Anyone else miss the Meadowlands?

[Since1982-83]

Was at the game last night and certainly, The Rock is an upgrade for the franchise in almost every single way. The building is an obvious monument to the Devils organization and I love almost everything about it. Well, except the enormous pain in the ass it is going to games when I choose to drive versus mass transit. Getting into the Meadowlands by car was a piece of cake by comparison.

Anyhow, sitting there last night and taking it all in (while watching the Devils blow a 2-goal lead) I had a flashback to our former home and I must admit that there are certain days I miss the old place.

Anyone else get these nostalgic feelings sometimes?

[DevilMinder]

I miss the ease of the parking lot and the shouting and cheering in the pedestrian bridge now and then but when I think of the arena itself the fondness fades lol. Like the tight halls and the crazy steep steps etc

 

 

[RunninWithTheDevil]

I feel the exact opposite.  I live equidistant from both and it was always HELL getting home from CAA

[mfitz804]

Not at all. It’s much easier for me to get to/from Newark, it doesn’t take forever to get out of the parking lot, and the building is a million times nicer. 

['7']

I miss not having an arena in Newark. But the building itself is better than Byrne. Byrne was way too big, though not an obstructed seat in the house, the hockey capacity for an incoming troubled franchise coming into a market with the Rangers, champion Islanders, and Flyers in close proximity should not have been 19k. Should've been more like 16,500. Though I understand they had concerts and other events in mind too. Too cavernous

[jagknife]

EDIT: wrong thread

Edited December 10, 2017 by jagknife

[thecoffeecake]

I miss the building because I grew up in it. To me, it's still the basic template for an indoor sports stadium. But do I miss the Meadowlands? Hell no. Newark is a great town, perfect site for the stadium, and way easier to get to and from. 

[Daniel]

I just miss the meadowlands based on the fact that it’s where the franchise’s best moments were.  But otherwise I say good riddance.

[Neb00rs]

I have a lot of great memories from CAA. But if ur asking me if I ever wished we were still there, absolutely not. 

['7']

fwiw early drawings of the old proposed Hoboken arena had us playing in a fieldhouse type arena 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Fond memories of what happened there, but the only thing I miss at all is being able to do a proper tailgate.  Everything else about the Rock is superior in every way.

And I find getting to and from the PC is a breeze compared to the CAA...though if you were willing to park near Giants Stadium and walk across the bridge, you could avoid the post-game traffic.  I live in Clinton and I consistently get home in 40-45 mins.

[TackleDummy]

Tailgating.  We used to park near the Giants Stadium side of the bridge, and in the dead of winter we brought a fire pit and a grill.

[Lateralous]

I thought I would have much more nostalgia for the place having been there so often for the Devils and Coleman/Petrovic era Nets as a kid but that place was run so poorly that I’ve never had any desire to go back, especially now that Zanido, or whatever it called is there.    

[Jerrydevil]

Put the Rock in East Rutherford ... that would be my ideal. I don't like going to Newark. 

[mfitz804]

1 hour ago, Jerrydevil said:

Put the Rock in East Rutherford ... that would be my ideal. I don't like going to Newark. 

Honestly when the move was announced, I thought I would never go again. Now I’d never change back. 

[Lateralous]

15 hours ago, '7' said:

fwiw early drawings of the old proposed Hoboken arena had us playing in a fieldhouse type arena 

Here’s a bad version of the image I remember.   It actually would have been really cool to have a bigger version the barrel vault rink you find in so many small towns.  

[Satans Hockey]

I drive to Newark every game and have less traffic than I did going to the Meadowlands and I save a sh!t ton of money because I'm not afraid to park on the steet. I can also get home way quicker than the Meadowlands too without having to run out the door. 

I'm also thrilled that Hoboken location never happened. 

[andy]

It was a lot easier for me to get home from CAA, I miss tailgating.

[mfitz804]

2 hours ago, Satans Hockey said:

I drive to Newark every game and have less traffic than I did going to the Meadowlands and I save a sh!t ton of money because I'm not afraid to park on the steet. I can also get home way quicker than the Meadowlands too without having to run out the door. 

I'm also thrilled that Hoboken location never happened. 

That’s what we used to do too. Get up with a minute or two left, watch the end from up top, then book out to the car. Only if the outcome was already determined, if it was close or a goalie was pulled or something, we’d edit and just deal with it,

While the walkway over to Giants Stadium is a good memory, I’m glad it is a memory. Having to walk across that thing in the freezing cold was never my idea of fun, and si always expected that one day, everyone would wind up in a heap in the roadway below. 

[thecoffeecake]

4 hours ago, Lateralous said:

Here’s a bad version of the image I remember.   It actually would have been really cool to have a bigger version the barrel vault rink you find in so many small towns.  

That would've been absolutely amazing. No character to any new buildings. The Saddledome might be the only thing left not stamped out of the same cutter. Someone has to do something like this soon, there's no reason you can't have the same modern amenities and revenue generators that you have in these plastic buildings designed to be obsolete after 25 years. 

