Nassau County Voters Reject New Islanders Arena
Yesterday, Nassau County voters rejected a referendum to authorize $400 million for a new Islanders arena, a minor league ballpark and other economic development projects in the 77-acre Nassau hub area according to Newsday.Shortly before midnight, County Executive Edward P. Mangano and Islanders owner Charles Wang conceded that the referendum was headed for failure. With 823 of 1,160 precincts reporting, the "yes" vote was 44,839 and the "no" vote, 60,228, elections officials said.
Wang has said the team will leave when its lease expires in 2015 if a new arena is not built. "I want to push this thing through," he said. ". . . I've got to get this thing built. If not, let's go on."
...asking cash strapped Nassau County residents to take on an additional tax burden to build a new Coliseum was obviously too much for them to take. Especially in this economy. County Executive Managano says he has a plan B so the Islanders may still have a chance of staying on Long Island.
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Good for Nassau County. It isn't surprising in this economic climate that they wouldn't allow a BILLIONAIRE to essentially steal from them.
There was so much misinformation being thrown around through all of this. The biggest being the $400 million price tag. With debt service, because we all know lent money isn't free money, the total paid back by the county after all was said and done would have been closer to $800 million.
With that said, of course any hockey fan, myself included, would hope that the Isles stay close by, but Wangs been losing money with this team for a long time...
I doubt the fishsticks are going anywhere. Wang is in the real estate business not the hockey business, he's even said so himself. He was just using the team as leverage to get his real estate project built so he could make buckets of money.I can't see him moving a hockey team to make money in real estate. I think he'll sell them before the lease is up and then go on being a real estate mogul.
@Isleshockeyblog Sorry that it didn't go your way last night man. They'll get something done. I think.
