Islanders Want Out Of Coliseum

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 9, 1998 / 11:41 PM EDT / CBS Sportsline

The New York Islanders want to break their lease at the Nassau Coliseum, claiming that the arena managers have a "disregard for public safety."

The Islanders announced Wednesday they have filed suit against SMG, manager of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, claiming "constructive eviction" because of various safety problems.

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The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District, sought a declaration that the Islanders have no further obligation under the Coliseum lease by virtue of having been evicted due to SMG's failure to maintain the arena in a safe condition.

In addition, the Islanders sought punitive damages of at least $10 million because of "SMG's brazen conduct knowingly jeopardizing the public safety and breach of its fiduciary duties."

SMG officials couldn't be reached for comment.

The Islanders, hoping to build a new arena within the next three years on the same site, have played in the Coliseum since 1972. Their lease at the Coliseum runs through 2015.

The building has "fallen into a state of disrepair so extreme ... that the condition of the Coliseum is not simply inadequate, it is unsafe, creating a risk of serious personal injury to the occupants of the facility," the Islanders said in their complaint.

Among the Islanders' concerns was the hoist system that held the center-ice scoreboard, which they said "presented a safety risk." The Islanders said that SMG failed to respond to their requests that it replace the hoist system.

"SMG knows that the hoist was below industry standards," said Gary Lewi, a spokesman for New York Sports Ventures, the corporate parent company of the Islanders.

Among other areas specified as unsafe by the Islanders: the dasherboards that ring the rink, which they described as too rigid; the height of the glass around the rink; the condition of the Coliseum's passenger elevators; the "deteriorating condition" of the arena rof, the Coliseum's seats and the "disrepair of the Coliseum's bathrooms."

"When it became obvious that the fans needs weren't being met (last season), the Islanders brought in portable bathrooms," Lewi said.

Lewi said the Islanders were "aggressively looking at options" for a new arena to play in this season.