Video, B-Roll, Audio, Photos, & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Cuts Ribbon on UBS Arena — New Home of the New York Islanders

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the opening of UBS Arena, which will bring the New York Islanders back home to Long Island. The new arena marks a major milestone in the overall $1.3 billion Belmont Park Redevelopment Project, which is transforming 43 acres of underutilized parking lots into a premier sports and hospitality destination. In addition to being the new home for the New York Islanders hockey team, the UBS Arena will feature concerts, live entertainment and other events throughout the year. Future phases of the Belmont Park Redevelopment Project will include a 350,000 square-foot destination entertainment and retail complex, a 250-key hotel and a community center. In addition, two rehabilitated local parks will reopen to the public in the coming months. Construction of all the project components is expected to create 10,000 jobs and generate $2.7 billion in economic activity for Nassau County.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

B-ROLL of the USB Interiors is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:

Thank you. Thank you, my friends.

I have one word to describe this place. Wow. This is spectacular. I am a huge sports fan, I've been in plenty of arenas, and this is as good as it gets. And I want to thank everyone, the true believers, who helped us write the screenplay for the 2021 edition of miracle on ice. You are witnessing the miracle on ice right here because you got it done in two years during a pandemic. This to me, my friends, is awesome.

So many people to thank. First of all, Kevin Law, thank you for your leadership as head of the Long Island Association for many years, but also as our incoming Chair of Empire State Development. Yes, we're going to do great things and I have you there to make sure we never forget Long Island. So, that's Kevin's job right there.

Hope Knight who has established herself as a true leader already, understands the area. We can lift up small businesses and use the power of government to help people achieve their dreams. Hope Knight, the new head of Empire State Development.

And so many people that I'll be mentioning in a couple of minutes, but I'm also going to do a point of personal privilege like Kevin did. In my family, if you want to see me, you have to go to an event. My daughter, Katie wanted to see her mom. I said, okay, you're going to come with me and open up an arena. Katie Hochul the first daughter of New York.

This truly is transformative. And to see that this is now the epicenter of everything fun and cool on Long Island. It's not just about the exciting hockey games, and I love going to hockey games, but it's also the synergy that's created here with the races at Belmont Park and the music and the entertainment that's going to go on here. The college basketball games, the eateries, the food, the environment. As you're coming out of this pandemic, and it's been a long dark, almost two years, this is the place you want to come to be reenergized. And I'm so excited about all the work that went into this.

I want to mention, first of all, labor. This does not get built without the men and women of labor. Yes, we have John Durso and Matty Aracich, you've been recognized, you're my friends, but I'm going to give a shout out to the plumbers, the Teamsters, the electricians, the iron workers, the roofers, the layers, the ushers, the carpenters, the bricklayers. You make it happen. You make it happen. And that's from the granddaughter of laborers, steel workers. I have a little bit of steel running through my veins for my family, so I love labor. Thank you.

And Tim Leiweke, I want to thank you for believing in us. You're new to us a little bit, but I've a feeling that you're going to be engaged in so many more projects in our state. We need visionaries like you, who saw the potential and were able to say, I can get through this. We will get through this and people like you, Tim, give us hope. Thank you for believing. Thank you for everyone from your fabulous company. And so many others at Oak View Group. I want to give them a huge round of applause. Thank you, Tim Leiweke.

Some of our fabulous elected officials here, I'm going to start with a very dear friend of mine, our fabulous County Executive, Laura Curran. She made sure this got done. This was important to her. She talked to you about it all the time. Our Congressman Greg Meeks is here, fresh off of voting for important legislation that's going to help the state of New York infrastructure, money to help families. I want to thank Greg Meeks for his friendship when we served in Congress together, but also for what he's doing even to this day. Thank you, Greg.

And the President of UBS, Tom, thank you for putting your name on this facility.

