Logistics aside, wouldn’t it be a fun idea to have a game at the old Brendan Byrne arena as a special one off? How many teams in the league have their old building still in fantastic shape?
Logistics aside, wouldn’t it be a fun idea to have a game at the old Brendan Byrne arena as a special one off? How many teams in the league have their old building still in fantastic shape?
7 comments
That building used to shake and the fans were always LOUD no matter what. Tailgating was amazing, especially on those weekend games. My uncle had a ton of the 5 dollar beers back then too. That place was truly special.
Nowadays I’ll show up to a game at the Rock and it gets dead silent when we’re down a goal. Parking and Newark traffic sucks, and if I want to get drunk, it cost me damn near 20 bucks for a can. We need to go back to the Meadowlands. It’s where the Devils belong.
Why would we want to have a game there? It is a run down obsolete building. They still use it for sound checks and preparation for NY metro area concerts. I think maybe converting a portion to a museum for sports history that occurred there may be cool, maybe even tours of the old locker rooms. But I’d have no interest in attending a game there. I remember the concourse was jam packed because there was only one both the upper and lower levels.
Walking around the top of the arena was always a good time.
I’d empty my pockets to go! I honestly still think we should have one of our minor league affiliates here. Was a missed opportunity to have something here when we had the outdoor game next door.
Hot take: if the Devils for whatever reason had to play here in 2026, we would draw better than we did here in the 90s-2000s just because Uber is a thing now. Back then, you basically had to have access to a car to get to games.
Was never anything really “wrong” with it. Just didn’t have the modern amenities the Rock has now.
The Parking Lot Parades! Always loved BTB, particularly because all the NYC beat reporters always whined about going there.
I was there for the 1995 Stanley Cup final game 4 for the cup clincher. It was the loudest I ever heard a hockey arena. Everyone was standing for the last 5+ minutes or so after Shawn Chambers scored the 5th goal. I was in the upper deck, dead center, half way up. The entire upper deck was shaking. I actually got a little nervous it was going to collapse (with the corrupt building/ construction projects in NJ, especially State run properties I wouldn’t have been surprised.) Afterwards,people were running all over, running out on Route 3. I will never forget it. An experience I wish every hockey fan can experience once in their lifetime.
This is an awesome idea and they should do it.