NJ lawmakers on Monday voted to commit more than a quarter-billion-dollar tax break to help renovate the Prudential Center in Newark. Nicknamed The Rock, the 17,000-seat arena is home to the New Jersey Devils hockey team, and it’s also hosted more than 3,000 events and 23 million visitors since it opened about 18 years ago, according to Devils executives. That’s why the venue needs a makeover, the organization says and is urging the Legislature to help it score $300 million in tax breaks, to help pay for 80% of a major upgrade.
“A renovated Prudential Center keeps those big-time events coming back to NJ. It keeps fans coming back to NJ. It keeps those tourism dollars in NJ,” Devils President Jake Reynolds told the Senate and Assembly Appropriations committees last week. “And it creates the international exposure for NJ that only those big events can bring.”
The Rock needs to remain competitive with venues like Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center, Reynolds said. In return for those tax breaks, the Devils would extend their lease, guarantee local jobs and provide a 150% return on New Jersey’s investment, he said.
Opponents, though, didn’t like the timing or tax break’s proposed terms.
“Implicit in this, is the threat of leaving the Prudential Center — which is what sports teams across the country have threatened to try to milk states for more and bigger tax benefits,” said Peter Chen, senior policy analyst for the think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective. “The only way to win this game is not to play at all. NJ can’t fall into the trap of throwing more good money after bad, and subsidizing billionaire sports owners for benefits that may never materialize.”
Dena Mottola Jaborska, executive director at New Jersey Citizen Action, said the state should have higher priorities.
“We were already seeing a lot of people struggling with food and housing and health care costs, but given the federal budget cuts, those community needs are unbelievable,” Mottola said. “There are a lot of community projects and needs, human needs, that we should be putting ahead of $300 million for the Prudential Center.”
Another critic, Antoinette Miles, New Jersey state director of the Working Families Party, urged lawmakers to vote no.
“We firmly do believe in economic development, a revitalization, and doing that strategically and in the right way. That’s why we oppose this bill,” said Miles said. “We oppose that fact that one company is gonna benefit from the $300 million renovation, with an 80% discount spelled out in the bill.”
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) said The Rock still would have to negotiate details with the incoming Sherrill administration, the state’s Economic Development Authority and the City of Newark, which owns the building.
“When we do these projects, we like to have them work with the surrounding area,” Sarlo said. Reynolds told Sarlo that the team is “actively engaged” with Mayor Ras Baraka regarding a master plan to revive blighted and abandoned properties near the arena.
Supporters argued that the tax break will nourish Newark’s renaissance.
“This is not a cash check,” said bill sponsor Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex). “This is ensuring that Newark stays revitalized and becomes the cornerstone or an economic engine and development, and a source of pride.”
Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin (D-Essex), a bill co-sponsor, said the Prudential Center is key.
“If they were to pack up and leave, the economic detriment it’d cause the City of Newark — my home base in the Ironbound — would be substantial,” she said.
Reynolds said renovations would include upgraded electrical, lighting, flooring and concessions. The work would be done in phases during the Devils’ off-season.
Democrats on the Assembly committee backed the bill. Republicans acknowledged they liked going to shows and games at the Rock, but said the bill and the legislative process were “appalling.”
“We have a bill written by representatives for billionaires so they can receive hundreds of millions of dollars to pay millionaires, to play a kids’ game,” said Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris). “So they can turn around and charge Joe Six-Pack $100 for a ticket, $16 for a Bud Lite, and take his tax money to subsidize it, on top. It’s just not right.”
Webber also criticized rushing the proposal through the Legislature during the lame-duck session, the period after an election and before a new administration comes in.
The measure passed the Assembly 49 -22, and cleared the Senate 33- 4.
This story is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
