New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made it official today, announcing that the Islanders will be returning to the Nassau Coliseum for half of their home games over the next three seasons.
In the team's second arena announcement in as many months, Cuomo said that the new arena at the Belmont site will be ready for the start of the 2021-22 season.
The Islanders will play 12 games at the Coliseum next season and 48 preseason and regular season games in the following two seasons.
Perhaps the happiest person at the press conference today was Brett Yomark. “If the team wants to play more than half their games here, we encourage it and welcome them back,… said the CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which operates both Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum. I'm sure Yomark want the team to start playing at the Coliseum tomorrow night.
Yormark also said that the team will take back business operations control after the upcoming season, as per their original license agreement.
New York State is giving six million dollars to renovate the Coliseum to bring it up to NHL compliance, which will be invested in ice plant redundancy and dehumidification, as well as media and broacast cabling infrastructure.
The deal is contingent upon the Coliseum meeting league standards. NHL Comissioner Gary Bettman will have the final say in approving each year of this deal.
As for playoff games, Islanders owner Jon Ledecky says that will be up to the league. They cannot have split playoff game sites. That would put the team at a disadvantage.
John Tavares, along with Johnny Boychuk, Cal Clutterbuck, and Andrew Ladd were in attendance. Lets hope Tavares gets to play home games in the Coliseum next season.
Fans better line up for the bathroom now.