Newsday: Charles Wang’s greatest victory: Keeping Isles in NY
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Stercrazy
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- Jul 4, 2007
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It's real easy to call Wang the worst owner ever when it's not your 20 million loss annually since owning the team. I'm not saying every decision Wang made was a good one but I believe his heart was in the right place. And Yes.....the Islanders have had worse owners. Do your research.
Not by much.
I think Charles Wang should go down in history as one of the worst owners ever in pro sports, a notch below Donald Sterling.
Fist of Gillies
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- Apr 9, 2007
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Seriously, although talk of the cable deal keeping the Islanders here looks to be nonsense. Yes, it would matter if Wang were to move the team, but the value of the deal is mute in the case of a sale. All Wang would have cared about is the net dollars in his pocket when he walked away, and we live in a world where at least two groups seem to be willing to pay $500 million plus for an expansion franchise. And in the case of Quebec, TV money would have made the current cable deal look like chump change. Quebecor is the bidder for the expansion team, and that's a major OTA and cable broadcaster, with national contracts for French language NHL telecasts and a dedicated sports channel that primarily shows hockey (TVA). Since they also operate the new arena in Quebec, you'd be looking at a Rangers/MSG type set up, only even more lucrative, with national reach in Canada.
Doesn't mean that Wang is not a *****, and doesn't mean that the only reason Wang didn't sell out of town is that he found as good (or nearly as good) a deal in Brooklyn that also fed his ego. But anyone that thinks that a move out of the area wasn't possible -- and was probably a near certainty -- had Brooklyn not happened is just fooling themselves.
I didn't realize John Spano had internet privileges in prison...
Yes, John Spano. Another of the criminals an near criminals who once owned the Islanders.
Charles Wang is the 2nd longest tenured owner of the Islanders. His 15 year reign is nothing to be proud of.
Frankie41987
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Yes. I'm a current 33 year STH. It's hard to quantify one being as bad as the next, but each successive ownership group got worse. Wang was the last and longest tenured of a long line of incompetent owners.
This is Charles Wang's 7th playoff in 15 years, been so many worse owners with far more revenue streams in modern new taxpayer funded buildings getting revenue sharing they put in their pocket and do nothing that rarely if ever go to the playoffs.
The Pirates got a taxpayer funded stadium, put MLB's revenue sharing in their pockets and with a low payroll made a 30 million dollar profit.
Jeffrey Loria is a bad owner, he put one team out of business, got hundreds of millions of dollars for a new baseball stadium in Florida, spent money on players for a month and gutted everything again within months after the building opened.
Mario sold off his entire team wholesale with Wang's Smg lease in Pittsburgh, Wang with the same lease kept the team together and kept spending and stopped up the litigation with Smg when he came in.
Wang got Nassau County, an apathetic fan base that only showed opening nights and for playoff games and gave out huge contracts.
Milstein is a real estate developer, Rechler is a real estate developer. Nassau ran them both out.
Wang's a hero and this move is same as Devils little move to Newark and same as Caps to Landover where those teams got taxpayer money for the buildings. The crowd support during the 2002 playoffs and today are Wang's legacy with endless line of players past and present who do nothing but praise playing for this organization.
The Pirates got a taxpayer funded stadium, put MLB's revenue sharing in their pockets and with a low payroll made a 30 million dollar profit.
Jeffrey Loria is a bad owner, he put one team out of business, got hundreds of millions of dollars for a new baseball stadium in Florida, spent money on players for a month and gutted everything again within months after the building opened.
Mario sold off his entire team wholesale with Wang's Smg lease in Pittsburgh, Wang with the same lease kept the team together and kept spending and stopped up the litigation with Smg when he came in.
Wang got Nassau County, an apathetic fan base that only showed opening nights and for playoff games and gave out huge contracts.
Milstein is a real estate developer, Rechler is a real estate developer. Nassau ran them both out.
Wang's a hero and this move is same as Devils little move to Newark and same as Caps to Landover where those teams got taxpayer money for the buildings. The crowd support during the 2002 playoffs and today are Wang's legacy with endless line of players past and present who do nothing but praise playing for this organization.
