OPENING NIGHT REVIEW | UBS Arena
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- Опубліковано 14 лис 2024
- On November 20th, 2021 - The New York Islanders played their first game inside UBS Arena. The Islanders started the season with a 20 game road trip before finally moving into their state of the art Billion dollar facility.
The building looks amazing - some things missing IMO but there's not doubt fans ate it all up!
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I was at UBS for opening night. A few comments to your video:
Regarding player introductions, that afternoon 6 of our players were put in COVID protocol. That's a third of our lineup from Bridgeport now playing for Isles who would have had their names announced and everyone in the arena saying to themselves "Who?". So I think they just decided to skip individual player intros. Hopefully, later on in the season, they should have one game and call it Opening Night 2 to give all the guys a proper introduction.
Forget about fog, LED bracelets, laser shows, etc. The construction team needs probably another month to complete the arena. You would have no way of knowing, but the upper concourse has NO FLOOR TILING. The entire floor is just bare cement. But they just started the season with 13 road games and Lou Lamoriello would have shot someone if they delayed any more.
As a result, there was ZERO time for rehearsal which explains the uneven nature of the pre game ceremonies. The building manager said on a scale of 1 to 10, he was hoping for an 8. He got a 5.
Parking, especially leaving, was a disaster. No one knew where to go. But you have to anticipate that was bound to happen until people figure out where best to park their cars to get home most efficiently.
But putting all the problems aside, it was a great night for Islander fans and this franchise. This new building saga began 40 years ago when Bill Torrey first said we needed a replacement for the Coliseum during our run of 4 Cups. Through all the owners who cared about nothing more than developing the real estate, to con artist John Spano, to Charles Wang who moved the team to Brooklyn because he would not compromise on a scaled back development project, this franchise is finally on stable (literally) grounds. As much as we all loved the Coliseum with its history and great sight lines, the building was a relic from an era long passed.
Thomas. I was there too ... lower bowl ... between the right faceoff circle and Flames' bench. I had heard the murmurs about the Islanders' event staff scrapping the team introductions while walking the main concourse about 30 minutes before warmups. I knew there were a few players out due to COVID protocols, but had no idea they were down 7 roster players. It kinda was a buzz kill. Especially some long time players who suffered as we did, yet remained loyal.
Parking was as expected ... especially the incomplete south lot. Getting in wasn't to bad... getting out completely disorganized. One person directing traffic, until several parking agents ran into the mess trying to redirect traffic towards Hempstead TPK ... instead of the direct route to Cross Island ... yeah. Good luck with that in NY.
Yes ... the quest for a new building began in early 80s ... When I was studying architecture on LI in mid-late 80s I saw the mockup renderings of a renovated Nassau Coliseum it was nice and a huge improvement... However, after all these years, even that would be 2 generations behind what the UBS is today.
LGI!!
I was there opening night, and it was definitely awesome! Totally overwhelming and still doesn't feel real after all these decades of uncertainty.
I'd agree that the ceremony was a little underwhelming, but I'd be willing to bet they didn't do individual player intros because 50% of the lineup that fans came to see were out on COVID protocol. (Not to mention Lou's never really been one for pageantry, lol.)
I was there for night 2. It would be nice to continue with the on-ice projections and continue to elevate the islanders hockey experience. Agree with you about the fog and timing of players entrance
I've followed your progress on the new UBS Arena for over a year, so thanks for your coverage and work getting info.
I've caught myself several times since the announcement of the arena name calling it USB instead of UBS. Still always funny when I hear someone else say USB.
I mentioned in a reply below that they shortened the opening festivities, as others also stated. The Isles had about 1/3 of their roster out due to Covid protocols and 1 injury. They were given about 10 minutes to have an opening event by the league so it was logical to omit the team intros.
They Bobby Nystrom puck drop. Jiggs made reference to the famous call ... John Tonneli to Nystrom for the Isles first cup winning goal in OT back in 1980. During the puck drop, Jiggs said ... John Tonneli is going to recreate that famous pass ... John handed the puck to Nystrom after a pause, and Bobby Ny looked as if he wasn't expected to drop the puck for the ceremonial faceoff ... makes one wonder if that was a last minute addition. ALL GOOD FUN.
