By Joe McDonald

Since then though, no owner dared move a team from the Metropolitan Area. Sure the football Giants and Jets crossed the river to New Jersey, but they still were in the vicinity. The biggest media market in the world has been a cash cow for sports teams over the past half century, and every owner knows it.

But a move may be happening again. This time the New York Islanders may pack their bags and search for greener pastures, as their multi-billion dollar Lighthouse Project comes to a stall.

"If we don't build this, shame on us,” Wang said in Newsday. “This is something that has to be done. If we can't, you tell me no. It's OK. I mean, really, we'll go where we're loved." 

Wang has a point, he sees the Mets, Yankees, Jets and Giants all building new homes with the rival New York Rangers planning on renovating Madison Square Garden after the New Jersey Devils built their own facility. The Islanders just want their turn and if they don't get it, moving might be an option.

Enter Kansas City, a town which built the state of the art Sprint Center three years ago with the hopes that someone will come. Overtures to the Nashville Predators and  Pittsburgh Penguins were rebuffed, so the sights are set on the Islanders, who scheduled a preseason game there next season.

That was enough to get the media talking, but will it be enough to force the Town of Hempstead's hand?

“I don't want to have ultimatums,” Wang said in Newsday. “I have not done the ultimatums. I'm sure I will coming up soon because I'm going to tell them, 'Here's what it is.' But we've been jerked around on this for a little while now. OK, I'm committed to keeping it on Long Island. I want to keep it on Long Island. It belongs on Long Island. Let us build the damn thing.”

If it was just a matter of the Coliseum, then the project would already be proceeding, but Wang wants more. He loses between $20 and $30 million a year on the team, so the whole Lighthouse Project, which includes office and residential space, plus retail shopping, will be a way to recoup some funds.

“We watch every penny,” he said. “We try to be as conservative as we can. You see the attendance isn't that great, and you know the deal we have with SMG isn't that great. The more fans we get, we get admissions, but we don't get a cut of food, beverages or parking.”

Currently the Islanders deal with SMG Management, who runs the Coliseum, gives them very little wiggle room. Without the secondary incidentals, the only way the Isles make money is through ticket sales – a portion of which goes to SMG – and the television contract with the MSG Network. A new Coliseum will allow Wang to renegotiate his deal while getting money from the other parts of the project.

But therein lies the problem. Because the scope of the project has to be so large, the Town of Hempstead is dragging its feet. Although the project will be privately funded, the Town is responsible for the infrastructure improvements, which includes a closer LIRR train station. Even if that's not included, there are also the environmental and other concerns that come with any large project.

So Wang has to wait. It seems like it's just this project or bust for him as well, as Brooklyn and Queens made mention of possible relocation, to which he just brushed off the two eastern New York City boroughs. If this project is going to work, it will have to be on Long Island and nowhere else.

And if it doesn't Wang will either sell or move the team. If he sells, Kansas City may be the highest bidder, because New York has been devastated from the economic downturn. A potential buyer like the Wilpon family – the owners of the Mets and second place bidder in the Coliseum renovation – probably couldn't buy the franchise because of the losses in the Madoff scandal.

So time is ticking. Wang wants the project to start – or at least be approved – by next season, which only gives the Town a small window of opportunity. And if nothing gets done on this project, the Islanders will become part of history and lore much like the Dodgers and Giants so many years ago.