Islanders fans blame team's poor play for 4-year low in UBS Arena attendance

The Islanders season ended with a whimper Thursday night — no playoffs, poor performance down the stretch and, in the biggest drop yet at the team's four-year-old arena, attendance numbers that reflect a fan base losing confidence in the team.

"People have lost hope," said Robert Nelson, 56, a lifelong fan from New Hyde Park.

The Islanders averaged 15,979 fans per game in the team's 41 home games this season at the 17,255-seat arena. That’s a 3.5% drop from last season’s average of 16,558 and the lowest total in the four seasons at the $1.1 billion UBS Arena in Elmont.

"I’m coming from Suffolk County, South Shore, and to come in and watch a product that’s subpar at times is frustrating," said Dean Clemente, 68, of West Sayville. "A lot of times, I would rather just sit and watch at home."

Attendance has dropped every year since the venue’s inaugural season in 2021, when the team averaged 17,085 per game. In the three seasons since, the Islanders have seen drops of 2.2% (374 fewer fans per game in the 2022-23 season), 0.9% (153 fewer fans the season after) and now an average of 579 fewer fans per game compared with last year. The NHL announced Friday it set a record for total attendance this season, topping 23 million fans for the first time in the 108-year history of the league.

Fans interviewed by Newsday said the team’s poor play helps explain the attendance drop, but also cite the parking, transit and traffic issues that plague the area, and the cost of attending games. The Islanders failed to make the playoffs for the second time in the venue’s four-year existence and lost in the first round the two times they did make it.

The Islanders, asked to comment about the drop in attendance, said through a spokesperson, "Islanders fans have been fantastic and closed out the season with a string of consecutive sellouts."

The team's final three home games were sellouts: the game in which Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky's career goal-scoring record on April 6, one against the Rangers on April 10, and Tuesday night's loss against the Capitals. 

Otherwise, attendance has lagged as the Islanders have spent most of the season trailing the top eight playoff teams in the Eastern Conference. The Islanders finished the season losing 11 of the final 14 games.

"When the team’s not doing too good, it’s less incentive to go out," said season-ticket holder Troy Cavanagh, of Islip. "In November, when the team wasn’t doing so well, not a lot of people were coming out to the games."

Questions linger about Lou

Islanders president/general manager Lou Lamoriello has been criticized by fans and media for giving long-term contracts to veterans who have underperformed in Scott Mayfield, Pierre Engvall, Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech. At the trade deadline, he opted not to trade veterans Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee, but did ship Brock Nelson to the Avalanche for a future first-round pick and forward Calum Ritchie (the 27th pick in 2023). The result is a team that lacks the speed and youth many of the league's top squads possess.

"Lou [Lamoriello] has hung on to the people that he has for way too long," Clemente said. "For the next couple of years, we're going to be pretty barren ... Hopefully, in my lifetime, it'll get a little bit better."

Lamoriello took over as president of hockey operations in May 2018. The Islanders went to the playoffs for the first three years of Lamoriello's tenure and came within one round of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in both 2020 and 2021.

Robert Nelson said Lamoriello deserves more time to turn things around.

"I feel like they had a lot of bad luck in terms of injuries," Nelson said. "I still find myself having faith in Lou somehow. I guess I'm an optimist."

Nelson was in attendance for the Islanders' 9-2 loss to the rival Rangers on April 10 — one where the Islanders' slim playoff hopes were all but extinguished.

The arena was awash in Rangers jerseys — about a 50-50 mix of fans of both teams — but the numbers shifted dramatically as the game went on: By the end of the first period, "Let’s Go Rangers" chants were drowning out Islanders chants, and by the second, about half the seats were empty for what was nominally a sellout.

"I hope Lou puts something into this [team] because you’re going to get more nights like this," Clemente said. "People, two years ago, would have jumped at getting a ticket for tonight, but you see [the poor] product and instead there are a lot of Rangers fans, which is disappointing." 

Traffic, transit woes

A 2024 Newsday survey of nearly two dozen fans, area residents and executives highlighted the issues that have plagued the arena. While the venue itself was called first-rate, fans spoke of heavy traffic congestion, inconvenient parking options and long lines for shuttles to the LIRR station and Emerald Lot, both about a half-mile away.

At the time, Tim Leiweke, the CEO of Oak View Group, which oversaw construction and is part of the UBS Arena ownership group, said traffic was expected because of the location and that "this has always been a 10-year vision. There will be a lot of bumps in the road as we go through other aspects of the campus."

