Though a properly edited sports blog wouldn’t consider the item below nearly as crucial as yet another standout performance by Henrik Lundqvist (above) in Dallas last night (in full scale CubanVision, too — if I stood right next to the set, it was almost like visiting Best Buy), the following note regarding the expansion of the Cablevision empire is too exciting to ignore. From Newsday’s Steve Zipay.
The Rangers are investigating the purchase of an East Coast Hockey League team that would play at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, possibly as early as next season, Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan and Steve Mills, president of MSG Sports, said last night.
“There’s an opportunity for us to control the entire pipeline of the players more fully and we think there’s an opportunity to extend the Rangers’ presence,” Mills said. Last month, the Garden entered a deal with the owners of a 25-acre sports complex at the site which has two rinks, one of which can hold about 2,300 people.
Given the huge PR boost Bruce Ratner has received from his efforts to involve Jay-Z in placing a basketball franchise in Brooklyn, perhaps Dolan and Mills will consider a similar partnership for the Double-A Rangers.
The question is, does Bill Popp of Bill Popp & The Tapes really have that kind of spare time?