Will new partnership with the Garden bring big acts to Pru Center?

NEWARK--The Prudential Center, which is seeking to amp up its music and events offerings, announced plans today to join forces with one of the iconic concert venues in the country.

Pru officials said they were entering into a booking and marketing partnership with Madison Square Garden, to "bring together the Garden's expertise" with the location of Prudential Center to draw more top concerts, talent and shows to New Jersey.

"It's a strategic partnership," explained Scott O'Neil, chief executive officer at Prudential Center, who said both sides have a strong incentive to book more shows. "Our aim is to partner with friends who can drive additional show counts."

In a statement, Darren Pfeffer, who oversees MSG's live events at the Garden, and other MSG venues, said the partnership will "help bring an exciting array of events to the Prudential Center, while also serving the market with more options."

The Prudential Center on opening night in 2007, when Jon Bon Jovi played the first of ten shows. (Tony Kurdzuk | Star-Ledger file photo)

At the heart of the agreement is that there are simply not enough nights at the Garden for everyone who wants to play there, said O'Neil, former president of Madison Square Garden Sports.

At the same time, he noted that the Newark arena will be able to leverage MSG's "incredible database of fans in New Jersey who would want to see shows at the Prudential Center."

The bottom line, he said, is that they hope to bring more big shows and concerts to New Jersey.

The move comes at a time of growing tensions between Azoff MSG Entertainment, a joint venture tied to Madison Square Garden Co., and AEG, a music and sports conglomerate which has long ties to the Prudential Center, in a hard-edged battle and public threats over bookings of top shows at arenas controlled by the two show business giants in Los Angeles and London.

Prudential officials, though, said they do their own booking and the arena is not managed by any one of the major players in the music industry. In addition to the announced partnership with MSG, they said they have agreements not only with AEG, but Live Nation and others.

O'Neil said the arena's association with AEG would not be changing and he downplayed the behind-the-scenes crossfire.

"There's plenty of drama to go around," he said.

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Gallery: Justin Bieber plays the Prudential Center

 

According to O'Neil, the Prudential Center has grown into one of the top arenas in the country, with a double-digit growth in ticket sales in 2016.

Known as the Rock, the arena is also home to the New Jersey Devils and Seton Hall Men's Basketball, and seats 18,000 for concerts.

Over the past year the Rock, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in Newark this fall, hosted more than 40 shows, including 22 sold-out concerts and events--including Justin Bieber, Twenty One Pilots, Marc Anthony, Stevie Nicks, Florida Georgia Line, The Weekwnd, Iron Maiden, Hall and Oates, Andrea Bocelli, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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