Izod Wins Naming Rights to Meadowlands Arena
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The swamps of Jersey are going preppy.
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority has awarded clothing maker Izod, best known for its sports shirts, naming rights to the arena in the Meadowlands, a reclaimed marshland just east of New York City. The building, which has been called Continental Airlines Arena, will now be called the Izod Center.
Izod is a division of clothing and apparel maker Phillips Van Heusen Corp., and is already a sponsor of the New Jersey Nets basketball team which plays there.
Two other clothing companies — Rocawear and Southpole — had also been bidding to have their name on the arena.
Continental Airlines Inc. opted to take its name off the 26-year-old building now that the New Jersey Devils NHL team is leaving for the new Prudential Center in Newark. The Houston-based airline paid $1.3 million a year for the naming rights, but half of that came in the form of airline tickets. Izod’s 5-year deal is for roughly the same amount, but the Authority’s chairman, Carl Goldberg, said yesterday that Izod will pay in cash only. Mr. Goldberg estimated that the total value of the contract is closer to $2 million per year when other factors are considered, such as Izod’s commitment to provide marketing and advertising for arena events.
