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NEW YORK -- Jon Ledecky values the two-year transition period he and Scott Malkin had before taking over control of the New York Islanders this month.Ledecky visited every NHL arena and met with about 20 team presidents, picking their brains about the best business practices in running their franchises.Having those two years to learn and do that was very helpful, Ledecky said Wednesday at a luncheon with local media.Ledecky and Malkin, childhood friends and college roommates at Harvard, took over the majority stake in the Islanders on July 1 under a deal agreed to in 2014. Charles Wang, who bought the team in 2000, retains a minority stake.The way we bought the team, Commissioner [Gary] Bettman said that should be a model for other team sales, Ledecky said. Were now in our third year, and in our third year, we shouldnt be making rookie mistakes.Ledecky, who intends to be more involved than Malkin in the business operations of the team, said he was able to subtly interact with fans at the arena and while traveling to games on the subway and Long Island Rail Road.I felt great to be able to be anonymous and be able to talk to them openly, he said. The fans want a winner. They want to know that youre going to spend to the cap, if you have to, to build a winner, which we are willing to do.The Islanders are coming off a successful first season in Brooklyns Barclays Center after spending the franchises first 43 years at Long Islands Nassau Coliseum. They overcame injuries down the stretch to earn a playoff berth for the second straight year -- and the third such berth in the past four years -- while reaching the 100-point mark in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1982. New York then beat the Florida Panthers to win a postseason series for the first time since 1993 before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the second round.The Islanders will have a different look next season, having signed forwards Andrew Ladd, Jason Chimera and?P.A. Parenteau?to replace departed longtime stars Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and Matt Martin. Ledecky said the franchises goal is to keep improving and win a Stanley Cup, but he wont get involved in player personnel decisions. Those are left to general manager Garth Snow.You have to have full faith and confidence in your people, Ledecky said. You set the tone, you provide a budget -- and in this case, the budget is the cap at the NHL -- and you hope that your GM and his team do the right thing.Ledecky acknowledged the growing pains in the transition to the new arena and pointed to the improvements made along the way, including the hiring of an outside company for game-day presentations -- something Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark had disclosed in March.In the second half of the season, we started seeing tweaks, Ledecky said. We started doing a little bit more with the scoreboard and tried to personalize the arena a little bit. Tried to understand how you made better ice, tried to reach out to experts in the NHL to help us with that.Ledecky also said he hopes Barclays hosts an NHL All-Star Game someday.That means the ice has got to be great, he said. That means the fan experience has got to be great. That means the arena has to look like a hockey arena. We have to personalize it when were playing in it; we have to make it Islanders-centric.Asked whether there was a possibility the Islanders could play a handful of regular-season games back at Nassau Coliseum once the arenas renovations are complete -- and at a reduced capacity than before -- Ledecky said that would be a decision made by the NHL.No team owner has the right unilaterally or otherwise to go to the National Hockey League and say Im playing games over here, Im playing games over there, he said. Thats not an issue were involved in. Thats an issue the folks would have to take up with the commissioner.Vente Air Max Pas Cher . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Air Max Pas Cher Livraison Rapide .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. http://www.pascherairmaxchine.fr/ . Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. Site Air Max Pas Cher Chine . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Air Max Pas Cher Livraison Gratuite . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said.ZURICH -- Sepp Blatter has been expelled from FIFA but not eradicated from its headquarters.A swift left turn after entering FIFAs slate-walled lobby in Zurich still takes visitors to the place where footballs disgraced self-styled godfather is forever president. A plaque of infamy commemorates the FIFA leadership on the day their gleaming global base opened in 2007. Now it provides a snapshot of a sullied era in soccer governance, with six of seven vice presidents serving under Blatter on that May day since implicated in wrongdoing or banned outright from the sport.FIFA is still trying to shake off the toxic legacy of Blatter, whose 17-year presidency was abruptly halted last October as the extent of his financial misdemeanors started to unravel. The first seven months of Gianni Infantinos presidency have seen the charge sheet against his predecessor grow even as the new leader embarks on a mission to clean up the organization and rebuild trust.And yet Infantino shuffles in his seat when Blatters name is raised during an Associated Press interview, seemingly reticent to join the chorus of those condemning the man revered for so long by soccer leaders globally.Thats not my job to do that, Infantino responded when asked to assess how damaging Blatter was to FIFA. There is an ethics committee looking at this.Asked whether the 80-year-old Blatter should face jail, Infantino responded: I dont want to comment on the past. The facts speak for themselves.Already serving a six-year ban for authorizing an improper payment of 2 million Swiss francs to Michel Platini (one of those now discredited former vice presidents), Blatter