Nets Open Business Center At Izod For Ticket Holders, Sponsors

By Don Muret, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

Nets Open High Point Solutions Business Center At Izod Center

The Nets have opened a business center at Izod Center for season-ticket holders and team sponsors. High Point Solutions, a local information technology provider, signed a three-year deal with the Nets to sponsor the new 3,000-square-foot space inside the Meadowlands arena’s west entrance. There are signs on and above the doors leading into the business center. The sponsorship is one of 18 new deals the Nets have signed for the '08-09 season, generating about $1.8M annually in revenue, Nets CEO Brett Yormark said. The Nets and the IT company shared in the six-figure investment to build the business center, which was previously storage space, Yormark said. The center contains two offices, three conference rooms and eight individual workspaces. If the center goes over well in New Jersey, the Nets could develop one at Barclays Center, the $950M arena they plan to build in Brooklyn. The team could break ground in the spring if the final lawsuit against the project is resolved by the end of March, which would keep the new arena on track for a 2011 opening, Yormark said. Barclays remains committed to its $400M naming rights deal.

Customers Using Business Center Can Order Meals From Aramark While Working

COME EARLY AND WORK: The Nets are promoting the High Point Solutions Business Center for their best customers to come early on game days and get some work done while avoiding rush-hour traffic. They can also order dinner plates from arena concessionaire Aramark to be delivered inside the business center, Yormark said. High Point Solutions started talking to the Nets a year ago about a sponsorship, and the idea of a business center made sense for a firm that had interest in getting their products and services in front of business professionals in a work setting, he said. It is equipped with desktop and laptop computers, a copier, printer, fax machine, 42-inch LCD television, a portable projector and 10 phone lines. It will be staffed by a full-time receptionist. Hours of operation are 9:00am-5:00pm ET during the week on non-game days, 9:00am to the end of the first quarter on game days during the week, and 4:00pm to the end of the first quarter on weekend game days. It will be closed weekend days when there are no games scheduled.

NOT A NEW CONCEPT: Business centers are nothing new inside major league arenas, but their success depends on the market. United Center in Chicago closed its Canon-sponsored business center after nobody used it, said Steve Schanwald, Bulls Exec VP/Business Operations. In Los Angeles, Staples Center’s Xerox Business Solutions Center is part of Staples’ arena naming rights deal. It is open to premium-seat holders on game nights, but isn’t used much, said Staples Center Senior VP & GM Lee Zeidman. “We have looked at other uses. Nothing has made sense yet,” Zeidman said. Time Warner Cable Arena’s Toshiba Business Solutions Center in Charlotte has an 18-person conference room, and the center is used daily for internal and external meetings, Bobcats Dir of Corporate Communications Michael Thompson said.