New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration "wants to close" Izod Center, "perhaps as soon as the end of this month," according to a front-page piece by John Brennan of the Bergen RECORD. The New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority board today will be asked to "approve a plan that would shutter the 18,000-seat arena by the end of March." The date would be "moved up if acts booked there for February and March can be relocated" to Prudential Center. Izod Center, which opened in '81, "lost its sports tenants" -- the Nets, Devils and Seton Hall basketball -- between '07-10. Only a "handful of concerts have been held at the arena in the past two years, although three dozen schools held graduation ceremonies there last spring and the arena still attracts family oriented holiday shows." NJSEA President & CEO Wayne Hasenbalg said that there are "no immediate plans to demolish the building, and he did not rule out potential alternative uses for the facility in the future." State Sen. Paul Sarlo, whose district includes East Rutherford and the Sports Complex, called the Christie plan a "rash decision." Sarlo said that he had "heard that it called for the site to remain dormant" until at least January '17, about the time when American Dream Meadowlands project is expected to open. The 8-year-old Prudential Center, Barclays Center in Brooklyn -- which opened in '12 -- and MSG, which has undergone a $1B renovation, "all have been formidable competitors to the Izod Center for concerts and family shows." Hasenbalg said that the Izod Center "has been projected to lose" $8.5M this year, following a "recent consultation with state Treasury officials on the building’s finances." Still, NJSEA officials said that the arena "still produced a net gain for the agency" as of a couple years ago (Bergen RECORD, 1/15).
ONE MAN'S TRASH...: In Newark, Johnson & Brodesser-Akner in a front-page piece cite sources as saying that the NJSEA "has reached a deal with the Prudential Center that grants the arena in Newark official hosting rights to the Izod Center's events calendar." The two-year agreement "calls for all future events currently scheduled for the Izod Center to be moved to the Prudential Center." According to the Izod calendar, those include "concerts by Chris Brown and Maroon 5, a Ringling Bros. circus, and a Disney event." A source said that as part of the agreement, Izod Center "will remain dark for the two-year duration of the contract" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 1/15).
