Report says New York Islanders up for sale

With a large loan payment due next year, Islanders owner Charles Wang is reportedly trying to sell the team. (AP) By Allan Muir So apparently Charles Wang

With a large loan payment due next year, Islanders owner Charles Wang is reportedly trying to sell the team. (AP)

By Allan Muir

So apparently Charles Wang isn't exactly a Brooklyn kind of guy.

Just months after sealing a deal that would see the New York Islanders move to the posh new Barclays Center in the hipster borough, Wang is looking to sell the team according to a report by Josh Kosman in The New York Post.

From the story:

Owner Charles Wang has been in talks with The Raine Group, a Manhattan investment bank, regarding the sale of the money-losing team, two sources said.

Talks between Wang and Raine are said to be preliminary and the team owner hasn’t hired Raine -- so the effort could lose steam.

An Islanders spokesman said there is no truth to the story. Raine could not be reached for comment.

A lengthy, and ultimately failed, battle to build a new arena that would allow the team to remain on Long Island left Wang willing to discuss a sale in the past, but he never officially put the sign on the lawn.

The timing makes sense. Kosman notes that Wang has a $75 million loan payment due at the end of next season. That's a tough bill to foot with the team losing about $10 million a year and no real relief in sight until the team moves for the 2015-16 season.