The Seton Hall Pirates have played in the Continental Airlines Arena for 26 years. Years in the Meadowlands facility and a 14 mile trek from the main campus in South Orange. Years of playing in 1/2 to 1/3 full crowds. Last year, the Pirates averaged around 6600 fans in the 20,000 seat building.
All that has come to an end. The Pirates will still be playing in an off-campus, professional sports facility, but it will be in Newark as a tenant in the New Jersey Devils new building, the Prudential Center. Seton Hall's campus is only 4 miles away and the Seton Hall law school -- where there will be an official announcement on Wednesday -- is only 3 blocks away.
The Meadowlands Sports Complex tried to keep the Pirates, but their offer only gave Seton Hall the leverage to force a better deal from the Newark arena and the New Jersey Devils. With the Devils and Seton Hall gone for next season, and the New Jersey Nets heading to Brooklyn in 2009, it is very likely that the Continental Airlines Arena will be closed by that point.
