About 2 weeks ago we received the very disappointing news from Chris Botta that the New York Islanders decided not to fully fund the Islanderspointblank.com blog for the upcoming season. While Mr. Botta has stated that the Islanders made an offer to stay on as a sponsor, it was not enough to allow him to do the blog as a full time job. The initial outcry was strong and the Islanders were flooded with emails and phone calls. Then Mr. Botta decided to step in and say that we need to slow things down and focus on the Lighthouse project for the time being because of the important public hearing that was held last week. Well now that the hearings are over, we can get back to letting the Islanders know that their decision to stop the full time funding of the blog is unacceptable. Below is a letter that I sent to Chris Dey (Chris.Dey@newyorkislanders.com) the day after the announcement that Pointblank was no longer being funded. We cannot let up. If we want Pointblank around we need to fight for it. PLEASE continue to call and write emails to the Islanders about this. Even if you get generic responses, do not be discouraged, keep writing.
Good morning Mr. Dey. You can add this to the long list of email's I am sure you are receiving this morning about the unacceptable decision by the Islanders to no longer fund Mr. Botta's Pointblank website. Once again your organization sticks it to a fanbase that for some outrageous reason has stood by this team through the past 20 years of horrible on ice product.
Pointblank has become a gathering place for Islander fans from all over the world. Yes, all over the world. Canadian's, American's and European's alike read and comment on the website on a daily basis. The site has shown just how passionate this fanbase is about the team. The site was getting hundred's of thousands of hits a day and this team was in LAST PLACE. Imagine the hits it would receive if the Islanders were actually good? How can the team do this to their loyal fans? How cheap can you actually be? Lord knows the team is nowhere near the salary cap ceiling AGAIN this year and will all but certainly be one of the worst teams in the league AGAIN. So what do we have to look forward too? Watching them lose every game and have nowhere to go confer with other fans and let out our frustrations? Not to mention the inside access that Mr. Botta provides us on a daily basis. Nowhere else can the FANS (you know, the people that spend their hard earned money, even during a recession to support this team) get such access to their favorite team.
But none of that seems to matter to this organization. You prefer to anger your fans. That's fine. You have angered me. Every year I try and make it down to Long Island and catch a game or two at the Colesium. Well since your organization is going to be cheap this year, so will I. I now will not make any trip this year to the Island and will not purchase any merchandise for this team (was thinking about purchasing a Tavares jersey). I will encourage other fans of the team to do the same as this decision is completely unacceptable. I will continue to root and cheer for this team from my living room, but that is the only place I will be cheering from. I will not spend any hard earned money on this organization this year.
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