Barclays Center ~ Of Lock-Outs and Long Islanders

From the desk of:  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH




BROOKLYN ~ Will Barclays Center Be Home For Two Professional Franchises?

Not if the NBA doesn't get back to work!  So, don't blow this move for me!

...And the New York Islanders need to figure out their situation first.


There's a Lock-Out?  Then it's being met with a whole lot of apathy and a tinge of complacency because I'm not hearing about it much.....; from anybody.  So while the NBA and it's member clubs fade from existence due to their labor short circuit, talk about a possible relocation of the New York Islanders and bringing NHL Hockey to Brooklyn continues to pick-up steam. 



Early, during the inaugural construction phases of Barclays Center; the subject of the Islanders finding a new home in Brooklyn's arena was always left open however as a remote, and unlikely possibility.  Barclays Center officials and Nets CEO Brett Yormark put more effort into explaining why it wasn't the best venue for Hockey because of the limited seating capacity after reconfiguring the floor space.  And no; ideally and theoretically; 14,500 seats is not the best NYC can do for a professional Hockey franchise.  But right now, after Nassau County voted against their own new arena proposal, Brooklyn is unofficially the best option the Islanders have at the moment.



And the tune in Brooklyn seems to be changing.  We hear Bruce Ratner let it be known he's agreeable to the idea.  Now all of a sudden, 14,500 seats seems to be OK as far as Nets' CEO Brett Yormark and apparently NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman are concerned too.  But all this remains in the realm of scuttlebutt.  Anything on the matter is purely speculative on the part of everyone.  The Islanders still have a lease in Nassau County for a few more fading years.  So Brooklyn isn't a terribly pressing matter in the Islanders' plight right now.


But this construction site IS due to deliver it's (mostly) completed product by the summer of 2012; right around the time this already distressed up-coming NBA season, which is in jeopardy of ever kicking-off, should be ending.  The last I understood, Barclays Center was set to kick-off events in June or July 2012, before the grand opening of the Brooklyn Nets inaugural season in the Borough later that year.  So entertainment wise, let's just set the Barclays' Clock at T - Minus Ten Months. 


Then, as far as Brooklyn; making history; the NBA; and it's Players; they have one year to figure out a deal.  Get a deal done before the Nets are due to open in Brooklyn.  That's the only thing that concerns me at this point.


I'm going to be honest - The fact that this Lock-Out and the date when the first season in Brooklyn is due to kick-off are happening so close to each other is frightening to me.  It's bad friggin' karma.


....As if getting this arena wasn't hard enough to get started in the first place.  Now this.

BARCLAYS CENTER:
Construction; September 2011

T - Minus Ten Months.

NBA ~ You Got One Year!

Mike.BTB