I think it has a wonderful ring to it. It's fantastic to all of you at UBS. I want to thank you for having faith and believing in us as well. Tom Naratil, and all of friends at UBS. Jon Ledecky, Scott Malkin, Jeff Wilpon, all of our friends at the Islanders. Let's give a round of applause for the Islanders. This is your new home. He shoots, he scores.

And Commissioner Gary Bettman and the entire NHL. This is extraordinary. This is a place that we're so proud to call the home of our beloved Islanders because our Islanders have been somewhat wanderers for the last few years. Have they not? And it's great that they came back home because their name is Islanders - it's right and fitting. And while we love Nassau Coliseum, it seemed a little constrained, a little tiny. And after a pandemic, I think we want to enjoy a little elbow room, the spacious corridors, the chance to breathe a little bit, to have world-class food and experiences. So as much as we love the history of the past, this is the future. This is where the beloved Islanders belong. And this is the day we welcome them home to their brand new home.

As we talk about the past and talk about the future, making history in the future, I want to mention some of the greats of the 80s who've joined us here today. All of you who are as old as I am - who's as old as I am? Not too many. That's all right. Bob Nystrom, Butch Goring, Denis Potvin, John Tonelli, and Clark Gillies. I want to tell you, we thank you for what you did. You brought so much attention. You are the dream team of the 80s and we're going to recapture that magic right here right now with this season.

You know, when I also mentioned the Islanders, last summer you made us all so proud of being New Yorkers. There was a game that was witnessed that went viral. I played it over and over. And that's when, during game six of the Eastern Conference finals, Nicole Raviv did such a beautiful rendition of the national anthem that everybody stood up and they sang along. And it was a beautiful reminder of the fact that despite the political discourse that goes on in America today, we are all united with the belief that this is an incredible country. We are all patriots, we love America, and the singing of that song sent a shot around the world that said, this is who we are. So I want to thank everyone for giving that moment to remind us that yes, we have some differences, but we are united in one purpose and one cause and that is to celebrate the greatness of our country. To the Islanders, you made that happen for a brief moment and we'll never forget that. So let's give a round applause to our Islanders once again.

I know the slogan is, "made for music, built for hockey." We're going to have some fun here as well. I look forward to the many concerts - Harry Styles, John Mayer, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra - who doesn't love the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Christmas time? Genesis, The New Kids on the Block, and so much more.

I focus on the fun, but also as your governor, I'm real excited about the economic impact that this is going to have - $2.7 billion, let me say that again, billion dollars of economic activity generated by the construction. $850 million in annual expected economic output, $44 million in local fiscal revenue to the county town, state, and the MTA. $270 million in pilot payments to schools, fire districts. That's a lot of money. Let's give that a round of applause by itself there alone.

That's a lot of money, we know how to spend it too. And also how about having a brand new Elmont train station? Someone mentioned that is very - my Lieutenant Governor was just here to announce that. Because this is a community that matters, you deserve to have world-class facilities and world-class transportation. The first train station built in 50 years and we're just getting warmed up.

And I did mention a few of the elected officials, but I also want to give a huge shout out to my partners in state government as well. The senators who were recognized, and you're going to hear it from Senator Leroy Comrie we're in his district, the senators and the Assemblymembers who are present here today, I want you to stand up and be recognized because you are the ones who are doing the work of the people.

You show up, you come to Albany, you fight for your district, but then you come back here and you sit in the diners. I've sat in your diners with most of you and you hear the complaints of the constituents. I'm a local elected official at heart. I want to honor you for what you've done. Let's recognize all of our Senators and our Assemblymembers, State Representatives. Let's please stand up. Let's give them another round of applause.

So I thank you for the privilege of being here to celebrate a whole new era in Long Island history, sports history, music history, and we're just getting warmed up my friends. There'll come a time when we look back at this pandemic in the rear view mirror and say, how did we get through it? I'm telling you it was the dreamers and the doers, like the people on this stage and in this audience who never, ever gave up on this project, never gave up on Long Island, never gave up on the Islanders and therefore they never gave up on New York.

And for that, as your governor, I say thank you. Congratulations!