Wang and Kumar go to Long Island

So I read an article today that Islanders owner Charles Wang regrets buying the NHL franchise nine years ago. Wang, a local boy made good, along with his partner Sanjay Kumar shelled out $170 million for the team in 2000 and has spent an additional $208 million out of his own pocket since then (a loss of 23 million dollars per season). If I had the money and could keep the team I grew up with from skipping town, I’d be hard pressed not to step in. But could I honestly say I know how to run a sports franchise? Who would I bring in to run operations for me? If it were a basketball franchise, I’d have to give Bill Simmons his shot, but in other sports, I haven’t really thought about it.

Wang says he knew going in that he was going to lose some money, but given another chance, “I wouldn’t do it again.” Bill Daly, NHL Deputy Commissioner, and Wang have both pointed to the need for a new arena as the Achilles’ heel of the Islanders. Thankfully, they aren’t counting on tax payer money to fund the project, but Wang is still held up in bureaucratic red tape in building the new arena himself. I’m just tired of hearing owners say a new stadium is going to solve everything. Joe Louis Arena is kind of a dump, that doesn’t stop the Red Wings from making money… I wonder what the difference is?

Oh that’s right, the Islanders suck. They have made it out of the first round of the playoffs a McGradian ZERO times in the last 15 years, failing to even make the playoffs in 11 of those seasons. Maybe if you didn’t dole out huge, long term contracts to likes of Alexei Yashin and Rick DiPietro. ( I suppose you could just avoid trading Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt and the second overall draft pick [Jason Spezza] for Yashin in the first place). Or maybe you could not trade Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha. Or send two previous 1st round picks and one future 1st round pick to have Ryan Smyth for a month. Of course, having Smyth did help the Islanders sneak into the 8th seed that year! (…where they were promptly dispatched in 5 games by the Sabres). Or maybe if you sought out better business partners -- Wang bought out Kumar in 2004 — he’s serving a 12-year prison term for a $400 million accounting fraud scandal.

So yes, clearly it’s the lack of a new stadium that is your main concern. Hey, instead of spending another $3.7 billion on a new arena, maybe you could use some of that money to hire a GM, or scouts, or a coaching staff that could find/develop talented players to put on the ice?

Sometimes, year after year of a lousy product turns consumers away -- no matter how shiny of a box you try to present it in.