Izod Center
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The Izod Center (formerly Brendan Byrne Arena, and later, Continental Airlines Arena) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It is home to the New Jersey Nets NBA basketball team, and was also the home of the New Jersey Devils NHL hockey team and the men's basketball games of Seton Hall University. Official seating capacity as of 2004 is 19,040 for hockey; 20,029 for college basketball; 20,049 for NBA games; and a maximum 20,000 for concerts. The arena attracts spectators and fans from much of the New York Metropolitan Area and not just New Jersey.
[edit] History
Construction on a new arena across New Jersey State Highway 20 (now 120) from Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack began in 1977. Originally named Brendan Byrne Arena (after the sitting governor of the state, who was also a member of the ownership group seeking to bring an NHL team to the State), the arena opened July 2, 1981, with the first of six concerts by New Jersey rock musician Bruce Springsteen. This was followed by an ice show later that month. Although named after Byrne, many people and some tickets and press releases simply referred (and still refer) to it as Meadowlands Arena.
On October 30, 1981, the Nets, who had played their previous four seasons at the Louis Brown Athletic Center at Rutgers University, made their debut at the arena, losing to the New York Knicks, 103-99. Later that season, on January 31, 1982, the NBA All-Star Game was played at the arena.
In 1982, the Colorado Rockies of the NHL relocated to the Meadowlands and became the New Jersey Devils. Their first regular-season game, on October 5, 1982, resulted in a 3-3 tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
College basketball arrived at the arena with the opening rounds of the 1984 NCAA basketball tournament. Seton Hall moved its Big East Conference men's basketball games to the arena for the 1985-1986 season, enhancing a tradition that would soon become rich. The arena hosted the NCAA Men's Final Four in 1996, the last traditional arena to do so as of 2007. On eleven occasions (1986-91, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2007) the arena hosted the semifinals and finals of the tournament's East Regional. Only Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium, which hosted 13 regional finals from 1940-52, has hosted more. It also hosted the 1982-1989 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and 1986 Atlantic Ten Conference men's basketball tournaments.
Other teams that have called the arena home include the New Jersey Rockets of the Major Soccer League, the New Jersey Rockin Rollers of Roller Hockey International, and the New Jersey Red Dogs / Gladiators of the Arena Football League. Two different National Lacrosse League teams have played at the arena — the New Jersey Saints from 1987-1988, and the New Jersey Storm from 2002-2003. The New York Cosmos also used the arena to host indoor soccer games. The venue also hosted WWF SummerSlam in 1989, 1997 and 2007, as well as the King of the Ring tournament in 2001 and No Mercy 2004, and has hosted several episodes of WWE Monday Night RAW, as well as SmackDown!. At SummerSlam 2007, the official attendance was 17,414. It was also the scene of one of Ric Flair's NWA World Heavyweight title vicories on January 11, 1991, as Flair beat Sting in front of a mostly empty arena due to a blizzard. The win was Flair's eighth world championship title win.
The arena has been a popular site for concerts, due to it having been designed with acoustics in mind and to it having a lesser facility fee for artists than competing venues, such as Madison Square Garden. Bruce Springsteen remains the most popular concert act to perform in the Arena; his appearances have included a 10-night, sold-out run in 1984, an 11-night run in 1992, and a 15-night, sold-out run in 1999. This last feat is commemorated by a large banner hanging from the rafters, next to the banners representing the achievements of the resident sports teams. A 1999 concert by Dave Matthews Band was recorded for a PBS special, and subsequently released as a concert album and DVD under the name Listener Supported. Portions of the Rolling Stones 1983 concert film, Let's Spend the Night Together, were filmed at the arena. The concert footage was filmed in the fall of 1981.
The arena has seen the Devils clinch two Stanley Cup championships before a home crowd. The franchise won its first Cup on June 24, 1995, and then clinched its third title in nine years on June 9, 2003. The arena also was host to the Los Angeles Lakers winning an NBA Championship by sweeping the Nets on June 11, 2002, and the Anaheim Bullfrogs winning the 1997 Murphy Cup, the championship of Roller Hockey International, over the New Jersey Rockin' Rollers. SummerSlam was held here live on August 26, 2007. On May 5, 2007, the Devils played their last game at the arena losing 3-2 to the Ottawa Senators, eliminating them from the playoffs 4-1. Scott Gomez scored the final goal in the building.
[edit] Licensing Rights to name
On January 4, 1996, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority announced a naming rights deal with Continental Airlines under which the airline, with a hub at nearby Newark Liberty International Airport, would pay the NJSEA $29 million over 12 years. Many thought this was a political move, since Brendan Byrne is a Democrat and the governor at the time of the deal was Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican. The former governor's son, Tom Byrne, was the state Democratic Party chairman at the time, and publicly voiced his displeasure. The senior Byrne was not upset about it: "I was immortal for 15 years," he said at the time.
The name change to Continental Airlines Arena also caused controversy in April of that year, when the arena hosted the NCAA Final Four. During the CBS coverage of the event, Continental signage was not shown on camera, and the arena was simply referred to as "The Meadowlands". CBS and the NCAA already had airline sponsors for the event before Continental's naming rights deal.
Following the Devils' final season at the arena in 2007, Continental Airlines opted out of the naming rights agreement. The arena's new name is now the Izod Center, which took effect as of October 31, 2007, at the Nets' season opener against Chicago. The company will pay $1.4 million per annum for the first two years of the agreement, while the Nets are still tenants, which wil drop to $750,000 per year for the balance of the five-year deal.
As early as October 18, 2007 - two weeks before the new name was scheduled to be official - two signs began appearing on the basketball court bearing the Izod Center name. The occasion was made up of three exhibition games against the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.
[edit] External links
[edit] Picture Gallery
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