NJ Sports Authority Votes to Close Izod Center

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ—After 34 years of operation, first as the Brendan Byrne Arena, later as the Continental Airlines Arena and now as the Izod Center, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority voted on Thursday to close the storied entertainment facility at the Meadowlands Sports Complex here.

Over the years, the arena was at one time home to the New Jersey Devils and the New Jersey Nets. The Devils now play their home games at the Prudential Center in Newark, while the Nets have changed their home arena to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Major performers have also appeared at the arena including Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, the Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson

After hours of public and private discussion, the authority voted 10-2 in favor of the Christie administration's plan to close the arena that first opened its doors in 1981.

The plan is not to demolish the Izod Center, but to have the arena stand empty until January 2017 when the American Dream Meadowlands complex, now under construction by Triple Five, is expected to open, according to The Record.

Some local officials, such as Vincent Prieto, Democratic speaker of the state Assembly, have criticized the closure. “The plan to close the Izod Center shows a disappointing lack of creative vision by the Christie administration and the authority,” says Prieto of Secaucus. “This facility brings jobs and economic activity to the Meadowlands area, and closing it with little notice or public discussion will hurt workers and efforts to catch up with the national recovery.”

Jim Kirkos, president of the Meadowlands Regional Chamber, who expressed concern over the job losses the closure will cause, says the Christie plan is consistent with a plan released by the Chamber last year that called for a repurposed arena that would support a convention center and casino at the Meadowlands complex.

“There is short term pain in this, but we have steadfastly asserted that the state needs to be focused on long term gain.” Kirkos says. “Cutting losses and providing an impetus for the vision plan that we introduced has to be seen as a necessary step, and a signal that the Meadowlands Sports Complex will be one of the expected casino locations—and one of its highlights will be a right-sized arena similar in scale to those we see at Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods, Borgata and many locations in Las Vegas.” See story in The Record.