In February 2009, local media speculated that
Charles Wang, frustrated with the slow pace of obtaining approval for the project from the
Town of Hempstead, would consider relocating the team. The team would become eligible to move when its lease with Nassau County ends in 2015. The Islanders played a 2009 preseason game in
Kansas City, Missouri, which was considered a possible candidate for relocation. There was also a movement to have the Islanders play adjacent to
Citi Field, the home ballpark of the
New York Mets baseball team, in the
Willets Point section of
Queens should the team leave Nassau County. Wang had said that he wanted the team to remain where it is, but also said that he would be forced to explore other options if significant steps were not made by the Town of Hempstead in regard to approving the project by October 2009. Local newspapers such as
Newsday and the
Daily News speculated that Wang would consider moving the team to an area such as Queens or
Brooklyn, where
Barclays Center was then being built for the
New Jersey Nets basketball team. Financing documents for the arena released in December 2009 indicated that “The New York Islanders could potentially become a tenant” at the Barclays Center. The Islanders' agreement with the
New York Rangers allows them to relocate anywhere on Long Island, including Brooklyn and Queens. In May 2009,
Newsday reported that Wang had subsidized the team by $208.8 million, an average of $23 million per year since buying it, beyond what he paid for it. Wang has denied the report. In May 2010, Mets COO
Jeff Wilpon had discussions with Wang about constructing a new arena for the Islanders near Citi Field. Wilpon has also discussed the possibility of buying the Islanders. In June 2010, the website
FanHouse reported that Jeff and
Fred Wilpon, the owner of the Mets, began working with real estate firm
Jones Lang LaSalle (who also worked on the renovation of
Madison Square Garden) on a feasibility study of a new Islanders arena in Queens. However, a source from
Newsday indicated that the FanHouse report was not true. There were also reports that businessman
Nelson Peltz wanted to buy the Islanders and move them to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. On July 12, 2010, Town Supervisor
Kate Murray (R-Hempstead) announced an “alternate zone” created for the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum property, downsizing the original Lighthouse Project to half its proposed size and making the project, according to Nassau County Executive
Ed Mangano and the developers, "economically unviable for both the developer and owner of the site." From this point, the Lighthouse Project would no longer be pursued by Wang, Mangano and the developers. On May 11, 2011, the Islanders and Nassau County executives announced that county residents would vote on a referendum for taxpayer funding for a new arena for the New York Islanders on August 1; on that date, county voters rejected a proposal for a new arena to replace the Nassau Coliseum. In 2017, a group led by the Islanders reached a deal to construct a new 18,000-seat arena at
Belmont Park. and split their schedule between Barclays Center and a recently renovated Nassau Coliseum on an interim basis until the completion of their new home,
UBS Arena, in November 2021. == References ==