It's not about making the playoffs 7 times, it's about winning the Stanley Cup.
Charles Wang never really cared about competing. He cared about not losing money.
If you buy a sports franchise and winning is not your first and foremost agenda you're in the wrong business.
Charles Wang never really cared about competing. He cared about not losing money.
If you buy a sports franchise and winning is not your first and foremost agenda you're in the wrong business.
Then he has a very funny way of going about that giving hockey players 88 million dollars contracts, then another 20 million and a third 68 million before half the roster signed contracts from 11-40 million. Then renovating a building he was a tenant in while the other teams owners got huge taxpayer money for new or renovated buildings.
Clutterbuck has an 11 million dollar contract, when Wang came here the payroll was 14 million.
And again like it or not the players that have worked here for this owner all have flat out praised him with this teams current management and resigned.
I trust the players who work there daily in the room over any outsiders view, they spoke with their words and actions for 15 years.
nycole
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- Feb 25, 2016
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Of course: winning = more money. As fans we like to think owners want to win for the sake of winning, the end itself. But the reality is that most owners see their teams as commodities, and winning is a means to an end.
But keeping the team in NY was to keep the franchise profitable, not altruism. Whether the team plays in NYC or KC, you still have to pay the players. There's more money to be made in NYC than KC. The TV deal is essential in the value of the franchise.
It was pretty clear from that the Lighthouse Project was Wang's priority over the Isles having a place to play. This especially became more obvious leading up to 2009 and 2011 as he kept beating a dead horse in Nassau instead of accepting Ratner's money in Brooklyn. What if that window had closed in Brooklyn in the meantime?
But keeping the team in NY was to keep the franchise profitable, not altruism. Whether the team plays in NYC or KC, you still have to pay the players. There's more money to be made in NYC than KC. The TV deal is essential in the value of the franchise.
It was pretty clear from that the Lighthouse Project was Wang's priority over the Isles having a place to play. This especially became more obvious leading up to 2009 and 2011 as he kept beating a dead horse in Nassau instead of accepting Ratner's money in Brooklyn. What if that window had closed in Brooklyn in the meantime?
I'm just writing what happened and the truth, you post like he is your personal enemy.
John Pickett saved this franchise from bankruptcy, financed 4 straight cups and was never thanked by anyone either and Nassau ran him out too with fans who refused to support anything but a Stanley Cup winner.
He gave Bossy six million, Trottier a ten year deal like Wang and was never thanked by anyone when he could have taken Bill Shea's advice in 1978 and declared bankruptcy.
Now he's only seen as a bad owner when nothing could be further from the truth.
How did Nassau run him out? Pickett became less and less interested in running the Islanders and spent more and more time in West Palm Beach.
Who was supposed to thank John Pickett? The fans always knew he and Bill Torrey saved the Islanders from bankruptcy.
Pickett didn't declare bankruptcy because he wanted to save his and his partners' investments from Roy Boe's mismanagement. In fact, John Pickett was begged to become the Islanders managing partner (by Nelson Doubleday IIRC). He would have much rather stayed in the background.
You've got a good case of revisionist history going on here. And I've read your links before. Don't waste your time posting them again.
I don't do revisionist anything, can't be bothered. Easy when you simply post the truth which you don't like reading.
Pickett was ready for a new or renovated arena in 1991 with the team up for sale:
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/18/s...ts-to-fill-islanders-want-a-bigger-house.html
Pickett made an agreement to sell in 1992 to big Chuck Dolan:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-08-17/sports/1992230111_1_dolan-cablevision-pickett
And the truth is Wang was a great owner here given he had nothing Pickett had in terms of fan support going in.
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Those links don't answer what I said in the above post. You made specific charges. Who didn't thank John Pickett? Why did John Pickett step forward to take over the Islanders? Who ran John Pickett out of Nassau County? You're creating a false narrative that suits your own agenda.
