Reply #113: Really?

[inthebrain]

That's why they have to charge so much less and couldn't sell out an 11,000 seat arena in their innaugural.

Long Island is not a city. And, guess what!!! A lot of Islanders fans commute from NYC to go to the game. Many of them fighting through miles of gridlock traffic to get there. Also a lot of em are from Suffolk county.

The Islanders are not a city team, they are a regional team. Uniondale is not a major city.

And so now your positing that it is "cheap" to live on Long Island. Now that's freakin ridiculous. In comparison to the Sharks ticket prices, on ice performance the last ten years, the Isles draw better.

The Islanders are not a team that draws a lot of suits. These are working class folks going to games. Many of em work in contruction, highway department, Teachers. Grumman was the number one employer on Long Island for many years and the loss of that company meant thousands of people out of work.

The situtation on Long Island economically is not that far off from what you see happening in Detroit.

BTW; you can thank many of these so called "undedicated Islanders fans" for padding the Bruins attendance stats over the years. On the three nights a year they played here the BanknorthGarden was 1/3 Islanders fans. Same with the fans who also traveled from Buffalo, Toronto and Montreal.

And it's not like you were a lottery team. Your ticket prices are comparable to the Islander with better on ice results. You also get you share of corporate ticket sales (something the Isles don't really benefit from)

And your looking at a season where the previous owner went to prison for lying about his worth. The current owners fire saled the franchise to get the payroll under 10 mill. Meanwhile you Boston fans were bitching about Jeremy Jacobs?

You wouldn't draw that well in simialar circumstances in Boston. The situation with the Pats before 93 was nowhere near as bad. Nor at any point with Jeremy Jacobs as owner.

The Isles had 7 sell outs this year. COUNT EM!!! 7 in year they were dead last in the NHL with ticket prices averaging 50 bucks a pop.