UBS Arena was built and privately funded by New York Arena Partners, a joint venture between the Islanders, Oak View Group and Sterling Project Development, an affiliate of Sterling Equities. The arena is next to the Cross Island Parkway and Hempstead Turnpike,  about two miles north of the Southern State and Belt parkways and three miles south of the Grand Central Parkway.

The Belmont Park racetrack is undergoing a $455 million renovation and is set to reopen in 2026. The high-end shopping center across Hempstead Turnpike is open for business, listing 20 stores on its website, with promises of more opening soon.

The Thursday night Rangers game illustrates some of the traveling difficulties on event nights. Though the lopsided score meant many Islanders fans left early, getting to the LIRR after the final buzzer was still difficult. Fans who chose to walk in lieu of using the shuttle had to cross the Emerald Lot, stopping traffic for cars attempting to exit. They then had to proceed to the train. On this night, railroad workers warned a restless horde that they could not enter the already crowded platform for fear that someone would fall on the tracks.

When the train toward Ronkonkoma left, some were left waiting on the platform, though a second train came shortly after.

Nelson understands why some are hesitant to attend. 

"We don’t have a corporate crowd [like the Rangers]," Nelson said, "It’s a little easier [logistically] over there [at Madison Square Garden]. The better the Islanders are, the more full it’s going to be. It’s just a reflection of how the season is going."

Parking and the cost

Bruce Temple, a retired teacher from New Hyde Park, renewed his season tickets for next season after learning there would only be a mild cost increase compared with the 11% increase he was hit with last year.

For two tickets in Section 103 for 41 home games, Temple’s bill was $12,044, an increase of $164 over last season. It also included a $350 food credit for the first time. He was able to retain a parking spot in the nearby Belmont Park Garage at the same price — $32 a game, which is an additional $1,312 for the season.

This is a far cry from last year, when Temple almost didn't renew his tickets after being informed the garage spot would be taken away and he would be relegated to the far-away Emerald Lot. Temple said he was told the garage spot was needed for the nearby retail village. The Islanders eventually relented and Temple renewed despite the $1,320 increase in cost, from $10,560 to $11,880 for his two season tickets.

Overall, the Islanders are just below the NHL average when it comes to cost. A typical family of four would spend an average of $410.07 to attend a game last year, according to the most recent FanCost Index, which is compiled by Team Marketing Report, a Chicago-based sports business firm (the price includes tickets, parking and basic refreshments). The league average was $423.02.  

"I feel like quality of life on Long Island is very expensive so it’s hard to afford tickets here," said Gina Giambruno, of North Babylon. "The ticket prices have definitely gone up in the last year, so I think that’s a lot of the reason why."

Parking in the Emerald Lot costs $40 per game and the team encourages fans to buy those tickets in advance. There are four other lots closer to the arena. Those spots are available to purchase as part of season-ticket packages but can sometimes be found on the secondary ticket market.

"The parking prices got ridiculous," said Andrew Pezzella, of Baldwin. "We just don’t do it anymore. We did the first two seasons, and then we stopped."

Bob Barker, an Elmont community leader and head of the local civic association, said there has been an improvement in cracking down on eventgoers who try to avoid paying for parking by defying local ordinances and parking in front of homes.

"We still have people that are coming in and violating the parking signs," he said. "But the civic association has been working closely [with authorities] and the Fifth Precinct, who understand what we’re going through with the parking. It has gotten better with issuing tickets and violations but the primary thing is consistency."

Winning cures everything

Attendance woes are a sum of the issues plaguing the team, said Robert Boland, a law professor at Seton Hall University, where he concentrates on gaming, hospitality, entertainment and sports law.

"With a record that would be short of the playoffs ... a building still priced to recoup its costs of construction, and a location — that while closer to the Islanders’ traditional fan base isn’t exactly on it — still likely are the best explanations," Boland said via email.

There may be other underlying factors, Boland said: The Mets and Yankees both made deep playoff runs last October, a condensed fall and winter NHL schedule due to the 4 Nations Face-Off, and, in recent years, the NFL taking up more days and time slots than it originally did.

In the end, there’s one thing that could probably turn things around, Boland said, pointing to the recent success of the St. John's men's basketball team.

"Would several deep playoff runs reinvigorate the Isles' fan base? Probably so," Boland said. "I was at a sellout game between St. John’s and Creighton [this season], having no expectation of a full house and was shocked by the crowd. The Islanders are a team whose greatest success was 40 years ago and that played in Brooklyn for a period. [They] probably need to both reinvigorate and expand [their] fan base."

Fans agree.

"Last year, knowing they were going to the playoffs definitely boosted attendance," Joseph Jones, of Riverhead, said. "If the team’s better I think more people would be coming."

With Carissa Kellman

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.