In Stadium Firsts, we look at programs and other ephemera marking the debut of sports teams in their home venues.
The Devils’ journey to New Jersey was a rather circuitous one. The franchise began life as the Kansas City Scouts, and started play in 1974 at the tail end of the NHL’s first expansion period. Poor play and financial calamity forced a move to Denver, where the team became the Colorado Rockies. The team fared little better there, and in 1982 it packed up once again and moved east to New Jersey. They would have moved sooner but were forced to wait until the completion of construction on their new home — Brendan Byrne Arena.
Construction on the arena, originally intended as a home for the recently relocated New Jersey Nets of the NBA, began in 1977. The East Rutherford-based venue, named after then-New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne, opened on July 2, 1981 in the most Jersey fashion possible — a series of six concerts by Bruce Springsteen. The Nets moved into the arena, already informally known as the Meadowlands, in October.
In 1982 the aforementioned Rockies, having been sold to Houston Astros owner Dr. John McMullen, finally completed their long-planned move to the Garden State. The team rebranded as the New Jersey Devils and opened the 1982-1983 season at their new home. They faced off against a new Patrick Division foe, the Pittsburgh Penguins, on October 5 and played to a 3-3 tie. Don Lever tallied the first goal in team history that night. Here is the program for that game:
During the 1983-84 season Brendan Byrne Arena hosted the NHL All-Star Game, and in 1996 the naming rights to the venue were sold to Continental Airlines. The name changed yet again to the Izod Center in 2007, the same year the Devils left to move to the new Prudential Center in Newark.
On January 15, 2015, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority voted to shut down Izod Center. It’s essentially dormant now and will more than likely be demolished in 2017.
