New York Islanders break off talks with potential buyer

The New York Islanders are for sale and have been for quite some time. Unfortunately it appears they’re no closer to find an interested party, as Newsday reports that prospective buyer Andrew Barroway and the team have broken off talks with no resumption of negotiations in sight.

A source told Newsday that little was accomplished in talks between Barroway and the Islanders.

"Negotiations to sell the Islanders to Philadelphia-based hedge fund manager Andrew Barroway have ceased, a person familiar with the discussions said Tuesday. Talks with Barroway are not expected to resume, the person said."

Current owner Charles Wang has been vocal in his willingness to hear any offers to purchase the team, citing millions of dollars lost in operational costs in running the Islanders. However, it takes two to negotiate and while few enough details have surfaced as to why talks broke off, there’s only one constant that’s held throughout the whole saga of Islanders ownership, and that’s Charles Wang.

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The main contention could be in current value. As they are, the Islanders are probably worth less playing in the Nassau Colisseum than they will be in the 2015-16 season, when they begin a 25-year lease to play in Barclay’s Arena in Brooklyn. Right now the Islanders are valued at $195 million, per the Newsday article, but it’s reasonable to expect that Wang will want to recoup some of his losses from running the team as well as factor in the future profit potential stemming from a new arena.

Whatever the case may be, the Islanders remain for sale with few bidders in sight. We may have to wait until the Brooklyn move just to get an idea of what this team will really be worth. In the meantime, it will be up to Islanders GM Garth Snow to build a winner and drive that sale price even higher.