By Gordon Fisher
The four-time Stanley Cup winning New York Islanders will be officially returning to their roots in Long Island after the Empire State Development board unanimously approved a $1.3 billion project for the new arena to be built adjacent from Belmont Park racetrack, Crain’s reported.
The $1.3 billion project that will bring the NHL’s New York Islanders back to Nassau County — with a new hockey arena, hotel, and retail complex adjacent to Belmont Park.
The Islanders have played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn since 2015, a move that had not been warmly received by Islander fans, many who are in Long Island and Queens. This is due to the long commute and the poor site lines of the arena which was not designed for hockey. Serval thousand seats in the Barclay Center have obstructed view and are rarely sold.
While the Islanders have a nice sized fan base in Brooklyn, the Rangers have always been the more popular team in the 5 boroughs, even though the Islanders in their short 46 year existence have won 4 Stanley Cups, compared to the Rangers who have also won 4 Stanley Cups in a 93 year existence. The Rangers before winning the Cup in 1994, went 54 years without the hockey championship.
Before the move, the team played at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale since its opening in 1972. That rink is where fans watched an Islanders team win four straight Stanley Cups, from 1980 to 1983. Beginning in 2017, the Islanders began playing several games in Nassau Coliseum with approval from the NHL. The newly rebuilt Nassau Coliseum is now too small in capacity to be a permanent home for a professional hockey club.
“It’s time to rock and roll and put up that great building to have a home that we can call our own to keep the Islanders on Long Island,” Islanders co-owner John Ledecky said to the Long Island Press. “Because the fans deserve this”
The new arena is scheduled to open in the 2021-22 season. The state-of-the-art structure will sit on a 43-acre vacant plot of state-owned land in the unincorporated New York Community of Elmont, home to the historic Belmont Park racetrack, Crain’s explained.
Belmont Park officials are backing the arena project, hoping a new NHL hockey venue and accompanying retail offerings will attract new fans to the fading thoroughbred sport. Some Belmont Park races would temporarily be moved to nearby Aqueduct to accommodate construction.
The key approval follows last month’s announcement by state officials that a new Long Island Railroad station would be built to accommodate fans traveling to and from the arena.
The NY Islanders had an outstanding season last year, making it to the second round of the NHL playoffs and have a young and impressive hockey club.
