Eyes On Isles
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Islanders Are An Example To Mets On The Importance Of Ownership

By Matt O'Leary

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 21: (L-R) Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin attend the retirement ceremony for John Tonelli that celebrated his career with the New York Islanders and saw his jersey retired and raised to the rafters of NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum on February 21, 2020 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 21: (L-R) Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin attend the retirement ceremony for John Tonelli that celebrated his career with the New York Islanders and saw his jersey retired and raised to the rafters of NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum on February 21, 2020 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Today was the last day the Mets played a game under the Wilpon family. The Islanders are a perfect example of what good ownership can do.

We’ve reached a point where the New York Islanders are an example to other New York sports franchises. Today, the Mets played their last game of the season marking the end of the Wilpon Era.

The Wilpon family has owned the Mets in full since 2002. Over that 18 year span, the Mets made the playoffs three times, one of which was just the one game play in Wild Card Game.

If you’re a Mets fan you probably know all the reasons why the Wilpons were awful owners all too well, but even if you’re not a Mets fan I’m sure you’ve heard the horror stories over the last 20 years or so.

Unfortunately, as Islander fans, we knew this feeling all too well for a long time. From the 1990’s through the end of the Charles Wang era in 2016, the Isles were mostly inept.

There’s a ton of reasons why the Isles fell short, but the most important is ownership. Very rarely can a team have success with bad owners. I implore you to find me an example of a poorly run team that won a championship, I’ll wait.

Once Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin took over we saw a dramatic change. Since the guys took over in 2016, the Isles have secured a new arena, have a hall of fame General Manager, a top-three coach in the sport, and have found themselves in the Eastern Conference Final after a 27-year wait.

From top to bottom the entire culture around this team changed for the better. The Mets can be this next team to take that step in New York sports, just based on what the Isles have done in the last four years.

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New ownership (who will spend money), getting a qualified person to build the roster, and hiring a legit coach, or in this case manager, can make all the difference in the world. 2020 was tough for Mets fans, but ask any Islander fan, times can get better and fast.

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