Belmont arena principals: Coliseum "past expiration date" before renovation; nearly 200 events expected; NHL-quality ice-making

A few choice quotes/details in the 9/16/20 Long Island Herald article, Construction continues on Belmont arena, one year after groundbreaking:

“We’re taking the best features of Nassau Coliseum” while improving on the aspects that fans didn’t like about the “old Barn,” Jon Ledecky, co-owner of the team, said in an interview with the Herald after the second period of Sunday’s NHL playoff game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, adding that the Coliseum was “past its expiration date” by the mid-1990s.

The implication: even after the Coliseum renovation, it wasn't good enough. The design includes more  lower bowl seats, more women’s restrooms, and bars facing the ice. 

How many events?

Also:

The arena will also host more than 150 events a year, and Irving Azoff, chairman of the Azoff Company, which represents recording artists, said in July that he expected it to draw musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Billie Eilish and Billy Joel. 

That implies a total of some 195 events a year, including home hockey games. (NHL teams have 41 home games, plus exhibition games and, potentially, playoff games.)  Keep an eye on that, since the number of events promised for the Barclays Center and the Coliseum was overhyped.

That said, the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the new arena, in the Socioeconomic Conditions chapter, predicted:

It is currently anticipated that the arena would host approximately 200 events per year, with over 75 percent of those events (approximately 150 events) occurring in the evenings. 

Better ice

From the article:

A new ice plant was delivered to the site on Aug. 17, with steel piping for the ice instead of the plastic piping at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Steel piping, Ledecky said, creates a smoother surface.

That's an understandable criticism of Barclays, which was not designed for NHL hockey and thus had cheaper ice-making equipment, which made for rougher ice.