UBS Arena Chooses Queue Solutions for Crowd Control Products
Located within horse racing’s famous Belmont Park in Queens New York, the UBS Arena opened in November 2021 as the home of the NHL’s New York Islanders hockey team. Built at a cost of $1 billion the 600,00 sq ft arena is a multipurpose venue with seating capacity of 17,000 for hockey games and 19,000 for concerts. Designed to provide guests with a premium experience the UBS Arena is the only seating bowl in the metro New York area with site lines specifically designed hockey games. The guest experience is further enhanced with a choice of 8 bars and over 30 concessions laid out in 12 markets three of which are large multi concept designs housing several different foods and menu options.
Getting guests to the venue, and into the arena quickly and effortlessly has been a key priority in the design process. The arena is situated less than a 10 minute walk from the Long Island Railroad Elmont station and for those traveling by car a 5,500 space parking lot means fans aren’t wandering neighborhoods looking for a spot.
Having designed high-capacity transportation facilities to get fans to the venue the UBS Arena turned to Queue Solutions for products to help manage the movement of people into the stadium and provide fast, relaxing customer flow at the concession stands.
In order to prevent pedestrians ‘spilling’ onto roadways during the peak periods pre and post-game, the arena selected Queue Solutions CrowdMaster™ barricades. These 8’ steel barricades (also called Bike Rack barricades) are made from 16-gauge steel and are hot dip galvanized for permanent outdoor use. The heavy-duty construction of the CrowdMaster™ is designed for use in the control and guidance of mass crowds while still being portable so they can be moved and stored when not in use.
For entry into the stadium Queue Solutions RollerPro Twin™ stanchions were the preferred choice for managing customer queues at security checkpoints. RollerPro™ is a retractable belt stanchion that features a roller base so the stanchion can be moved and set up quickly. Arena management opted for the twin belt model as this restricts customers from ducking under the belt and is ADA compliant.
Efficient management of customer queues at the concession stands was also a priority for the arena management. Here the need to maintain orderly queues for multiple concessions in the market style environment lent itself to the use of Queue Solutions Posts Panels. Based on using regular retractable belt stanchions the Post Panel system utilizes an ingenious collar design that enables panels to be quickly set up between stanchions. Rigid panels have the advantage of creating and enclosed area to shield customers in the queue from the movement of pedestrians in the concourse. The concession management also opted to use the Post Panel’s ability to be used as a billboard to promote the items for sale at the concession.
Queue Solutions products are sold nationally and around the world, but as a Long Island based company, we are proud to have our crowd control products selected for use in the latest addition to New York’s entertainment venues.