I have no agenda, the thread is about the current owner, but feel free to read about Pickett when his final sale went through below. Wang's said a few things too about hating business end of owning the team. No one reported he was laughing/joking when he gave a WFAN interview and said he regretted buying the franchise.
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives...ime-islander-owner-forgotten-article-1.792324
He was a solid asset and Wang didn't want to haggle so Milbury sold low for a pile of crap on skates. And to make things worse, we dumped Jokinen as well. Recall, the pile of crap on skates was the centerpiece of that deal as admitted by the worst GM in the history of the NHL.
Well, doesn't this explain a lot. You are a Milbury apologist and supporter. I haven't met any of those in over a decade. No, Milbury cemented himself as a bad GM under the previous owners and that is why most of us who cared about the club understood he had to go. Wang ignored the vast majority because he doesn't care what the fan base thinks, ever, except in terms of how to craft smart excuses for the things he does that might go against any hockey wisdom. Milbury under Wang went from a bad GM to laughingstock of the league with the Lou trade, and with the subsequent domino falls of picking Rick so high at the expense of others like Gabby or Heater. Yashin for Chara and the pick that was Spezza... just laughingstock x 10. All of his years under all owners were made even more laughingstock by his OCD need to destroy players in the media. Milbury would have been better served by wearing an actual muzzle, but junkyard dogs just got'a howl at the moon.
Sure he was, because he hated those insects bugging him every time he got involved on a level he should not. That is a tell tale sign of a really bad owner as was seen in Chicago and Toronto earlier. Rick was medically done by the time Snow convinced Wang to let him go, and that happened only after he had viable buyers on the hook. Until that point he was simply a way to circumvent the cap because Wang did not want to spend any money until he had a deal in place that guaranteed him money.
It took a significant fan uprising once we all saw that Yashin was done as a player, and was never even close to being Captain material. He was kept long term much like Ballard's pets were kept long term in TO because of a personal relationship with the owner. That is textbook ruinous interference by an ignorant owner who thinks money buys hockey knowledge. It doesn't, every time.
So Wang lets Milbury, the GM from hell, destroy the team with awful trades over the years so we had next to nothing in the farm and only a handful of old, washed up, has been vets which Ryan sees and says no to, and you want anyone to give Wang credit for that? LOL! Uh, not even close.
Said many respected names in the NHL world. Forget Botta, for the most part he was as much a Wang propagandist as you. Bailey should have been sent back down but they needed him for $$$$. That was the MO of Wang during the rebuild.
Aaron Ward. The track record of the club before then was the proof in the pudding.Who brought it up Larry BrooksWho got moved, Simon, Trevor Gillies? LOL Witt got resigned early.
Um, they all resigned here? Come again. Many left under Wang with Milbury. We were such a reputational laughingstock that guys like Nabby and Lubo tried hard as hell never to come. The ones we got and kept were mostly thanks to Snow. But back to your "big" question. Nino demanded a trade. Ryan left of his own volition. Oh look, there's Hamonic demanding a trade, and Okposo shelved contract talks - why? Players have walked off this club and never looked back for a reason. Try reading before saying such silly things.
I think he got a raw deal from the pols, Nassau,and SMG. I've said that many times. The CBA was the savior for Wang though, not so much the first with a cap, but the second definitely as it provided a revenue stream above and beyond what he had. And both CBAs tried to force owners to pay to keep viable teams which Wang clearly did not wish to do once ha had given up. Clearly from your anger at this fact you find the cap CBA detestable. Why?
Read what I wrote. From Gordon on and only thanks to Snow. It is my belief Gordon quit but we will never know.
Because the team had used ten years to poop on the fan base, and the face of the dog with diarrhea was Milbury, and Wang left him in place.
I was cautiously watching at the point. People didn't like being screwed over by Pickett and they tend to react poorly to being screwed over. Pickett being the idiot who slaved us to SMG.
As for Milbury, please note how many teams picked him up to GM, coach, or even walk their dogs. Zero! because that is what he is and was, a giant loud mouthed Islanders destroying zero.
