Barclays Center officials charged with overseeing the Islanders' transition from Nassau Coliseum and marketing the club in its new home "have to walk a fine line: keeping the existing fan base happy and acknowledging the franchise's Long Island roots, while also playing up its new environment and attempting to grow the fan base," according to Joe DeLessio of SPORTS ON EARTH. The result, so far, has been the "mild Brooklynization of the Islanders -- but even that's been controversial to some fans already wary of the team's new chapter." Existing Islanders fans "are far too large a group to ignore, and perhaps more importantly, building an entirely new fan base of hockey fans in Brooklyn would be difficult, if not impossible." That meant "keeping the Islanders' blue-and-orange color scheme, as well as their 70s-era logo with the outline of Long Island on it." Space was "reserved for the Blue and Orange Army, a fan section that had become a staple of home games, and the team's banners will be re-hung in the new building." But with Barclays Center officially taking over the marketing of the club when last season ended, "it was inevitable that they'd try to Brooklynize the Islanders at least a little" (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 10/5).
DAWN OF A NEW DAY: In N.Y., Larry Brooks wrote, "This might be difficult for the natives to swallow, but the idea for the Islanders is not to try and recreate the atmosphere that existed at the Coliseum, it is to create an atmosphere of its own at their new home in Brooklyn." This is a Brooklyn team, "even if the incoming ownership and Barclays management that runs the off-ice operation, did not petition the league to change the club’s name to either 'the Brooklyn Islanders' or 'The New York Islanders of Brooklyn.'" The Islanders "have built a pretty darn good team that is a very watchable one." Ownership has the "obligation to try and make it Brooklyn’s team without neglecting the franchise’s roots or offending its loyal and original fan base." Brooks: "It’s a tightrope difficult to walk, but the transformation is both necessary and appropriate. This is about a new era in Islanders hockey and creating a new environment and atmosphere at Barclays" (N.Y. POST, 10/4).
