Friday, February 20, 2015

N.J.I.T. Will Get an Arena, but It Still Needs a Home; Talking with MEAC

NEWARK, New Jersey -- For a man who was dealing with no heat upstairs and frozen pipes in his basement at home, Lenny Kaplan was remarkably upbeat on Thursday.

“Today is a very good day,” he said with a laugh.

N.J.I.T. announced Thursday that it would break ground on a long-awaited $100 million multipurpose athletic facility this summer. The key component is an arena seating 3,500 fans for the institute’s highest-profile sport, men’s college basketball.

One hope for N.J.I.T. could come from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, a league of historically black colleges and universities.

New Jersey Institute of Technology is a top-flight academic institution,” said the league’s commissioner, Dennis Thomas. “Adding this type of facility sure doesn’t hurt with conference affiliation. From the MEAC’s perspective, it’s an attractive institution.”

Thomas added that his league, which has 13 members, was seeking to take in a 14th to round out its roster. He would not comment on the timetable for that process.

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