Izod was awarded naming rights to Continental Airlines Arena by the New
Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority on Thursday. The building will
be called the Izod Center. Rocawear and Southpole also made bids for the
naming rights.
Izod is a division of clothing and apparel maker Phillips-Van Heusen,
and is a sponsor of the New Jersey Nets, who play in the arena. The New
Jersey Devils also play in the arena.
Besides the New Jersey Nets, Izod also has sponsorships with the New
York Mets, The Golf Club at Chelsea Piers and the lifeguard corps for
Los Angeles County, Miami Beach and the Walt Disney World resorts and
water parks.
“We look forward to our new partnership with PVH,” said NJSEA Chairman
Carl Goldberg. “It is a strong, financially stable company that offers,
through IZOD, a brand that appeals to the broad range of consumers we
want to attract to the IZOD Center. PVH's in-house marketing and
advertising team demonstrated through its IZOD advertising campaigns
and its vision for the IZOD Center that it understood how to best
promote the building and its array of events and the team's ability to
carry out that vision.”
“We are extremely excited to have secured the naming rights opportunity
to the Meadowlands Arena and are committed to enhancing its visibility
and prestige locally and nationally as a premier sports, concert and
family-entertainment venue,” said Allen Sirkin, President and Chief
Operating Officer of PVH. “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. We thank the NJSEA, Nets Sports
and Entertainment, and the Governor's Office for having the faith in
us, our brand and our marketing team, as well as our vision for the
IZOD Center, to carry the building through its next stage of history.”
“PVH demonstrated to the NJSEA an impressive activation platform to
help refresh and rebrand the Arena and we believe both the IZOD brand
and the IZOD Center will greatly benefit from the building's close
proximity to the fashion capital of the world and the planned Xanadu
development,” said Brett Yormark, President and CEO, Nets Sports and
Entertainment, LLC.
Continental opted to take its name off the 26-year-old building since
the New Jersey Devils are leaving for their new home in Newark. The New
Jersey Nets are aiming to move to a new arena in Brooklyn for the
2008/2009 season.