I'm surprised so many people miss tailgating this much. I remember going to a Nets game one of their last seasons at CAA, and that was only a few years after the Devils left, but I had some serious nostalgia. I also forgot about all the memories I have of Nets games, I went to a ton before the Brooklyn thing popped up. I think I was 12 years old, and even at that point, I was like, nah, I'm done if you're leaving. 

Damn it I miss the Nets. 

[Nicomo]

10 minutes ago, thecoffeecake said:

That would've been absolutely amazing. No character to any new buildings. The Saddledome might be the only thing left not stamped out of the same cutter. Someone has to do something like this soon, there's no reason you can't have the same modern amenities and revenue generators that you have in these plastic buildings designed to be obsolete after 25 years. 

I'm surprised so many people miss tailgating this much. I remember going to a Nets game one of their last seasons at CAA, and that was only a few years after the Devils left, but I had some serious nostalgia. I also forgot about all the memories I have of Nets games, I went to a ton before the Brooklyn thing popped up. I think I was 12 years old, and even at that point, I was like, nah, I'm done if you're leaving. 

Damn it I miss the Nets. 

The Preds arena is pretty cool. 

[Neb00rs]

I have to say, for a hockey team that doesn't have all the riches in the world, a massive fanbase, or a real major city in the state, I feel incredibly lucky that we got the Prudential Center.

The Meadowlands was drab and isolated. It was impossible to build the fanbase or a local stadium culture with the arena out there. As I said earlier, I have a lot of great memories at CAA, but good riddance.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

10 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

That’s what we used to do too. Get up with a minute or two left, watch the end from up top, then book out to the car. Only if the outcome was already determined, if it was close or a goalie was pulled or something, we’d edit and just deal with it,

While the walkway over to Giants Stadium is a good memory, I’m glad it is a memory. Having to walk across that thing in the freezing cold was never my idea of fun, and si always expected that one day, everyone would wind up in a heap in the roadway below. 

Yeah it's been discussed here before, but the older bridge was pretty fvcking scary.  Not only did it get bitter cold in there, but it was also pretty leaky when there were heavy rains.  

Though no one could really call the Meadowlands a scenic area, the original arena parking lots were pretty solid for good tailgates.  But once that god-awful Xanadu monstrosity went up, whatever mild charm the areas around the arena had were gone.  At that point, the Devils couldn't get out of there fast enough.

My wife and I took our daughter to see the Globetrotters at whatever the arena was called at that point (Izod I guess?), about 4-5 years ago...it was weird to be back there...for one, it was completely frozen in time...and for another, I had almost forgotten how cavernous it really was, and cold and sterile the building felt...we sat in the lower bowl (actually in the old press box area) and the uppermost rows of the upper deck felt like they were miles away.  I remember all of the years without the center ice scoreboard too...that made it feel even worse.  Back in the late 80s-early 90s the BBA used to offer $6 seats in the upper corners to students (I forget if it was just college students)...I used to sit there a lot.  But that trek up the steps to the top of the upper deck when you had top row center ice seats...I'll never miss that.  

[DevsMan84]

Outside of the memories of winning games and championships at BBA/CAA, I do not miss it one bit.  The arena was already outdated within a decade of it being built, the one concourse design was beyond stupid and the food there was terrible.  The seating was nothing special and that creepy clown banner they put up in the rafters in the latter parts of it didn't help.  Tailgating was fun, but a very small price to pay to get away from that dump.

Prudential Center is worlds better.  It is closer to me (I am in Somerset county), more stuff to do before and after a game and the arena is still very nice for a 10-year old arena.

In my personal observations, 90% of the people who say they miss CAA are those who live in the Bergen/Passaic county area as the old arena was practically in their back yard.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

As far as the 10-year-old observation goes, it helps a lot that the building has been given a nice series of refreshes.  The Fire and Ice Lounges (kinda cool initially but quickly became dated, tacky and cheap-looking) being deep-sixed for the current designs was a smart move.  The new scoreboard is truly a marvel.  Also lots of nice touches and updates throughout the concourses...they were a little bland when the Rock first opened.  The bathrooms are starting to look a little beat up, but I've seen much worse.  

I could be wrong, but outside of the seats being replaced (and the colors changed), the addition of the center ice scoreboard, and some name changes/exterior styling, I can't remember the CAA ever having gotten any significant refresh, ever.  It was cool when it first opened because it was brand new and had a very modern look to it, but yeah, its limitations (especially the mistake of having only one concourse) became apparent very quickly.  At any game that was even close to selling out, if you didn't get in a food line (for mediocre chow at best) before the end of a period (especially if you had to traverse a lot of steps just to exit your section), you were screwed.  That part was even worse at the end, when the food service employees (never a ray of sunshine to begin with) clearly no longer gave a sh!t with the Devils set to leave.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Colorado Rockies 1976