It was unveiled in '09 that Wang paid $208.8M over his tenure to keep the team afloatGETTY IMAGES
The Islanders' planned new arena at Belmont Park is the result of former owner Charles Wang’s "behind-the-scenes efforts lobbying all parties about the potential of the site," according to Jim Baumbach of NEWSDAY. Wang, who died yesterday at age 74, tried "for a decade to build a new arena for the Islanders at the site of the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale." Wang in '12 "abruptly announced a deal that would move the team to Brooklyn beginning" in '15, but he privately "never gave up working on a return home." Islanders co-Owner Jon Ledecky, who along with Scott Malkin took control of the team in '16, said, "The arena at Belmont Park will be just one of his many legacies left to the team and to Long Island.” It is anticipated to open in October '21. NYRA BOD member Michael Dubb said that he "brought the idea of an Islanders arena at Belmont to Wang" near the end of '15. Dubb: “He always felt the team was a Long Island team and belonged here. Charles deserves all the credit. The Islanders don’t come back to Long Island without Charles.” Baumbach notes Wang "often is credited with saving the Islanders simply by purchasing them in 2000 when their financial footing was perhaps at its bleakest." The majority of Wang's years at the helm "weren’t good ones for the Islanders, not in the standings, and not from a financial perspective." It was unveiled in '09 that he paid $208.8M -- an average of $23M per year -- to "keep the team afloat" (NEWSDAY, 10/22).
