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Islanders, SMG owe Nassau County nearly $4m in back rent, utilities
The New York Islanders and Nassau Coliseum 's management company, SMG, owe Nassau County as much as $3.8 million in unpaid rent, utilities and other expenses for the Coliseum dating back to at least 2011, records show.
The county has written to Islanders senior vice president Michael Picker seeking payment of the monies twice in the past 12 months -- in February 2012 and on Feb. 22 of this year, according to documents. The most recent letter, written by the county's real estate office after Newsday asked about the bills, detailed two years of expenses that had not been paid. The unpaid bills include $607,502 in rent and more than $2.4 million in electric bills. In addition, the hockey team and SMG have not yet paid the county its share of concessions and parking revenue.
The letter states that Nassau may owe the Islanders and SMG for repairs the team has made to the county-owned Nassau Coliseum , the Islanders' arena in Uniondale . But the letter to Picker, written by the county's acting director of the Division of Real Estate Services, Michael J. Kelly, says the debts outpace anything the county might owe by at least $2 million.
Jeesh, this is a storied franchise who is making a bad name for itself on its own. Get some good owners fellas and deal with this black hole; the sport, your team and fans deserve it.
Jeesh, this is a storied franchise who is making a bad name for itself on its own. Get some good owners fellas and deal with this black hole; the sport, your team and fans deserve it.
The owner isn't the problem. He has bent over backwards and spent a lot of his own money to keep the team from leaving the area. Mike Francesa said it best about Wang as he knows him very well, "He has lost his shirt with this team. But, the man does have a lot of shirts."
