Fran
06-20-2007, 11:31 AM
Indoor soccer team set to play in Prudential Center
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
BY COLIN STEPHENSON
Star-Ledger Staff
Seeking tenants to fill out dates for the new Prudential Center, Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek has reached agreement with the Major Indoor Soccer League to bring an expansion franchise to Newark that will begin play this fall.
An announcement, by Vanderbeek and Newark mayor Cory A. Booker, will be made tomorrow at Newark's City Hall.
The new team, which will be called the New Jersey Ironmen, will become the third sports tenant in the arena, joining the Devils and Seton Hall men's basketball. The Ironmen will be one of three new teams joining the MISL for the 2007-08 season, bringing the number of teams in the league to nine.
Asked why he chose to add a soccer team to the 17,500-seat arena's list of tenants, Vanderbeek said he thinks the league's financial model (a single-entity ownership structure with a $350,000 salary cap per team) will make it possible to turn a profit. He also said he simply liked the game, and thought it would be a good fit for the area.
"I loved the game when I saw it," Vanderbeek said. "And then there was where we live: The hotbed of soccer... coupled with the excitement of (an average of) 70 shots a game and 12 goals, is something that I thought would work."
Vanderbeek said he is "willing to bet" the Ironmen will average 5,000 or more in attendance their first season. And with the ability of the arena to lower operating costs by turning off lights and turning down the heat in the upper decks on nights the Ironmen play, he said the team could break even by averaging as few as 3,800 per game.
MISL teams average between 5,200 and 5,300 per game, leaguewide, according to the league commissioner, Steve Ryan.
With 15 home dates in 2007-08, plus the preseason and playoffs, Vanderbeek said the new team brings the total number of event nights to roughly 205 for the arena's first year. He also said he anticipates adding more sports teams next year and beyond, and said he envisions about 250 event nights per year in the future.
Asked what kind of teams and what kind of sports he may bring in, Vanderbeek said, "We're talking to a bunch of teams in a bunch of leagues. I would just say, all the usual suspects, going into next year."
Asked if those "suspects" would include arena football and professional indoor lacrosse, he said yes, and added that the WNBA could be a possibility. However, the latter would seem the least likely since the Prudential Center will not house an NBA team.
Vanderbeek said he did not see a problem with the team co-existing in the same market as Major League Soccer's Red Bulls, who currently play in Giants Stadium but are planning to open their own outdoor stadium in late 2008 in Harrison, across the river from Newark and less than a mile from the Prudential Center.
He said the indoor and outdoor game are sufficiently different and will attract different crowds, and predicted that "we'll actually, eventually, do things with the Red Bulls."
The Ironmen already have hired one of the most successful coaches in the history of the league, Omid Namazi, a two-time MISL Coach of the Year. And he has already been hard at work acquiring players. Five were taken in the league's college draft, and Namazi recently went to Brazil and signed three players.
The rest of the roster will be made up of players taken from the existing MISL teams in an expansion draft, plus free agents, and perhaps players who will make the team via tryout.
"With the resources that we have here -- a brand-new arena and the market that we're in -- it's going be an attractive situation for players to come in, so I count on that," Namazi said. "I can assure you that we're going to put a competitive team on the field."
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
BY COLIN STEPHENSON
Star-Ledger Staff
Seeking tenants to fill out dates for the new Prudential Center, Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek has reached agreement with the Major Indoor Soccer League to bring an expansion franchise to Newark that will begin play this fall.
An announcement, by Vanderbeek and Newark mayor Cory A. Booker, will be made tomorrow at Newark's City Hall.
The new team, which will be called the New Jersey Ironmen, will become the third sports tenant in the arena, joining the Devils and Seton Hall men's basketball. The Ironmen will be one of three new teams joining the MISL for the 2007-08 season, bringing the number of teams in the league to nine.
Asked why he chose to add a soccer team to the 17,500-seat arena's list of tenants, Vanderbeek said he thinks the league's financial model (a single-entity ownership structure with a $350,000 salary cap per team) will make it possible to turn a profit. He also said he simply liked the game, and thought it would be a good fit for the area.
"I loved the game when I saw it," Vanderbeek said. "And then there was where we live: The hotbed of soccer... coupled with the excitement of (an average of) 70 shots a game and 12 goals, is something that I thought would work."
Vanderbeek said he is "willing to bet" the Ironmen will average 5,000 or more in attendance their first season. And with the ability of the arena to lower operating costs by turning off lights and turning down the heat in the upper decks on nights the Ironmen play, he said the team could break even by averaging as few as 3,800 per game.
MISL teams average between 5,200 and 5,300 per game, leaguewide, according to the league commissioner, Steve Ryan.
With 15 home dates in 2007-08, plus the preseason and playoffs, Vanderbeek said the new team brings the total number of event nights to roughly 205 for the arena's first year. He also said he anticipates adding more sports teams next year and beyond, and said he envisions about 250 event nights per year in the future.
Asked what kind of teams and what kind of sports he may bring in, Vanderbeek said, "We're talking to a bunch of teams in a bunch of leagues. I would just say, all the usual suspects, going into next year."
Asked if those "suspects" would include arena football and professional indoor lacrosse, he said yes, and added that the WNBA could be a possibility. However, the latter would seem the least likely since the Prudential Center will not house an NBA team.
Vanderbeek said he did not see a problem with the team co-existing in the same market as Major League Soccer's Red Bulls, who currently play in Giants Stadium but are planning to open their own outdoor stadium in late 2008 in Harrison, across the river from Newark and less than a mile from the Prudential Center.
He said the indoor and outdoor game are sufficiently different and will attract different crowds, and predicted that "we'll actually, eventually, do things with the Red Bulls."
The Ironmen already have hired one of the most successful coaches in the history of the league, Omid Namazi, a two-time MISL Coach of the Year. And he has already been hard at work acquiring players. Five were taken in the league's college draft, and Namazi recently went to Brazil and signed three players.
The rest of the roster will be made up of players taken from the existing MISL teams in an expansion draft, plus free agents, and perhaps players who will make the team via tryout.
"With the resources that we have here -- a brand-new arena and the market that we're in -- it's going be an attractive situation for players to come in, so I count on that," Namazi said. "I can assure you that we're going to put a competitive team on the field."