Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey to close

Current and former New Jersey area peeps, get a load of this:

It looks likely that after 34 years, Jersey's arena/concert venue known originally as the Brendan Byrne Arena, then Continental Airlines Arena and most recently as the Izod Center, will be closing at the end of this month.


http://www.northjersey.com/news/izod-center-expected-to-close-schedule-of-events-after-march-31-being-cleared-1.1192590

I attended many concerts and hockey games at this arena over the years starting with my first ever concert (Judas Priest/Dokken, 1986) and always thought it was a great place to see a show.

I guess this was inevitable, though, as their sports tenants have all moved to newer, flashier digs in the past few years, like the Devils' Prudential Center in Newark and the Nets' new home in Brooklyn at the Barclay Center.

I haven't been to a show at the Meadowlands in a few years now (I think the last time was Iron Maiden's A Matter of Life and Death tour in '06) but this news is still a bummer, cuz there are a lot of memories wrapped up in that place... and besides, its location was convenient for me, I sure as hell am not haulin' all the way to Newark or Brooklyn from the North Jersey 'burbs just to see a concert from now on. It's the end of an era!

I fell your pain, buddy. I poured out some of my 40 in tribute when the wrecking ball took down The Spectrum a few years ago. Lotsa memories in those old buildings. Theses new arenas just aren't the same. No personality. It's all about luxury suites and $12 beers.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Theses new arenas just aren't the same. No personality. It's all about luxury suites and $12 beers.

I think more than anything else, I'm pissed cuz the Meadowlands was the closest semi-decent concert venue for me.

I went to the new Prudential Center in Newark once, back in early '09, to see Metallica's Death Magnetic tour. It's a beautiful arena and I had a great time, but if I hadn't gotten a free ticket thanks to my reporter buddy (who was on the guest list and put me down as his "plus one") I never would've made the trip all that way.

I'm about as "north" as you can get in North Jersey without falling into a lake that straddles the border with Upstate New York. As it was, taking a trip to the Meadowlands for a concert required a drive of at least an hour, if traffic didn't suck. Going to Newark would add at least another 45 minutes to an hour to that... Fugeddaboudit. Too much of a pain in the ass.

(shrugs) Meh, it's all politics anyway. Even while the Newark arena was being built, there were calls to knock down the Meadowlands as soon as Newark's new toy was finished, so there wouldn't be as much "competition" for acts/events. So I guess it's surprising that the Meadowlands stayed open as long as it has.

I was pissed when they demolished the Gibson Ampitheater at Universal Studios and replaced it with a Harry Potter ride! Only got to see one concert there but it was such a great building for acoustics (it was created solely for music, so was far superior to most arenas in sound quality) that I consider it a real loss. But the good news is there are plenty of other venues in the area that can fill in the void.

Everything I liked as a young man is gone. Hate it.

wow. Never thought it would ever close.

It's official - the Izod/Meadowlands/Continental/Byrne Arena (whatever you want to call it) will close... for now. Apparently the plan is to "mothball" the arena and not hold any events there for at least the next two years, cuz that's when a current mega-mall construction project going on nearby is supposed to finally be complete. It'll be interesting to see if it re-opens after that. I won't be holding my breath.

Fat Freddy wrote:

It's official - the Izod/Meadowlands/Continental/Byrne Arena (whatever you want to call it) will close... for now. Apparently the plan is to "mothball" the arena and not hold any events there for at least the next two years, cuz that's when a current mega-mall construction project going on nearby is supposed to finally be complete. It'll be interesting to see if it re-opens after that. I won't be holding my breath.

I'd be surprised if it got a second chance. The overall cost to maintain an arena will out-weigh the few events they can book.