Mikhail Prokhorov is closing the Nassau Coliseum, per Patrick Clark of Bloomberg.com. Nassau Coliseum, of course, is where the Islanders play their home games. They had planned to make Nassau their home again for the 2020-2021 season.
Onexim Sports and Entertainment currently runs the arena, Clark explains, but they’ll be looking for someone else to take over operational and fiscal responsibility of the venue moving forward. In a statement quoted by Clark, Onexim said this of their decisions: “The unforeseeable and unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has had a devastating effect on the operations of the Coliseum and its finances. While we still believe in the enormous long term economic value of the Coliseum and the development of the surrounding land, we recognize that such value will be best realized by other parties.”
The Islanders may have to find a new home for the 2020-2021 season, but it may just be a matter of time until someone else takes over the lease. The Islanders played in Brooklyn previously, but the relationship wasn’t a fit for either party, inspiring the Islanders to move back to Nassau.
The Islanders are constructing their own space in Belmont Park, Clark notes, which could create competition for Nassau and make finding a new leaser all the more complicated. Of course, with the pandemic more or less halting all potential uses for a gaming and entertainment arena, there’s no shortage of potential roadblocks to getting Nassau up and running again. Regardless of what happens with Nassau, the Islanders had hoped to have the new arena ready by the 2021-2022 season.
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