By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
Angry IZOD workers crammed into the small room where the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority board met today.
They pleaded with the board not to shut their workplace down.
“We have our benefits, the most important thing, my benefits. Right now, if this arena closed down, I’m losing my benefits,” said IZOD Center worker Stacy Parmakis.
Two Bergen County state senators called closing IZOD a hasty move and an unwise one.
“To close a facility of the size and importance of the IZOD Center without even knowing, without having put out a request for proposal, how can that be a good business decision?” asked Sen. Loretta Weinberg.
IZOD is the last of the publicly run facilities at the Meadowlands.
The Giants and Jets own their stadium.
Jeff Gural owns the racetrack.
Triple Five is building a mall.
IZOD loses $8 million a year and the Christie administration has been unable to unload it, so the plan, disclosed yesterday, is to close it by the end of this month and transfer the existing concert schedule to the Prudential Center in Newark.
Bergen County’s loss will be Essex County’s gain.
“I’ve had conversations with the folks at Barclays and Prudential and just recently I met with the folks at Triple Five. They all want to see this business in some way or another, or have an interest to operate in this building in one way or another as an entertainment complex,” said Sen. Paul Sarlo.
Bruce Springsteen opened the building 34 years ago.
Back then it was the Brendan Byrne Arena.
In 1996 it became Continental Airlines Arena and in 2007 IZOD Center.
It was home to the New Jersey Nets, the New Jersey Devils and a popular venue for concerts and events.
After four hours of meeting, and despite the passionate objection of workers and union reps, the board voted 10-2 to go ahead with the plan and shut IZOD down for two years.
“Operating this authority is not easy. And operating this authority and trying to make the books balance when you have a situation as Commissioner [Joseph] Buckelew described, is extraordinarily complex and extraordinarily difficult. And easy solutions don’t exist,” said New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority Chairman Mike Ferguson.
“The numbers are what they are. We’ve tried our best, but the decision was made that we’ve gotta stop losing $700,000 a month,” said New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority Executive Director Wayne Hasenbalg.
Legends Hospitality runs concessions at the Pru Center so Weinberg wonders whether Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, a partner in Legends, is getting another favor.
“Now, Jerry Jones is getting another gift from the taxpayers of Bergen County,” she said.
“There’s no way that that was a factor in the decisions that we made today,” said Hasenbalg.
I was here the night the arena opened in 1981. A decade later came the debate over whether North Jersey could support both this arena and a new one in Newark 11 miles away. The Sports Authority board answered that question today with a resounding no, at least for the next two years.