The building is so much larger than it seems on the webcam and other photos I've seen. Rarely shown interior shots of the arena from various posts don't due it justice. Wide and lots of room for concessions. Being there for opening night was special. That Heineken bar with the terrace shown on the exterior webcam is so much larger than it looks when you experience it in person.
I didn't get inside the team store as the line to get inside was about an hour long. When I went up to the main concourse after the 1st period there was still a line. Or maybe it built up fast again.
I give it an A+ ... Now the Isles just need their full team back on the ice to restore their competitiveness on the ice.
When you can take it on the road you should visit all 4 NHL arenas inside 150 KM from Isles' UBS to Flyers' Wells Fargo... Do an on location from each arena.
I have a feeling they were going to do player introductions, they always have for the Isles. But with big names and leaders like Lee, and Bailey being out they didn't want to introduce a bunch of call ups. Was likely a decision made the day of.
I've called it USB Arena by accident, though normally I just call it Belmont. Also I attended the second game there for the Islanders. As an Islanders fan it feels weird that that is home now. Will take a little getting used to. In terms of operation, there are still some things they need to figure out.
13 game road trip.
It was beautiful ether way we didn’t win it’s now home!
You should do AHL arenas now
At the entrance did they ask for COVID vaccination proof?
Yes. They had a stationss setup outside about 50 yards from entrance. One checked VAX cards, another line checked Covid test docs.
Wait till the first Rangers game there.
I'll be there for AEW Dynamite on Dec 8
I appreciate the devotion to making these videos, but my man when you do these you have to get the Basic Info right. Not 20 game road trip, it was long but it was 13 games spanning over 6 weeks. And the Coliseum did have major renovations. Millions of dollars before they moved back there after Barclays. Gotta research man
Including preseason - 18 games. Rounded up a touch. We’ll split the difference and say - who cares. 😂
And the recent renovations were made after they were supposed to have left to Barclays for “good”. But because they failed so badly at Barclays and pressure from local politicians that lobbied to have them split games at Nassau/Barclays etc - I don’t really count the recent major renovation. If you watch my other video on Nassau/Barclays you can catch my other research - it’s not bad from somebody from Edmonton. 😉
NVMC definitely had renovations, not sure I would call them "major". I think it was about $100M which in real estate investment terms, is a rounding error for most high end renovations. In fact, a lot of people asked "where did the money go?". All we wanted was a wider concourse and shorter lines to the bathrooms. All we ended up with was fewer seats. Billy Joel commented that the exterior of the arena now looked like a bag of Jiffy Pop.....and he was right!!!
@@dannygigante3970 knowing how passionate people are from New York - I could only imagine fans being super pissed about a team from Long Island playing in Brooklyn. Haha
@@frogger1952 Yes ... I think a large majority of that Barclays era renovation went into the exterior façade that no fan had ever complained about. Poor waste of money to make the exterior look like a Jiffy Pop space ship.
@@_TheRinks ... Yes ... Barclay was a logical stop gap till a permanent solution could happen closer to their traditional home base of fans. The irony is that Barclays and Brooklyn technically are on / part of the geographic Long Island. In fact the Battle of Long Island during the Revolutionary War occurred on the grounds where Barclays is today ... just not the typical political / cultural territory of Long Island. The new UBS arena's perimeter road actually encroaches over the Queens / Nassau Cty. border, grazing the SW corner of the arena. But I get it. Nassau / Suffolk are the Island.
UBS Stinks, Im a 35 min drive that took me 2 hours to get in, parking SUXS, handicap parking is 3/4 mile away. Shuttle bus to the rear of ubs, you had to walk around to building in the elements and the only entrance is in the front (SUXS). Not impressed with the arena, lots of food and bars, Nothing else, did not see one place to buy a hat except for the team store (which is Packed). Seats had more room and the suites are just like any other. Due to traffic issues I will not be going back any time soon. Miss the Colie