Inside the new $1.5 billion UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., 18,500 fans scream in unison as they await Harry Styles. It’s Nov. 28, the last night of the “Watermelon Sugar” singer’s Love on Tour trek, and the first concert at the new venue, which took two years to build.
As Styles takes the stage, the screams become a deafening roar — a sound that must be music to the ears of executives from the company hosting him, Oak View Group. The global sports and entertainment company, founded in 2015 by CEO Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff, is part of a joint venture with Sterling Equities and NHL team the New York Islanders. Together, they make up the New York Arena Partners, which was established in 2017 to build the UBS Arena as part of the redevelopment of 43 acres of Belmont Park.
Related
Oak View Group is leading the venue’s development and operations, with input from Live Nation, which helped book 2022 dates for Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Imagine Dragons, Tool, Journey, John Mayer, Los Tigres del Norte, New Kids on the Block and Roger Waters. The arena will also serve as the Islanders’ home ice. (Leiweke is the former president/CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owned the L.A. Kings; while Azoff is a former chairman of MCA and Live Nation, co-owner of Global Music Rights and the longtime manager of the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Mayer.)
Trending on Billboard
OVG has eight divisions across six global offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Seattle, Austin and Philadelphia, with major development projects in Savannah, Ga.; Austin; Palm Springs, Calif.; Milan; and Manchester, England. Styles, who is managed by Azoff’s son Jeffrey, is an investor in OVG’s latest project, Co-Op Live, a sustainable, all-electric arena in his hometown of Manchester.
In the past year, UBS Arena’s sales and marketing arm, OVG Global Partnerships, secured naming rights deals for Austin’s Moody Center, Philadelphia’s Subaru Park and Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena. It also brokered the Belmont Park arena’s 20-year contract with Swiss bank UBS, and the venue’s brand partnership team secured over 60 corporate founding partners, including Verizon, Heineken, Hyundai, BMW, Ticketmaster and American Express.
The morning after Styles’ concert, UBS Arena’s core leadership team gather at the New York Stock Exchange to cheer on Tom Naratil, president of the Americas for UBS Bank, as he rings the opening bell alongside Leiweke, president of OVG facilities Hank Abate, UBS Arena president Tom Pistore and Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky.
Outside, a giant banner hangs from the façade of the exchange bearing the arena’s slogan, “Made for music, built for hockey.”
Located on the border of New York and Nassau County, the arena serves both Long Island and the nearly 2 million residents of Queens, the city’s fastest-growing and most diverse borough, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. It competes in the crowded New York market, which is already home to three major arenas: Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and Prudential Center in nearby Newark, N.J.
“You can get on a train and be here in 10 minutes,” says Allison Canzanella, vp marketing at UBS Arena, who is tasked with community outreach and fan engagement. “We’re trying to convince fans to go east instead of west. And if we can do that, it’s a game-changer for everyone.”
The new arena is not confined by the limitations of the team’s former home at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., says Mark Shulman, a longtime promoter with AEG and The Bowery Presents, who now serves as UBS Arena’s senior vp programming.
“We’re closer to a much more diverse population base being in proximity to Queens, Westchester, the Bronx and most of Brooklyn,” says Shulman. “Add in the availability of mass transit and there has never been a venue like this this close to the city, and that’s going to open up a lot of opportunities for us.”
The location is “key,” adds Tom Cerasoli, senior vp partnership activation for UBS Arena and the New York Islanders. “You have an incredible access point for every type of target demographic that you would want to hit, from the decision-makers in the financial world all the way to blue-collar, die-hard Islander fans.”
The venue is designed to cater to the demands of New York’s power brokers. “It’s one of the few opportunities I’ve had to create a new space that attracts this level of demand,” says Cerasoli, citing AmEx’s speakeasy-style lounge and VIP entrance that is exclusive to cardholders, and local institution Dime Community Bank, whose 1,300-member in-arena club allows for an intimate connection to the venue’s “premium customers and community leaders from the moment that they enter the building.”
Guests have access to ample concessions, two outdoor terraces and eight bars with views of the stage or ice. It also offers a tier of VIP suites and clubs inspired by classic New York locations such as Central Park, Grand Central Terminal and the Prospect Park Boathouse. The venue also features the largest scoreboard in New York, plus more restrooms per person than any arena in the metro New York area, according to OVG.
UBS Arena’s art deco-style architecture pays homage to its famous neighbor, the Belmont Park racetrack, home of the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown. Opening the building is the spacious Grand Hall, designed to resemble Manhattan’s Grand Central Station with its 35-foot-high ceiling, gold escalator bays and colorful murals. Each concourse level commemorates the region’s history with museum-style exhibits and giant portraits of past Nassau Coliseum performers such as Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles and Blondie’s Deborah Harry.
The arena was engineered with input by acoustical design consultant Wrightson, Johnson, Had-don & Williams (WJHW), which added elements that include sound-absorbing barriers below the roof deck and on vertical surfaces to soak up sound, and a “bass trap” in the ceiling bowl to bolster low-frequency sound. Its low-ceiling, wall-to-wall acoustic treatments and steep, up-close seating make every guitar riff, vocal inflection and drum solo sound crisp and natural. Its 360-degree stage helps give concertgoers a fully immersive experience, with sight lines that are “a product of the building’s tight design,” says Leiweke. “There’s not a single seat that is more than 130 feet from the stage.”
The arena’s state-of-the-art light rigging system can support 350,000 pounds of gear and includes a catwalk that gives crews and artists complete access to the ceiling. A 65,000-square-foot indoor loading space also allows direct access to the arena floor. “Load-in one of these big shows outside in the winter and you’ll understand why indoor loading is so important,” says Leiweke. “Harry Styles’ crew said it was the fastest load in and out of the tour.”
Safety features built with COVID-19 in mind include a 3,300-square-foot artist compound and private back-of-house bubble for talent and their crews that can be sealed entirely from the rest of the space.
UBS Arena’s goal is to be entirely carbon neutral in all operations by 2024 or sooner, which would make it the first arena to achieve this on the Eastern Seaboard, according to OVG.
The venue has also committed to being eco-conscious across its health and safety protocols, including the use of ultraviolet light technology and HEPA filtration sanitization methods to improve air quality; electric shuttles to and from the parking lots; 100% LED lighting; and the use of compostable paper and recycled aluminum at its concessions.
The arena partnered with concessionaire Delaware North to distribute unused food to local food banks after all events. And in partnership with green energy solutions company XL Fleet, it has mobilized a 1,000-strong electric vehicle charging site — the largest in the United States — which will serve EVs during events and off-days.
UBS Arena expects to create 10,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent jobs for the greater Long Island and tri-state region. By 2024, the project will produce over $850 million in annual economic activity and tens of millions of dollars in annual tax revenue for the regional economy, according to the New York State Department of Labor.
The venue is committed to hiring locals for 30% of its permanent jobs and will give 30% of its contracts and construction dollars to state-certified minority- and women-owned businesses. It also established a foundation to help disadvantaged groups overcome barriers to employment and career development locally.
The arena has invested $100 million in transit and infrastructure enhancements, including the first newly constructed Long Island Railroad station in almost 50 years. New York Arena Partners is also planning to build a 350,000-square-foot shopping center and 250-room hotel on site that will tie in the surrounding racing facilities.
“We want to bring fans here year-round,” says Leiweke. “You can explain it to someone, or you can show them what we’ve built. Once they step inside, the building does all the talking.”
This story originally appeared in the Dec. 18, 2021, issue of Billboard.
