The Islanders yesterday unveiled renovations at Northwell Health Ice Center at Eisenhower Park, and co-Owner Jon Ledecky said that he "wants the state-of-the-art training facility to be a template for what the team hopes will be a new arena" at Belmont Park, according to Marcus & Rose of NEWSDAY. The Islanders said that the upgrades at the practice center on Long Island cost $3M. Ledecky said, "It’s a recruitment process. You bring a free agent in and he sees this facility and his family sees the facility, the agent for the player sees what we’ve done. It provides them with a completely different view of the Islanders ... It’s part of the recruitment process to provide the best facility you can." Ledecky said that the renovations were also an "effort to change the perception of the franchise." The practice facility is "owned by Nassau County and leased by the Islanders." Meanwhile, Ledecky said that the state has "not provided a timetable" on the team’s RFP at Belmont, which was submitted on Sept. 28 (NEWSDAY, 11/1). Ledecky said he is focused on being “very respectful of the process.” He said between now and Jan. 31, the Islanders and Barclays Center will remain in “good faith” negotiations about how to end their 25-year lease. In N.Y., Brett Cyrgalis notes if the Islanders were "able to put a shovel in the ground tomorrow for the Belmont site, the very earliest they could play there would be" the '20-21 season. That leaves the '19-20 season as a "gap year with no set home, and that’s likely the biggest sticking point with negotiations in Brooklyn" (N.Y. POST, 11/1).
