Barclays Center parent company Brooklyn Arena LLC yesterday announced that it will offer oversight of the Islanders and that Nets and Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark will lead the business side of the NHL team. Yormark will retain his duties with the Nets and the facility. Arena personnel will work with the Islanders' business operations department before and after the team's move to Brooklyn for the '15-16 season. Islanders hockey operations remain under the leadership of team President & GM Garth Snow (Barclays Center). In N.Y., Josh Kosman notes one of Yormark’s "first big decisions will be advising Islanders owner Charles Wang on whether to change the look of the jersey and the fate of the team’s royal blue, orange and white colors." Yormark said, "Our goal is to be sensitive to the legacy. At the same time, we want Brooklyn to embrace the team and connect in an authentic way." He added that he had "finished the marketing studies in Long Island and Brooklyn to see how fans and potential supporters felt but had not made a decision." A source said that the Islanders "might introduce an alternative third jersey, with a basketball Nets-influenced basic black feel, that they would wear at some home games" (N.Y. POST, 7/11). In New Jersey, John Brennan noted the Islanders have "seen a surge of 2,200 new season tickets and an 86 percent season ticket renewal rate coming off a playoff season and a feisty postseason round" against the Penguins (NORTHJERSEY.com, 7/10). Meanwhile, on Long Island, Joye Brown notes Nassau County Exec Edward Mangano made a "good move in requiring contracts from the Madison Square Garden Co. and Forest City Ratner Companies" in their bids to redevelop Nassau Coliseum "rather than picking a winner based on a standard 'term sheet' that is open to change" (NEWSDAY, 7/11).
