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December 14, 2009
Limited seating capacity, spoken-for suite revenue, Goldman Sachs statement all cast doubt on major league hockey in Brooklyn
Atlantic Yards Report
With Atlantic Yards arena bond issuers hinting at the possibility of retrofitting the planned arena at Atlantic Yards for hockey, Norman Oder explores the possibility.
Perhaps the Brooklyn arena (capacity 18,282 for basketball, according to the POS) could be designed to seat a number larger than 14,000 for hockey, but that's something the Atlantic Yards developer and public parties should tell us.
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Actually, there's no minimum capacity for NHL arenas--the key is revenue--there are reasons to doubt a 14,000-seat arena for hockey could work in Brooklyn.Most NHL arenas seat more than 18,282, according to the Edmonton Journal. The smallest NHL arena is on Long Island, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, with a capacity of 16,234.
Then again, the Islanders have averaged only 10,774 fans per game over the last three seasons, according to the market study attached to the POS. And those Islanders, which have been losing a lot of money, would be the obvious candidate to move to Brooklyn.
There's more market analysis and detail in the full article.
NoLandGrab: If the issuers of arena bonds are trying to make them more attractive to prospective buyers, why aren't the developer and issuers explaining specifically how this would work? Could it be more smoke and mirrors?
Posted by lumi at December 14, 2009 5:11 AM