Amid calls for the team to return on a temporary basis, the NHL is not ruling out the possibility of future New York Islanders games at Nassau Coliseum.
Long term, the Islanders are focusing on Belmont Park, where the team’s bid to build a new arena was recently approved. While the Islanders are expected to remain at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center through at least the 2018-19 NHL season, they may need a temporary home after that, as the new Belmont Park arena is not expected to open until at least 2020.
Some, including New York governor Andrew Cuomo, have called on the NHL and the Islanders to consider playing games at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on a temporary basis. The facility was home to the Islanders from 1972-2015, and reopened last spring after an extensive renovation. On the prospects of the Islanders using Nassau Coliseum, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in an email to Newsday on Tuesday that he “wouldn’t rule it out as a possibility. ” More from Newsday:
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league is open to the Islanders playing games at Nassau Coliseum while the team’s arena at Belmont Park is being built.
“I wouldn’t rule it out as a possibility,” Daly told Newsday in an email Tuesday.
Commissioner Gary Bettman previously said the Coliseum wasn’t a viable option for the Islanders, even on a short-term basis. But last month he indicated a willingness to revisit that after some playful pressuring from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo at the Islanders’ Belmont Park news conference.
Nassau Coliseum reopened with a naming rights deal that makes it known as NYCB Live, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and features a reduced seating capacity since the renovation. It has been used for a variety of events, and is currently the home of the Long Island Nets of the NBA Gatorade League.
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