At the old Izod Center, big acts still play, but nobody hears them

It's been three years since the Izod Center was shut down.

Now largely hidden from view by the American Dream project in East Rutherford, the big white building off the New Jersey Turnpike has all but disappeared from the public eye. Even the familiar Izod name, which had long been emblazoned in red block letters across the front, is gone.

But the dark arena in the Meadowlands, opened by Bruce Springsteen in 1981 and played by everyone from Prince to The Rolling Stones, is still making music. It's just not many can hear it. The once popular concert venue and former home of the Nets and Devils has found a new life as a rehearsal hall--hosting performances that no one sees.

Since closing in 2015, the arena--now known as the Meadowlands Arena--has generated more than $1.15 million in rental income from several major tours preparing to head out on the road, according to financial data released by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates the facility.

Last month, Live Nation rented the now state-owned facility for 18 days at a cost of $141,000. From January through March, Justin Timberlake's production company, Tennman Touring, took up residence for 61 days, generating $431,406 in revenue. Coldplay was there for two days last July, before their MetLife Stadium show during the Head Full of Dreams tour. And Rihanna's production company, Tourrihanna, spent two weeks at the arena in 2016, bringing in $108,000 in rental income.

The arena has also been rented for video production, the Sports Authority said.

"By renting the Meadowlands Arena, the NJSEA is putting people to work and boosting the local economy. The organizations that rent the arena have hired trades workers, used the services of local caterers, patronized local businesses and lodged at local hotels," said spokesman Brian Aberback in a statement.

Local 632 stagehands are hired by the individual tours during any rehearsals or production work at the arena.

Legendary New Jersey concert promoter John Scher of Metropolitan Entertainment Consultants, who handled many of the shows at Izod, said that for an act with an elaborate stage show, the empty arena is perfect to try everything out before facing a live audience.

"You don't have to worry about loading in and out because there are other events there," he said. "It's a great spot for people to start their tours."

Many shows incorporate a virtual palatte of gimmicks and special effects. Bursts of flames, lasers and lighting tricks, as well as stage elevators that allow a performer to appear or disappear on cue, are often part of the spectacle, and a space like Izod area allows set designers to see if it all works, Scher noted.

"It's a workshop more than anything else. You want to be able to rehearse it and design it and put it together in a big space because that's where you're going to be performing," he said.

Jeff Dorenfeld, a professor of music management at Berklee College of Music in Boston, is no stranger to touring. He managed the rock band Boston and served as tour coordinator for Sammy Hagar, and said big arena tours must rehearse everything before they open, from the lighting and dancers, to stage hydraulics and video screens.

"Everything has to be coordinated. It's all about enhancing the music," Dorenfeld said. "And they have to rehearse in a place that will fit size of the production. It won't fit in a garage anymore."

Many groups begin their tours in a secondary market arena, he said, without a sports team, far from New York or Los Angeles, in a place where they can work out the kinks of a show for weeks before opening and not worry about a championship NHL or NBA game.

The House of Bruce

Izod first opened in 1981 with six sold-out shows by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Besides serving as home to the local pro basketball and hockey franchises, the NBA's All-Star Game was played there in 1982, and the NHL held its All-Star event in 1984. The Final Four of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's men's basketball tournament came there in 1996.

Through it all, the arena went through a series of identities. Initially it carried the name of former Gov. Brendan Byrne. Later it was the Continental Airlines Arena. And then it became the Izod Center.

But the arena, which has a seating capacity of about 20,000, ultimately lost both professional sports teams in their quest for more luxury boxes and better financial deals. The Devils left for the Prudential Center in Newark in 2007. The Nets bought their way out of their lease with the state three years later, also moving to Prudential for a temporary stay before leaving the state completely to play basketball in Brooklyn at the new Barclays Center arena.

At the same time, both the Prudential Center and arena in Brooklyn began siphoning off concerts, the circus and other shows that had once gone to the Izod Center. In the months before it closed, the once-profitable facility soon became mired in red ink. Officials claimed the Izod Center was on track to lose $8.5 million when a decision was made in January 2015 to pull the plug.

With little warning and no public notice, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority voted to shut the arena and shift the remaining events on its schedule to the Prudential Center, eight miles away.

Under an agreement with the Prudential Center, the Sport Authority is being paid $500,000 a year to keep the Meadowlands arena closed through March 2019, said Aberback.

The red ink still flows

Even closed, building continues to lose money, despite the $1.1 million in revenues that has come through rentals. The arena incurs $1.75 million in annual operating and maintenance costs--such as heating and lighting and upkeep--that are incurred even if the building was not being used for rehearsal, according to the Sports Authority.

While the money now being brought in as a rehearsal hall is not insignificant, Scher said the state would do well to re-think the decision to shut down the arena, in light of the progress now being seen in the long-delayed American Dream retail and entertainment complex.

"In my view, Izod should never have been closed. The building never closed because it was falling apart. It closed for political reasons," the promoter said, blaming the Christie administration for shutting it down without exploring other options.

Scher believes the Izod Center could easily coexist with the Prudential Center, which he said cannot accommodate all the acts that look to the North and Central Jersey market. At the same time, he said there are shows that cannot fill a large arena like Prudential and Madison Square Garden.

Last year, Long Island's Nassau Coliseum reopened after a $165 million renovation that brought the 16,700-seat arena down to 13,900 fixed seats.

Reconfiguring Izod, bringing it down to 10,000 seats, would make it smaller and more intimate. "It could mean a lot of business," Scher said, believing it would be a good fit with American Dream.

But others believe the arena's time has come and gone.

"When buildings become functionally obsolete and cannot generate sufficient income to cover their costs it's time to re-purpose the site for some other function," said James Hughes, former dean of the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers who studies regional demographics and economics.

Hughes noted that suburban office buildings across the state once considered valuable properties are meeting the wrecking ball. He wonders how long before the former Izod Center meetings a similar fate.

While arenas are expensive to build because of the need for unencumbered space, Hughes said it is unlikely another sports team would move in, and it is unclear whether the it would be cost-efficient to convert the building into a convention center or a smaller concert venue. At the same time, he added it costs money to maintain a building like the arena, even if it's empty, including the operation of its heating, cooling and ventilation system to keep out mold.

"I really don't think there is sufficient number economic activities to support that space," said Hughes. "It's a case study of a building going its life cycle, and it's probably come to the end of it."

Triple Five, which is developing American Dream, did not respond to requests for comment.

Aberback said there is no agreement or proposal currently on the table to sell or dispose of the arena, to American Dream or anyone else.

"The future of the arena is an important issue and the NJSEA is committed to a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of this matter," the Sports Authority spokesman said.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.