Islanders reveal proposal for Belmont Park arena

The New York Islanders' plan for a new home took a rather large step this past weekend.

The Islanders unveiled their arena proposal for Belmont Park, which is located about 20 minutes west of their old home, Nasseau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in a hearing Sunday.

Their plans include an 18,000-seat arena that would host 150 events per year, a 200 to 250-room hotel, 435,000 square feet of space for retail, and a 10,000 square-foot "innovation center" that would be developed with input from residents, according to Newsday.

Here's a visual of their proposal:

The Isles called The Coliseum home from 1972 to 2015, and are currently in their third year playing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which not only is located inconveniently away from the roots of the team's fanbase, but was intended to be a basketball facility only, causing both poor sight lines for fans and an ice surface that has drawn numerous complaints from players.

The issue for the Islanders is that MLS' New York City FC is also competing for the land at Belmont Park for a stadium of their own. They also submitted their proposal at Sunday's hearing:

Neither team's presentation included costs or financing.

An audience member asked if both teams could share the site, but the Islanders and NYCFC agreed it wasn't feasible to build two major facilities on the 43 acres of state-owned land.

Empire State Development has provided no timeline for its decision, which could make things tricky for the Islanders given that they have until January to opt out of their 25-year lease at the Barclays Center.