is an untapped hockey market that offers the Islanders with an exciting opportunity to grow its fan base,” Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark said. “Barclays Center will also afford current Islander fans with great accessibility, as the Long Island Rail Road and nine subway lines will come directly to the arena at the Atlantic Terminal transit hub.”

He concluded his comments by saying the following when discussing the October 2nd exhibition game.

"It will be good for the Islanders to see what playing in a state of the art venue feels like."

If that doesn't get Islanders fans intrigued in this latest development, nothing will. It seems as though the interest from both sides is legitimate unlike the Kansas City exhibition game in 2009 that was an obvious scare tactic. Islanders management seems to be very excited about the option of Brooklyn and with this news, its beginning to look like it may be one of the more realistic options as well. Isles GM Garth Snow, who rarely makes public statements, was willing to say a few words on the topic.

“We’re extremely excited to play the first NHL game in the new, state-of-the-art Barclays Center,” Garth Snow said.  “We already have some of the most passionate fans in the league supporting our young team, and we are looking forward to expanding our base into Brooklyn.” 

What I found interesting about Snow's statement is that he says "We're extremely excited to play the FIRST NHL game in the new, state-of-the-art Barclays Center", insinuating that there will be more NHL games to follow. I may be reading too much into this, but it definitely seems as though Brooklyn is becoming more and more active and likely while Nassau County is not making much progress. Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano didn't think Brooklyn was much of a threat as he had this to say:

 “I hope their experience in Brooklyn reaffirms why they should be playing hockey in Nassau County.”

It worries me that Nassau County doesn't appear to be taking this too seriously, but honestly right now it should comfort Isles fans to know that regardless of what happens there is enough interest in this area to keep the team very close by.