The Islanders are still a team in transition for a permanent home, but are they looking at Upper Manhattan as well? Not quite, but team principal owner Jon Ledecky will be making a visit to Morningside Heights in a few weeks when Columbia hosts its second annual sports business conference on Friday, October 18. It will also help kick off Homecoming Weekend for the Lions faithful.
The event, which is open to students and has some tickets on sale for the general interested consumer, will feature Ledecky in a pretty rare appearance to talk about the team, his coming new arena, the status of the Barclays Center and the Nassau Coliseum and the business of the NHL in general , as well as Kathy Carter, Chief Revenue Officer – LA2028 and Jon Miller, President, Programming – NBC Sports & NBCSN.
The other luminaries in sports business on tap that day will include: NFL Media and Business Chief Operating Officer Hans Schroeder; John Kosner, President Kosner Media and former executive vice president, digital and print media for ESPN; Chief Content Officer, The Action Network Chad Millman; NYCFC CEO Brad Sims; NBA Executive Vice President, Digital Media Melissa Brenner; Jessica Berman; and XFL New York Guardians President Janet Duch, USA Soccer Past President and FIFA Council member Sunil Gulati; Columbia Senior Lecturer Len Elmore; former President CBS Sports Neal Pilson; Turnkey EVP and longtime head of global media and sports business at Anheuser Busch Tony Ponturo among many others.
The full lineup of speakers can be seen here: http://sportsconference.sps.columbia.edu/
Hockey in Upper Manhattan? Well there is Lasker Rink.