DETROIT — Kelly Cheeseman, a little more than six weeks into his new role as the Islanders’ president of business operations, has identified both the opportunity for growth and the issues when it comes to the team’s fan base and attendance at UBS Arena.
“I’m a builder,” Cheeseman said in a Zoom interview with Newsday on Tuesday. “I look at the market of Long Island as its totality, going from Queens and Brooklyn out to Montauk. I’d say there’s eight million-plus people there. We’re strong, I would call it, from UBS Arena out to Montauk. We’ve got to be better in Queens and Brooklyn to grow the audience. And we’ve got to grow this fan base here.
“We need a stronger, more marketable fan base,” added Cheeseman, who joined the Islanders on Nov. 1 after a nearly 25-year association with the Los Angeles Kings that saw him rise to AEG Sports chief operating officer. “We need to become younger, more diverse, more female as quickly as possible to complement the core audience that is really strong with the Islanders. Those are the new audiences that are growing consistently across the National Hockey League…We’re older and less diverse than the NHL.”
But among the positives for Cheeseman are the marketability of No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer and a winning team as the Islanders entered Tuesday night’s match against the Red Wings with a 19-11-3 mark. There’s also his close working relationship with first-year general manager Mathieu Darche, who does not restrict current players from participating in community outreach initiatives during the season, as predecessor Lou Lamoriello did.
So far, it has not translated into better attendance at UBS Arena as the team has averaged 15,530 through 18 home dates at the 17,255-capacity building. That’s down from last season’s 15,979, which was the lowest since UBS Arena opened in 2021. But there have been six sellouts, including five of the last 10 home games.
“We have a real chance to sell out most of the games, if not all of them, all the way to the Olympic break [in February],” Cheeseman said. “So that’s a really positive trend.”
But Cheeseman also noted the Islanders are prone to poorer attendance figures during busy periods such as the holidays.
Kelly Cheeseman at Sportico Invest West held at the Intuit Dome on May 08, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Sportico via Getty Images) Credit: Sportico via Getty Images/JC Olivera
“We’re not strong enough on a consistent basis to be able to sustain tough windows of time that are consistent for anybody: Early December, between Thanksgiving and Hanukkah and Christmas,” Cheeseman said. “Everybody in the world is busy.”
But the fan experience inside UBS Arena has changed this season with more statistics and replays being shown and current players featured in humorous, down-to-earth videos on the scoreboard as produced by the Islanders’ social media team. All of those were no-nos under Lamoriello.
The boos, a constant last season, have been noticeably silent. Again, winning and Schaefer’s play have gone a long way toward that.
“Yeah, we notice,” captain Anders Lee told Newsday. “It’s been a lot. The energy has been better. The support has been better. The cheers have been better. It makes a difference, it really does. We’ve been performing well and that brought some people back. But, at the same time, we’ve been playing well because we’ve got them [the fans] as well. It’s fun to see that building start to go like it should.”
Cheeseman also reported positive trends in fan engagement. He said app downloads were up 136% and social media engagement was up more than 100%. He added that television viewership was up 37% as reported by Nielsen.
Nielsen also reported Islanders’ television viewership in the prime 25-54 demographic was up 58%.
The Islanders reported sales of team jerseys were up 63%.
“We’ve been gifted a special player here that our core players like Mathew Barzal are really reacting well to,” Cheeseman said of Schaefer.
Still, when Islanders fans spoke to Newsday last season about UBS Arena, one of the prime areas of concern was the parking situation.
Cheeseman, who has been walking the concourses and been at the suite levels talking to Islanders’ fans during games, understands parking is still very much an issue.
“We have to continue to improve on our overall experience at UBS Arena,” said Cheeseman, adding that overall ticket sales have increased by 7%. “We know we’ve got to continue to work on transportation and parking and we will continue to do that as the campus evolves. We’re not naïve to that. But it’s going to take a little bit of time. It’s also going to take some patience of what can and can’t be done. That’s at any arena.
“We have lots of parking options and lots of transportation options that a lot of arenas don’t have, including arenas that are in our market,” Cheeseman said. “I don’t think it will ever be perfect at any arena…So can we consistently look for better options and improve on them? Absolutely. But you’re always going to be limited at any stadium or any arena.”
Cheeseman also said the Islanders would look at how parking is packaged for the season-ticket subscribers to see if there are better ways to do that.
Cheeseman added he’s developing a 48-month plan for improvements based on what happens this season. He said Belmont Park reopening in 2026 after its redevelopment, the continued growth of shopping and restaurants at Belmont Park Village and the NHL All-Star Weekend at UBS Arena on Feb. 5-7, 2027, will all be positive factors.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.