Nassau County voters reject $400 million N.Y. Islanders arena bond plan

Uniondale is certainly not Hockeytown, USA.

Nassau County voters resoundingly voted down a $400 million bond plan pushed forward by the New York Islanders and Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano (R-Bethpage) to help finance a new arena to replace the aging Nassau County Memorial Coliseum.

Voters rejected the plan with a margin of 57 percent opposed to 43 percent in favor, according to the Nassau County Board of Elections.

The Islanders are under contract with the county to remain at the arena through 2015. The team had been receiving overtures by  Quebec City and Kansas City to relocate there if the replacement arena plan did not go through. A possible move to Brooklyn to the new Barclays Center was thwarted with the final design not able to accommodate a regulation ice rink.

The bond issue for the arena also would have required the approval of a state supervisory panel, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority – which controls the county’s finances – and a two-thirds vote by the county legislature. The county panel may take up the bond issue.

The Islanders won all four of their Stanley Cup titles from 1980 through 1983 and made the playoffs in 15 of their first 18 seasons after joining the National Hockey League in 1972.

While their championship total is tied for the sixth-most in N.H.L. history, the franchise hasn’t won a playoff series since 1993. It has ranked last in the league in attendance for three of the past four seasons.

Islanders owner Charles Wang threatened to relocate the team if a new arena isn’t built by the time its lease expires in 2015.

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