|
New Jersey's Continental Arena to Become Izod Center
05/10/2007 |
 |
 |
New Jersey's Continental Airlines Arena will soon be renamed the Izod Center.
The state's Sports and Exposition Authority awarded a $1.4 million-a-year contract for arena naming rights to Izod, a unit of Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. Izod beat two other clothing companies, Iconix Brand Group Inc.'s Rocawear and Fort Lee, New Jersey-based Southpole.
New Jersey sought bids from companies interested in the naming rights in August after Continental Airlines Inc. backed out of its $1.3 million annual contract because the facility lost the New Jersey Devils hockey team. The new name will be launched Oct. 31 when the New Jersey Nets basketball team opens its season at home against the Chicago Bulls, said George Zoffinger, the authority's chief executive officer.
``This is a rebirth for this arena,'' Zoffinger said in an interview after the authority's board meeting. ``It gives us an opportunity to show that this arena is very viable.''
New Jersey chose Izod's offer over a $1.4 million bid from Rocawear and a $2.1 million bid from Southpole, Zoffinger said. Izod's bid was selected because the company promised cash as well as a marketing package, said Carl Goldberg, authority chairman.
Izod agreed to buy and create advertising for television and other media outlets as well as take the lead buying airtime and print space, which saves the authority money and makes its contract value closer to $2 million, Zoffinger said. Izod got a five-year deal, he said.
Arena Name
The arena, located in East Rutherford, 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) west of the Lincoln Tunnel, opened in 1981 with six sold-out concerts by New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen. It was originally named Brendan Byrne Arena, after the former governor of New Jersey, and is also referred to as the Meadowlands Arena. It was renamed Continental Airlines Arena in January 1996.
The facility sits within the Meadowlands Sports Complex, next to the Meadowlands Racetrack, Giants Stadium and the Xanadu retail and entertainment complex under construction. It has more than 185 events and 2 million visitors annually, according to the authority Web site.
The Devils have played at the arena since 1982. They are moving to Newark's Prudential Center, scheduled to open later this month. The Nets are planning to move to a new arena in New York City's Brooklyn borough as soon as 2009.
Clothes Brand
Besides sports, the arena is an entertainment venue with performances by artists that have included Billy Joel, Madonna and Britney Spears, and with shows including Disney on Ice, the Harlem Globetrotters and World Wresting Entertainment Inc. matches.
Phillips-Van Heusen is based in New York and has offices in Bridgewater, New Jersey. It employs about 1,000 people in the state and its sponsorships include the Nets and the New York Mets. Phillips-Van Heusen also owns the Calvin Klein brand.
The clothing maker said in a statement that it plans to create signs and other marketing materials to ``refresh the appearance of the facility and generate greater awareness of its events.'' Arena staff will wear Izod brand apparel with special arena logos, the company said.
The Izod brand ``appeals to the broad range of consumers we want to attract,'' to the arena, authority chairman Goldberg said in a statement.
``We are thrilled to have this opportunity in our own backyard and believe our Izod brand is the perfect brand to promote the arena and its programming,'' Allen Sirkin, president and chief operating officer of Phillips-Van Heusen, said in a statement.
(Source: Bloomberg.com)
|
| Back |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