is under further investigation for bribery and corruption by the FIFA ethics mechanisms he created. He is also a suspect in a Swiss criminal case but denies wrongdoing.FIFAs own lawyers said in June that Blatter and two colleagues gained improperly through annual salary increases, World Cup bonuses and other incentives exceeding 79 million Swiss francs over five years.Infantino, a Swiss-Italian law graduate, is more guarded than FIFAs own lawyers, withholding a verdict on Blatter until a forensic and financial audit is complete.There will be conclusions of this audit on what went wrong and why things went wrong and on what we have to do to improve things here in the future, Infantino said during an exclusive 30-minute interview -- held in a subterranean lounge at FIFAs Swiss fortress-like HQ where his finger print was required for entry.What concerns the past, there are people are dealing with. I have to make sure in the future wrongdoing doesnt happen anymore in FIFA and around FIFA.That isnt easy when Infantino in February inherited a workforce inevitably packed with Blatter loyalists, staff resistant to change or those still disgruntled at being cut out of the decision-making process. Some executives were dismissed as Infantino cleared out the old guard.When you have to embrace such significant reforms, its obviously normal you get some blowback and turbulence, Infantino said. The worst for a human being is to change his habits. Its obvious some people were not happy but we have to move on.Infantino feels ready to declare: There is a change now in the culture.The vast majority is embracing the change, he added, for a more flat organization where discussion and debate is not prohibited but is open.And yet for months, while striving to instill a new adherence to ethical business practices, Infantino was himself under investigation by FIFAs ethics prosecutors.Infantino has dismissed as orchestrated hysteria claims of excessive spending billed to FIFA for rental cars, a private driver, a tuxedo, flowers and a mattress for his FIFA-owned apartment in Zurich, and a step machine for his office. A FIFA ethics court, which looked into Infantinos use of private flights to visit Pope Francis at the Vatican, Vladimir Putin in MMoscow and the Emir of Qatar, found that no rules had been broken.ddddddddddddThe damaging leaks, which emerged in early June after a shaky first congress in Mexico for Infantino, seemed intended to paint him as unscrupulous as the old regime.The perception was also fed by those who did not want change to happen -- you cant make omelets without breaking eggs, he said. You learn always from everything you do. Im certainly not someone who has never made mistakes. I am certainly not immune from making mistakes. What is important is to always do things with conviction.The 46-year-old Infantino is FIFAs accidental president. His campaign was only launched on the back of Platini being suspended with Blatter last year, emerging from the shadow of his former boss at European soccers governing body to lead the global game.As UEFAs top administrator, Infantinos moments in the limelight came when hosting Champions League draws while his day-to-day work was in the background, implementing Platinis policies. The two men ended up on the same plane from Switzerland to the UEFA Congress in Athens this week, when onlookers were quick to spread word of their lack of interaction.Before the plane we shook hands, said Infantino, who occupies the job that Platini, the former France captain and coach, craved for so long.Assuming the leadership of the worlds most popular sport and World Cup organizer hasnt been comfortable for Infantino.One other thing that did surprise me, beside the tough opposition, was the public scrutiny that you are faced with, Infantino said. You learn to deal with this, to be maybe a bit more sensitive.Apart from swelling the World Cup by eight teams to make it a 40-country competition and taking about changes to the Olympic football competition, Infantino is still short of detail about his plans for FIFA -- beyond overseeing its clean-up.And there is wariness not only about condemning Blatter but also Russia, host of the 2018 World Cup, over a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation which exposed a state-sponsored doping scheme that included football,Its not my job to judge this report, Infantino said.Lets work in a positive sense in this direction rather than trying to undermine the World Cup, he added, while backing Russias sports minister, Vitality Mutko, implicated in the doping program. Mutko denies any wrongdoing.When it comes to threats by Europes elite clubs to form a breakaway Super League or world competition, Infantino sidestepped the chance to assert FIFAs authority and warn them to remain in the existing structures.Instead, Infantino has prioritized enhancing FIFAs relations with clubs, hosting Barcelonas president in Zurich on Thursday to re-establish relations after two years following the Spanish champions transfer ban in 2015.Asked if the tax fraud conviction for Barcelonas star player, Lionel Messi, should prevent him being crowned world player of the year again by FIFA, Infantino said: It has nothing to do with his performances on the pitch. Messi has said he is appealing the Spanish courts deicsion.Infantinos public replies and actions ooze caution in marked contrast to the shoot-from-the-hip Blatter, whose staff would be on tenterhooks, fearing a gaffe or controversial statement, when he faced the media.I dont work with threats, Infantino says of his leadership style. I work much more on dialogue and finding common solutions with everyone.Infantino cannot afford to offend the global game. He is only completing Blatters ill-fated fifth, four-year term that started in May 2015 and has to seek re-election in less than three years.The time is not enough to do all the things I would like to do, Infantino said.---Rob Harris at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports ' ' '