Not-great optics: Islanders are urging fans to support the Belmont arena

Matt O'Leary writes for FanSided, New York Islanders: Send Email To Fans For Belmont Help:

The New York Islanders new arena is allegedly on track for 2021-2022. Yet, the Islanders sent out an email asking fans to sign a petition.
Last year, it was announced that the New York Islanders would be getting a new home at Belmont Park. It was a great sign for the Islanders, who knew they couldn’t play long-term at either the Barclays Center or the Nassau Coliseum.
Although now, the Isles are striking fear in the hearts of every single fan by sending out an email. In that email they are asking you to sign a petition, created by a fan, to convince the powers at be that Belmont Park is a great idea for the Islanders and the community.

He suggests that the "optics here don’t look great at all." Indeed, it's a sign of weakness, or nervousness, related to what may be a different political equation regarding big projects, in the wake of Amazon pulling out of Queens, as one commenter suggests.

I don't think the two are equivalent, since Amazon is a lightning-rod company and local elected officials opposed the project from the start. No major local politician opposes the proposed Belmont arena, and Long Island's main newspaper, Newsday, is supportive.

There are reasons to question Belmont, notably the difficult of providing Long Island Rail Road service, as noted in my CityLab article last June and by Neil deMause this week in Deadspin. There's also the significant threat Belmont poses to the existing Nassau Coliseum, as I wrote in January for this blog and for the New York Daily News.

But that project, though the approval process has been delayed slightly, still seems on track.