Islanders’ new minority owner John Collins eyes hosting ‘tentpole’ events

John Collins was not looking to make an investment in a sports team.

That only ended up happening after he was approached by Scott Malkin about joining the Islanders’ organization. 

“It just evolved as part of the conversation,” said Collins, now the Islanders’ operating partner and a minority owner, in his first public comments Friday since making an investment in the franchise over the summer. “What level of commitment I wanted to make and really the role that Scott and Jon [Ledecky] felt I could bring to the club. So I’m happy to be part of this group. I think it’s among the best in the league. 

“Being able to also partner with Lou Lamoriello, a Hall of Fame GM and icon of the league, someone who I always admired and respected while I was at the league. I reached out to Lou a lot for help and for his perspective on things and so we built a really strong relationship. And so him being here as well is another reason to join the club.” 

Collins has a long history as an executive that includes a nearly 15-year run with the NFL and nine years with the NHL over which he was largely credited for creating the Winter Classic.

He most recently worked as the CEO for OnLocation Experiences and in the same role for Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp. 

“John’s résumé speaks for itself,” Ledecky said. “But to have a chance to reimagine this campus and reimagine hockey in New York is a great opportunity. … You have a guy with tremendous experience in knowing how to run large-scale mass events.” 

Collins’ role with the Islanders, in short, is to focus on business operations, including Friday’s occasion: the opening of The Park — a pair of outdoor rinks, beer gardens, food trucks and carnival games outside of UBS Arena that the Islanders hope will help get more people to games and spending more time on their Belmont Park campus. 

“Everything’s already here,” Collins said. “The arena’s here, it’s pretty nice. It’s year three and there’s a lot more still to go.” 

The Islanders are still quite proud of the $1 billion building that opened in 2021 as a long-sought replacement for Nassau Coliseum.

The hope is to eventually host some of the league’s flagship events — the All-Star Game or Winter Classic, for example — though that will require nearby hotels to be built. 

“We know what the league really would like for its big tentpole events,” Collins said. “Obviously, we’re in the Stadium Series, and it was important for us to show the league we could really activate like this. This was a Super Bowl, Winter Classic-esque fan festival that we’re doing out here in Belmont Park. 

“I think the league, they’ve been to the building. They, I think, appreciate the investment that was made by Scott and Jon and Dewey [Shea] in the building and OakView. We’re having active conversations about how we can be better partners for them and, by the way, they want to showcase hockey in New York.” 

It is an oversimplification to act as though things are perfect with the new arena.

Attendance is down slightly this season — which Ledecky attributed to oversaturation, with the Islanders having a lot of home games recently — while getting to the arena and parking remain a challenge (though the Islanders are happy with how many people are using the Long Island Railroad to make the trip). 

For a franchise that spent so long trying in vain to find a new arena, though, these are champagne problems. 

“This is as nice an arena or stadium as I’ve seen in the country,” Collins said, “and so the bar is raised.”