Izod Center to close by end of month

[Sparky]

Coldplay have performed there four times, most recently for the Mylo Xylotour :

 

 

Source

 

New Jersey today abruptly pulled the plug on the 34-year-old state-owned Izod Center arena in the Meadowlands, citing $8.5 million in losses and mounting state subsidies.

 

With little warning and no public notice, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority voted this afternoon to shut down the arena by the end of the month and shift the remaining few events on its schedule — including Chris Brown and Trey Songz in February and the Maroon 5 World Tour in March — to the Prudential Center in Newark, eight miles away.

 

Officials said the Izod Center’s continuing losses left them no no choice but to temporarily shut down the facility. In its agreement with Prudential, the state will keep the arena dark for at least two years, receiving $2 million in compensation for the added events.

 

“We’re in a situation none of us like,” said Michael Ferguson, chairman of the state authority. “Operating this authority is not easy. Easy solutions don’t exist.”

 

The authority acted despite emotional pleas from local officials, union leaders and members of the Legislature, who urged the board keep the arena open while at least seeking bids from a private operator.

 

Although the state has been talking publicly for well over a year about privatizing the Izod Center, the decision to simply turn off the lights came suddenly and without warning, after word began to leak out about the shutdown on Wednesday.

 

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) called it a move “in the dark of the night,” asking why it was acting without any public notice or input from any public official.

 

“It was not done in an open and transparent manner,” she charged.

 

State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) called the shutdown a major economic hit to the region. He said he understood the annual losses at the Izod Center means the public cannot afford to be in the sports and entertainment business.

 

“But we have an asset that is still booking events,” he said. “So why would we put a ‘closed for business’ sign on the facility and just walk way?” he asked.

 

Union president Kevin O’Brien, who heads Local 632 of the stagehands’ union, said several major events planned for the summer, including Wrestlemania, will not go to the Prudential Center. They will just skip the state, he predicted.

 

“Don’t do this,” he pleaded.

 

Bob Glazer, another union member, urged the board not to close the building without having a plan for it, arguing that to abandon it would essentially leave it to deteriorate.

 

“That doesn’t benefit anyone,” said the member of UNITE HERE Local 100, which represents food service workers at the arena.

 

Members of the authority were not unanimous in their 10-2 decision in favor of the plan.

 

However, commissioner Armando Fontoura, who also serves as Essex County sheriff, said the money was just not there.

 

“We need to understand that,” he said. “We just cannot continue to bleed money. I would love to keep this building going. The money is just not there.”

 

But another commissioner, LeRoy Jones, complained that the authority was acting on very short notice, and said there was no plan going forward once the arena closed its doors.

 

“I received notification yesterday,” he said. “I feel that we are doing a disservice to so many hard-working men and women. My vote is an emphatic no.”

 

Izod Center's last scheduled act will be Monster Jam, on Jan 31. Feld Motor Sports said the show will go on as scheduled.

Although officials said negotiations with promoters for the February and March concerts are still ongoing, the acts are under no obligation to move to Prudential and can simply opt out of their contracts.

[h=3]Limited options[/h]The Sports and Exposition Authority, created by the Legislature in 1971, had oversight over the Meadowlands Sports Complex along Route 3 and the New Jersey Turnpike, and once included Giants Stadium, the Meadowlands Racetrack, and the Izod Center.

 

Giants Stadium has since been torn down and replaced by MetLife Stadium, which was built by the Giants and Jets, the two NFL teams that play there. The racetrack, drowning in red ink, was sold off by the state as well. But the sports authority continues to own and operate the sports arena.

 

For the past four years, the Christie administration made no secret that the Izod Center was on the block.

 

Last year Jon Hanson, the former chairman of the sports authority who was tasked by Gov. Chris Christie to reverse the declining fortunes of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, said the days of the Izod Center were numbered.

 

“It doesn't make money, and it's time to look at it and decide what its future should be,” he said.

 

In an interview in June, Hanson said the options were simple: allow someone else to run it in a lease agreement, sell it outright, or tear it down.

Not on the table was keeping it as a state-operated venue.

 

“The status quo doesn't work,” he said.

 

Known over the years first as Brendan Byrne Arena, and later as the Continental Airlines Arena, before being renamed again in 2007, the Izod Center had once been one of the top entertainment sites in the country, according to Billboard.

 

It opened in 1981 with six sold-out shows by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. As home to both the Nets and hockey's New Jersey Devils, it played host to the National Basketball Association All-Star Game in 1982 and the National Hockey League All-Star Game in 1984. It also hosted the Final Four of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's men's basketball tournament in 1996.

 

But the arena, which has a seating capacity of about 20,000, lost both its professional sports teams in recent years.

 

The Devils left to move to the Prudential Center, which opened in 2007. The Nets bought their way out of their lease three years later, first for a temporary stay at Prudential, and then leaving the state completely to play basketball in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center arena, which has become a top concert draw since opening in 2012 and taken business that once went to the Izod Center.

 

The number of concerts, graduations and family entertainment shows held there have decreased over the years, with the added completion of Prudential and Barclays. In years past, the arena would typically have more than 200 events on its schedule. It had 131 events last year, despite the 2014 Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium, which shut down the Meadowlands complex for about a month leading into the February game.

 

In 2013, the most recent year that figures are available, the Izod Center lost money. The arena generated $12.2 million in event revenue and another $6.7 million in income from advertising, suite revenue and property lease payments. Officials today said the arena was on track to lose $8.5 million this year.

 

Former Gov. Brendan Byrne, who pushed for the creation of the Meadowlands Sports Complex and saw his name on the arena for a brief period of time before a naming rights deal swapped it out for Continental Airlines, said the closing of the arenawas no surprise.

 

“It was inevitable,” he said.

 

But he acknowledged there was some sadness seeing an arena that once carried his name now close its doors.

 

“I enjoyed seeing my name up” said the former governor. “I think it’s a nice name.”

[Christa42]

breaks my heart but over the years this is where I met one of my bff's Cookymnstr, where my homemade "Warning Sign" sign was made, had amazing spots, seats, real estate, got to go to "Friends & Family" with the Amazing Miss Angie, got up close and personal, took some of my best photos ever and finally got to hear my favorite song in the world, Warning Sign. So many wonderful memories.

 

[Batman]

^ :wacko:

 

 

wait how did do end up in the "Friends & Family" area? :O

[Christa42]

hmmmm, I have my ways :sneaky: and lots of Coldplay Karma