Jim Baumbach of Newsday reports that the decision regarding a potential new home for the New York Islanders at Belmont Park is expected on Wednesday morning. The Islanders are competing with MLS franchise New York City FC for rights to build a new facility in the area.
Fans of the hockey team have been following the story closely, as the future home is expected to be an influencing factor in the decision of John Tavares this summer. Tavares is a pending unrestricted free agent, and has said that he’d wait to see what kind of plan the team had for a new building before making any decision. The 27-year old superstar would be arguably the biggest name ever to hit free agency, and could potentially break Connor McDavid’s $12.5MM cap hit as the league’s highest-paid player.
A new arena would go a long way for the Islanders, who admitted they don’t have a “Plan B” behind the Belmont proposal. While that demonstrates the confidence they have that the city will award them the site, NYCFC has a strong proposal of their own. When the decision is made, we’ll know more about how the Islanders plan to go about construction, and whether they’ll use the upcoming Janurary deadline to opt out of the current lease at Barclays Center.