Islanders owner Jon Ledecky speaks to team's role as community asset
Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky speaks with Alan Hahn at LIU's Hillwood Commons at about leadership, career journeys and the business of professional sports. as part of LIU's Centennial CEO Speaker Series on Tuesday. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez
Long Island University students looking to learn about leadership and the business of professional sports received a crash course from some of the Island’s best on Tuesday afternoon.
In a one-hour conversation at the Krasnoff Theater on the LIU Post campus in Brookville, Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky was interviewed by Alan Hahn of ESPN NY Radio and MSG Networks and took questions from students about his journey and the industry.
Ledecky spoke about his life story, his responsibilities as an owner of the Islanders, how UBS Arena came to be, 19-year-old superstar Matthew Schaefer and much more. Hahn, a Long Island native and former Newsday Islanders beat writer, also spoke about his career, including his six years covering the team and what it was like covering the Knicks’ championship run this year.
From Hahn to the students, people in attendance specifically were interested in how Schaefer has changed the franchise.
“I think what Matthew has done is revitalize the team's fan base,” Ledecky said.
He spoke about how Schaefer — who lost his mother Jennifer to breast cancer in February 2024 — came up with the idea to have a spot for children to hang out as their parents are undergoing cancer treatment. Thus came the birth of the Jennifer Schaefer Child Support Center, which is set to open next month at the R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Center in New Hyde Park through a partnership with Northwell Health and a $150,000 donation by the Islanders’ Children’s Foundation.
Ledecky mentioned that on the ice, the Islanders were playing an “old-school” brand of hockey before Schaefer, and he remembered hearing from fans about the team’s boring style of play. The Islanders had only a 3.5% chance to win the 2025 draft lottery and the right to select Schaefer.
“At the time, we didn't think we had much of a chance of winning the draft,” Ledecky said. “And I was out having dinner with a priest, and I knew the draft was at 7:18. So at 7:15, I said, Father, would you mind making a prayer for the draft? Which was kind of a weird thing to say. But we prayed, and all of the sudden my phone started [dinging] 100 times. I said, Father, I think we won the draft. And of course, he now thinks he was the reason we won the draft, which is great.”
When asked about his responsibilities as an Islanders owner, Ledecky said it is to remain only an owner, letting the coaches coach and the general managers do their jobs. He continued to mention that he is “the steward of the franchise,” and the fans really are the stockholders of the team. He said the Islanders’ responsibility is to be a community asset.
One of his favorite memories in that “steward” role went back to the foundation of a new arena. He said the most important feedback from fans was to build UBS Arena at the same height as Nassau Coliseum. He added how he didn’t think anyone would have thought about that if not for the fans.
While attending a wedding of the child of one of his former partners with the Washington Capitals, Ledecky heard the same sentiment. Just not from an Islanders fan.
“As a goof, he put me at a table with Alex Ovechkin,” Ledecky said" . . . He goes, ‘You the owner of New York Islanders?’ I said, yes. He goes, ‘You building a new building?’ I said, yes. He goes, ‘Do me a favor. Don't raise the roof.’
“I said, why is that? He said, ‘It's my favorite building. I can hear the fans cursing at me in Russian. It's unbelievable to hear the fans. Don't change and become one of these huge arenas.’”
Hahn said the past year “was literally like living a dream,” reflecting on his path from his first Newsday assignment covering a high school badminton match to doing interviews on the Madison Square Garden hardwood following the Knicks’ historic 29-point comeback in Game 4 of June’s NBA Finals.
The event was part of LIU’s Centennial CEO Speaker Series celebrating the university’s 100th anniversary, and admission was free. The visit built upon the five-year strategic partnership between LIU, the Islanders and UBS Arena — where the LIU men’s hockey team will host the inaugural Empire State Holiday Invitational from Dec. 28-29 — to support the growth and development of hockey on the Island.
The LIU men’s and women’s hockey teams — who play at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow, the Islanders’ practice facility — presented Ledecky with an LIU hockey jersey with a “C” on the chest at the end of the visit.
Ledecky joked: “Do I have a shot at making the fourth line?”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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