Kansas City: Bargaining Chip Again?

[T-post Tom]

News of preseason game in KC worries Isles fans
BY KATIE STRANG | [email protected]


Scott Spagnola, Matt Buck and Glen Masciello have been talking about opening an Asian Fusion restaurant for six months now. As diehard Islanders fans, they thought it would be a great idea to open it in the area of the Lighthouse Project, pending its construction.

Now the three friends fear that might not be an option.

Yesterday, the Islanders announced they will play an exhibition game in Kansas City in September. General manager Garth Snow said the locale is "just another city," but fans are aware that city has been rumored as a destination if an NHL team decides to relocate. And that has lots of fans worried.

"What is Nassau and Suffolk County going to have left?" Masciello, 31, of Lynbrook asked, pointing out that the Jets already have abandoned Long Island.

The trio agreed that owner Charles Wang has been polite despite the lack of progress in developing a new facility for the team but that this might be a move toward exerting more pressure on county officials to break ground on the Lighthouse Project.

"As quiet as Wang has been, this could be a side-door pressure tactic," Spagnola said. "Although I'd rather see him stomping around out here about it in his underwear instead."

Chris Boyce, 24, of Babylon, also believes this could be an attempt to expedite a new arena. "Honestly, I think it's a thinly veiled threat at this point, that they will move from here if we don't start developing now," Boyce said.

That makes Boyce, who has attended between 20 and 25 games a year since he was 6, nervous that the team could pack up. "I'm scared," Boyce said. "It worries me that if we can't get a shovel in the ground this summer, this team is gonna move, and I don't even know if Kansas City can hold a franchise."

When asked how they'd feel if the Islanders did move to another city, Marilou, 52, and Jen Christian, 29, of North Bellmore, responded in unison. "Devastated," they said.

"We are Long Islanders," Jen said, "and that's what this team is."

Marilou Christian said, however, that the team needs more than just a new facility. "I think they need a new stadium," she said, "but I think they need a new team on the ice, too."

Whether this is a political power play or not, many fans are worried that the team is in danger of leaving Long Island.

"That would be awful," said Robert Maurer, 37, of Hicksville, who grew up during the Islanders' dynasty years. "They've got to get the Lighthouse Project or else I can see them leaving."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey...,6267342.story