Meadowlands Arena
Meadowlands Arena (formerly Brendan Byrne Arena, Continental Airlines Arena and Izod Center) is a closed indoor sports and concert venue located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. Since closing, the state-owned facility has been used as a rehearsal stage by major concert-touring music stars and by NBCUniversal for television filming. The arena is located on New Jersey Route 120 across the highway from MetLife Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack, next to the American Dream shopping and entertainment complex.
The Meadowlands | |
Meadowlands Arena while it was known as Izod Center | |
| Former names | Brendan Byrne Arena (1981–1996) Continental Airlines Arena (1996–2007) Izod Center (2007–2015) |
|---|---|
| Address | 50 New Jersey Route 120 |
| Location | East Rutherford, New Jersey |
| Coordinates | 40°48′42″N 74°4′3″W |
| Public transit | Meadowlands (select events) |
| Owner | New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority |
| Operator | New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority |
| Capacity | 20,049 (NBA basketball) 20,029 (NCAA basketball) 19,040 (hockey) 20,000 (concerts) 7,500 (theater concerts) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | February 2, 1979 |
| Opened | July 2, 1981 |
| Closed | April 3, 2015 |
| Construction cost | US$85 million ($274 million in 2014 dollars) |
| Architect | Grad Partnership Dilullo, Clauss, Ostroki & Partners |
| Project manager | George A. Fuller Company |
| General contractor | Terminal Construction Corporation |
| Tenants | |
| New Jersey Nets (NBA) (1981–2010) New Jersey Rockets (MISL) (1981–1982) New York Cosmos (NASL Indoor/MISL) (1981–1985) New Jersey Devils (NHL) (1982–2007) Seton Hall Pirates (NCAA) (1985–2007) New Jersey Saints (EPBLL) (1987–1988) New Jersey Rockin' Rollers (RHI) (1994–1997) New Jersey Red Dogs/Gladiators (AFL) (1997–2002) New Jersey Storm (NLL) (2001–2003) New Jersey XTreme (NIFL) (2005) | |
| Website | |
| www | |
The arena, which opened in 1981, was originally built to accommodate the New Jersey Nets basketball team. In 1982, the Colorado Rockies hockey team joined the Nets in the new building and became known as the New Jersey Devils. The Nets and Devils were joined by the Seton Hall Pirates men's collegiate basketball program in 1985.
In 2007, the Prudential Center opened in nearby Newark as the new Devils home arena. Seton Hall, whose campus in South Orange is closer to Newark than East Rutherford, likewise moved its basketball games there. The Nets remained at the Meadowlands for three more seasons before moving to Newark, where they played two seasons before departing New Jersey for Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The men's basketball team from Fordham University played four home games during the 2010–11 season at the arena.
Following the departure of all three of its major tenants, the arena continued to host occasional non-sporting events, such as touring shows and concerts, and other local events. The state-owned facility reported losses for 2013, and was projected to have $8.5 million in losses for 2015. On January 15, 2015, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) voted to shut down Izod Center, and have Prudential Center acquire hosting rights to events scheduled for the arena over the next two years in a $2 million deal.
Since closing, the vacant arena has been used as a rehearsal venue for large-scale touring concert productions as well as a sound stage for video and television productions. Since 2018, NBC has leased the venue to film prime-time drama series, including The Enemy Within and Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. It is also home to the crime drama series The Equalizer, starring Queen Latifah, and the TV programs Tales of the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: Dead City.