NHL commish slams Hempstead over Lighthouse Project

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman Monday criticized the Town of Hempstead in a radio interview, saying Charles Wang's frustration over the pace of his Lighthouse project could ultimately lead him to move the Islanders elsewhere.

In his first public comments regarding potential landing spots for the team, Bettman questioned the viability of Brooklyn, while slightly opening the door to a move to Queens, saying the borough was home to Islanders' fans. Previously, sources have said the arena developer Bruce Ratner is planning in the Atlantic Yards area in Brooklyn could be a home for the Islanders.

"It's unfortunate that, for whatever reason, the governing bodies on Long Island can't seem to get their act together," he said on WFAN. "At some point, I suppose Charles Wang is going to lose patience and decide . . . there has to be something he can do somewhere that will make sense."

Last week, the Hempstead Town Board approved a plan for the town to pay a consulting firm to study different development proposals for the publicly owned land around the Nassau Coliseum, where Wang's Islanders play their home games and where Wang has proposed a large-scale development project complete with high-rise buildings. At a news conference, Supervisor Kate Murray said the consultants would propose a "scaled-down" version of Wang's plans by early summer.

In response to Bettman's comments, Michael Deery, a spokesman for the town, said: "It was the Town of Hempstead that jump-started the Lighthouse Project, which was all but abandoned by the Lighthouse group, so if anybody is working to move this process forward, it's the Town of Hempstead."

Wang could not be reached for comment Monday. In a radio interview on Feb. 6, he said he has been exploring his options outside of Nassau County.

In his interview with WFAN, Bettman seemed to rule out Brooklyn as a home for the team.

"The bigger point is, does it make sense based on where the Islanders hockey fan base is to go to Brooklyn? . . . I don't know the answer to it," he said. "I think most [Islanders] hockey fans are based in either Queens or Nassau or Suffolk. . . . I think Charles' preference, and I know it is, would be to keep the Islanders in a place where Islanders' fans - current Islanders' fans - would be able to continue to go to the games."

Enter Willets Point? The New York City's Economic Development Corp. is expected to issue a Request for Proposals for a 62-acre tract of land sometime this year. On the surface, the site would seem to be an attractive alternative for Wang because it is large enough to fit most of the Lighthouse plans, including an arena for the Islanders.

A spokesman for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said neither the mayor nor other City Hall officials have spoken to Wang about moving the Islanders to the city. Jack Friedman, the executive vice president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, who has been outspoken about his desire to bring the Islanders to Willets Point, said Monday that neither Wang nor his staff has returned his many phone messages.

Aside from Willets Point, a move to Kansas City remains an option because the city opened a new arena in 2007 and has been actively seeking an anchor tenant ever since. The arena, called Sprint Center, is operated by AEG, which also owns the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.