NHL commish pushes for deal on Islanders
Owner Charles Wang said Tuesday "I want to keep [the Islanders] on Long Island. That's where we belong." (Sept. 21, 2010) Credit: John Dunn
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Friday that Islanders owner Charles Wang wants to stay on Long Island and that the team and public officials need to ratchet up talks in the next year about where the franchise will play.
"With the lease [at Nassau Coliseum] expiring in four years, with the change in [Nassau County's] administration, I think [team owner] Charles Wang is in a bit of a quiet period. He's tried everything and been unsuccessful at getting . . . [Nassau] County and Town of Hempstead on the same page," Bettman said at a meeting with Associated Press sports editors in Manhattan. "With four years to go on the lease -- and Wang has said repeatedly he intends to honor the lease -- then we probably need to get more serious and focus on this in about a year."
The Lighthouse Project -- Wang's massive redevelopment plan that included a new arena for the Islanders -- is all but dead, but Bettman said the owner remains committed to remaining on Long Island.
In July, the Town of Hempstead announced a zoning plan that was about half the density of the $3.8-billion Lighthouse Project. Wang's group said at the time the plan "did not achieve the goals of the county and the developer."
Responding to Bettman, Kate Murray, the Town of Hempstead supervisor, said in a statement: "We are on track to present and consider a dynamic zone for the property surrounding the Nassau Coliseum to the Hempstead Town Board in an upcoming June meeting. I hope that Mr. Wang will take advantage of my invitation to come in and review the proposed zone."
Murray was referring to Hempstead's "dynamic zone" plan proposed in July for the property surrounding the Coliseum and which will be presented to the town board in June.
The Shinnecock Nation and Nassau County were working on a deal that could lead to the tribe buying and developing about 40 acres of county-owned land for a casino adjacent to the Coliseum, a person with knowledge of the talks told Newsday this week.
An Islanders spokesman declined to comment and a call to Wang's office was not returned.
Given what Bettman described as a "well-documented lack" of progress on Wang's pursuit of a new venue, relocation might be the only other option for the Islanders. Bettman hopes that is a last resort.
Brian Nevin, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, said, "The county executive has made it a priority to retain the Islanders and create jobs by jump-starting development at the site of Nassau Coliseum."
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