It’s official. We have a name for Belmont Park Arena. Union Bank of Switzerland, also known as UBS, has agreed to a long-term deal for the naming rights to Belmont Park Arena. The 20-year agreement will now result in the arena being named UBS Arena. This is an interesting choice as an arena name as UBS, in recent memory, has not been involved in naming rights to American arenas and stadiums. The company’s US headquarters are in New York City, but they have offices in New Jersey and Stamford, CT. Although, this could mean that they could get involved more in the future.
When it comes to the Islanders, this means that their new arena follows in the footsteps of their two current homes, in NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and Barclays Center, in securing naming rights from a major bank. Coincidentally, the arena names for their affiliates in the AHL with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (Webster Bank Arena) and the ECHL with the Worcester Railers (DCU Center) are also banks.

Alongside this, the Islanders announced that deposits are opened for tickets to the new arena. It will be interesting to also see what type of events will come to the arena as the support to build a state-of-the-art arena on Long Island has been there for many years, and there is a lot of excitement surrounding the Islanders’ new home. This comes after many attempts of giving the Islanders a new home in scenarios such as the Lighthouse Project and the move to Barclay’s Center. The location is also beneficial as there is an airport nearby in JFK Airport, and the LIRR is working on expanding the train station there to a full-time stop.
Overall, Islanders fans are excited about the name as well as the fact that this means that the New York Islanders are one step closer to moving into an arena that they are expected to call home for the long haul in UBS Arena.

Christian Gardecki

A Native of Danbury, CT. Christian is one of the longest tenured Drive4Five writers, Christian Gardecki began writing for Drive4five In May of 2017. Christian covers Minor League Hockey and the Bridgeport Islanders for Drive4Five. Outside of Drive4Five, Christian was the captain of his High School Hockey team and currently attends Hofstra University with a major in journalism. Christian was the play by play broadcaster for the Danbury Westerners summer collegiate baseball team during their 2021 NECBL Championship. Christian also was the Public Address Announcer for the Danbury Hat Tricks Minor Pro Hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League and NAHL Junior team from 2019-21.