Tuesday’s Hot Coals: Fancy Math Edition

So, the New York Islanders failed to gather the support needed to finance their “Lighthouse Project” and barring a miracle in the form of a New York-based investors group, will likely be gone from the boroughs in 2015-the year their stadium lease ends. Now, personally, I’m of the opinion that stadiums by themselves don’t actually have any positive impact in relation to the local economy and billionaires should realize that there are costs involved with owning a sports team; but if the Lighthouse Project was actually intended to be a total entertainment complex and not just a ruse to get funding for an arena (when taken in context with owner Charles Wang’s claims of $200 million plus losses), then I can understand why people would’ve voted yes. Then there’s that whole “build it and they will come” fallacy, which essentially propagates loss and the matter of Nassau being the worst stadium in North America. Of course I feel bad for Isles fans, but sometimes the economics just don’t work.

It'll be interesting in the next while when this type of debate opens up in Calgary. Would I be willing to pay $50 a year for an arena here? Simply put, no. This franchise has sold out 260 straight games. The average ticket price in the Saddledome is $159 per seat. Multiply that by 19,289 (how sad is it that I don't even need to check that) and by 41, and you get $125,744,991-or, twice what the salary cap is. I understand that the numbers aren't quite that simple, but coupled with the finances the owners already have access to, these guys don't need help to build an arena-and they have no leverage to get taxpayers to commit to it. Would anyone take a threat about moving seriously? I doubt it.

Links after the jump.

Puck Daddy explores the options after last night's vote. [Puck Daddy]The great Bruce Arthur on sports facilities and economic blackmail. [National Post]

Want to ask T.J. Brodie a question? [Flames]

Always love looking at this panorama. [Wikipedia]

I've been saying faceoff wins are overrated for the better part of a year now, but Cam Charron puts together some fancy charts to prove it. [Flames Nation]

This is a few days old, but if you haven't read it, you should. I'm of the opinion CorsiRELQCOMP is the best stat we have for measuring the effectiveness of a player. [Arctic Ice Hockey]

Your song for today:

(via theNYCbunny on YouTube)

Have a great Tuesday, everyone.

by Richard Hammond