Venue Spotlight

Location: Elmont, New York

Opening Day: November 19^th, 2021

Capacity: 17,255 (Ice Hockey) 18,500 (Concerts)

Teams: New York Islanders

Construction Cost: $1 billion

Website: https://ubsarena.com/

Facts

The newest addition to NHL arenas is none other than the new home for the New York Islanders, UBS Arena. UBS Arena is located within Belmont Park in Elmont, New York on Long Island. Some may be familiar with Elmont, because it is home to Belmont Park, which hosts the world-famous horse race, The Belmont Stakes. With its close proximity to the Triple Crown track, UBS arena took inspiration from Belmont’s red brick façade and arched windows. Being just East of New York’s city limits, the arena has also taken inspiration from many iconic New York landmarks including Central Park, Ebbets Field, Grand Central Terminal, and Prospect Park Boathouse. Inside the arena, there are 10 different bars for fans to choose from, including five for exclusively for premium ticket holders and a 100-foot long “tailgate bar” where fans can mingle. UBS also boasts more restrooms per person than any other arena located in Metro New York, so that means less time waiting in line and more time watching the action on the ice.

To provide any advantage they could, the architects decided to place the roof lower than what you would see in most modern arenas to keep the sound out of the rafters and more on the rink below. This design was also inspired by the Islanders former arena, the Nassau Coliseum, which many Islander fans hold dear to their hearts. With plans to be finished in 2022, the Elmont-UBS Arena LIRR train station will make it much easier to get to and from the arena on event days and should cut down traffic in the area. With so much going on in the Belmont Park redevelopment, UBS Arena should be a staple in this Eastern New York area for years to come.