You whiffed entirely on the big boys question, the players who have been here and are still here like being here which is reflection of the owner and his management. The ones who left never had anything but praise and liked being here. How many times does Hamonic have to say he loves being here and it's a personal family issue?
Niederreiter's agent sent out a tweet, the player never had an unkind word for anyone here.
I wrote enough on this, we don't agree at all. Aaron Ward never played here. Milbury's resigned in 2006 for good with three playoffs his final four years and playoff games that never would have happened here waiting for Tim Connolly, Branislav Mezei, Matthieu Biron, Taylor (not Nelson) Pyatt, Kristian Kudroc and we all know how loyal Mr Heatley was in Atlanta and Ottawa and how Gaborik demanded over 80 million before hitting the road from Minnesota.
Wang paid everyone he could, the days of J.P Dumont having to be traded for Dimitri Nabokov are over, prospects get ELC early here now and they have had a 15 year place of their own in a modern building, not someone else's affiliate. Wang did that too.
Niederreiter's agent sent out a tweet, the player never had an unkind word for anyone here.
I wrote enough on this, we don't agree at all. Aaron Ward never played here. Milbury's resigned in 2006 for good with three playoffs his final four years and playoff games that never would have happened here waiting for Tim Connolly, Branislav Mezei, Matthieu Biron, Taylor (not Nelson) Pyatt, Kristian Kudroc and we all know how loyal Mr Heatley was in Atlanta and Ottawa and how Gaborik demanded over 80 million before hitting the road from Minnesota.
Wang paid everyone he could, the days of J.P Dumont having to be traded for Dimitri Nabokov are over, prospects get ELC early here now and they have had a 15 year place of their own in a modern building, not someone else's affiliate. Wang did that too.
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Well you posted a link to an article that made my point about Pickett losing interest in the team, then you pull it back around to the thread being about Charles Wang.
You have this habit of making points that suit your agenda. Next time I have any debate with you I'll get a roll of tin foil from my closet and make a helmet with it.
No, you failed to even realize you contradicted yourself first saying certain guys fled and then saying everyone loved it and stayed. And nothing prevented Wang from going over the cap floor except Wang. We stayed at the cap floor during the rebuild precisely because he wouldn't pay more than that. The few players he pursued during that time would have still only brought us to the floor, which when they said no forced Wang to fill in the gaps with crap like Rolston.
Wang refused to go over the cap floor. Deal with it, because history says so. And many players won't trash an organization on leaving. As for Nino's agent, it wasn't a tweet, he trashed the Isles and Snow in an interview. You should get your facts straight before using them.
LeapOnOver
Mackenzie is a hack!
Although I don't agree with everything edott says, I have to give him props for being one of the few posters who injects no emotion into his posts.
He still has an opinion, but at least it's emotionless whereas other posters act like people have actually given them cancer.
He still has an opinion, but at least it's emotionless whereas other posters act like people have actually given them cancer.
19 in a row
Registered User
I guess it depends on your perspective. For me personally, Wang is the biggest sports villain of all time AINEC.. It is true that a long list of owners eroded the bond with the community and made the team irrelevant for all but the diehards but he made that call. The last emperor of rome after a long period of decline. To me it is obvious he had zero altruistic intentions for this fanbase between the way we were treated, the shams he pulled for show such as the referendum and his dealings with the town/county.. the politicians were awful but if Wang wanted to get something done he would have through compromise..rather he did a good job of pushing blame onto politicians and voters, most of who didnt even know the islanders existed due to poor management over a 20 year period. you can't convince me it was not all about the money and development.. Brooklyn is great for those who have ties to there but they are staunchly independent and proud, separated by way more than 20+ miles.. within 5 years I would expect us to be the Brooklyn Islanders with Black primary uni's and completely disassociated with their original home.. I would not have felt that way if they had moved to queens, suffolk or even manhattan with the rangers.
I despise wang with every bone in my body..
I don't usually mince words like that and will be more definitive in my opinions next time..
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