Islanders Owner Charles Wang "wants to keep the franchise" in Nassau County, but he said without a new arena, the team "certainly cannot stay" after its lease with the county expires in '15, according to Ted Phillips of NEWSDAY. Nassau residents on Aug. 1 will vote on whether to approve a "$400 million bond issue to finance a new" Nassau Coliseum and ballpark to be repaid over 30 years with interest. Wang: "It's so important to do this for Long Island. It won't solve all our problems, but without it the future is bleak. ... We believe that we're a catalyst. If we can be that catalyst to start the rebuilding of Long Island, that's what we're trying to do." County taxpayers "would be borrowing the money to build" the facilities, but Wang said, "I am paying for the arena." Under the proposed deal, the "team would make rental payments" to the county. Upon completion of the new Coliseum, the Islanders would "stay for 30 years under the terms of a non-relocation agreement that won't be" completed until after the Aug. 1 referendum. Wang said that he "needs to start construction by next June to complete the facility" by '15. If he cannot get approvals in place by that date, Wang said he will have reached "the end of the road" in his effort to redevelop the Coliseum site. He added that the new lease he has negotiated with Nassau County Exec Edward Mangano "is 'plan A' and there is no plan B." Wang "wouldn't say whether he was in talks about relocating if the referendum fails." He said that he "has spent millions trying to upgrade" the Coliseum, adding that the facility is "so run down that top players have rejected offers from the team because of it. " Although singer Rihanna held a concert at the Coliseum last week, Wang said that "some top musical talent, which he didn't identify, has refused to appear in the arena because of its condition." The arena "had 116 events last year, not counting those at the exhibition hall, compared with about 200" at Newark's Prudential Center (NEWSDAY, 7/24).
