Islanders Could Be Heading To Kansas City

There are rumors that have started that the New York Islanders hockey team could be moving out of Long Island.

From a blog on Yahoo.com, the Islanders have agreed to play a pre-season game in Kansas City Missouri next season. Some wonder if this is a shot at New York politicians, as the "Lighthouse Development" project continues to hit a snag and a new arena in Long Island has yet to be built.

The project proposes more than just a new arena. It proposes "300 hotel rooms, 200,000 square feet of convention space, 1 million square feet of office space and 2,300 luxury apartments (Newsday). The project keeps getting delayed because of the size of the plans, economically, enviormentally, and physically in the Hempstead area.

The Islanders want a new stadium to play their games, but there has been very little progress. Could the agreement to play games in Kansas City be more than meets the eye? Only time will tell.

Newsday also caught onto this developing situation. Apparently there is a stadium in Kansas City that is ready for either a hockey or baseketball team. They are looking for a tenant to occupy the 18,000 seat arena. The stadium was built in the summer of 2007, and will host part of this year's NCAA basketball tournament.

The Islanders are currently mired in last place in the Atlantic Division at 12-28-4.