The Islanders have won the Belmont Park sweepstakes.
According to Newsday, the NHL team was told Tuesday that it had the winning bid to build a new arena in Elmont, N.Y.
The other finalist was New York City FC.
A press conference has been scheduled for Wednesday morning at the racetrack.
At a hearing at Elmont Memorial High School Dec. 10, NYCFC said its stadium would seat 26,000. It also would include 400,000 square feet of space for retail, a 5.2 acres community park and a two-acre soccer facility.
The MLS team has played at Yankee Stadium since its inception in 2015.
Belmont is not NYCFC’s top priority. The team is considering other possibilities, including the Harlem River Yards in the South Bronx, a spot near the stadium and in Flushing, Queens.
City and the Islanders were the only two bidders at Belmont, which is located mostly in Nassau County on Long Island. NYCFC would prefer to have a team in the five boroughs.
The Islanders have proposed an 18,000-seat arena, 435,000 square feet of space for retail, a hotel with 200 to 250 rooms and a 10,000-square foot “innovation center.”
The hockey team has played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. for the past three years.
For the original Newsday story, reported by Jim Baumbach and Robert Brodsky, visit:
https://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/islanders-new-arena-belmont-park-1.15519161