January 19, 2026
Wellness and Events Center (Capacity: 3,500)
Newark, NJ
NJIT Highlanders vs Bryant Bulldogs
Final Score: 79 – 55
.
I have a few local-ish qualifying sports facilities in my back pocket in case a winter trip gets cancelled for weather and this was the time to pull that out. A forthcoming storm in Virginia meant that I made a last-minute decision to see an MLK day matinee 45 minutes away in Newark. The New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) has been growing rapidly the last few decades. Along with geographical growth, their other collaborations have led to what has become an impressively diversified university that isn’t just tech and engineering. Athletics also has seen a similar ascension as the Highlanders went Division I in 2006. It took awhile to find a natural conference home as that finally came in 2020 when the America East came calling. NJIT has never found much success on the hardwood (possibly changing this season?) and their biggest moment came as an independent when they shocked #17 Michigan. The school displayed their deep financial pockets by opening a $102 million athletic facility in 2017. Plenty of sports use the impressive, multi-functional building and the showpiece is the 3,500-seat arena.
Prestige Ranking: 2.5 out of 5
Location
Newark is the largest city in New Jersey with a population over 300,000 and it is located in the northeast portion of the state, along the banks of the Passaic River. The “Brick City” doesn’t have the greatest reputation, though things have improved from a living/visiting standpoint. NJIT is an urban campus, being less than a mile from downtown in the University Heights neighborhood. That name derives from the other colleges in the area, including the Newark branch of Rutgers University. My first introduction walking to the arena was a woman getting honked at while sitting at a traffic light that turned green and her shouting back “Shut the f*** up!”. That solidified my lack of desire to walk around the area, which is combo’d between campus and residential units. As for the rest of Newark, there isn’t much worth exploring, except maybe the great food scene in the Ironbound District where you’ll find plenty of Portuguese and Brazilian restaurants.
Location Ranking: 2 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
The Wellness and Events Center (WEC) is close to I-280 and the road network both to and from that interstate isn’t a challenge to navigate despite the congested urban setting. If coming from I-78 or I-95, then it may involve more work to get to NJIT. Overall traffic on these interstates can be high during weeknights, but on weekends, it’s not bad. Parking is found at the Science & Technology Park Garage, with the entrance off Wilsey Street. It’s well-signed and online directions from the school are very clear. Less clear is getting to the actual arena even if it’s a block away as there are disrupting buildings in between. Walk right to Warren Street and then make a left to find the WEC. Mass Transit is also an option as there is a Newark Light Rail station right in front of the arena. This is just a few stops from Newark Penn Station, which connects to the PATH and NJ Transit.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7 out of 8
Exterior
The school shows off their engineering prowess with a sleekly-designed facility. The tall and square building is fronted by a ski slope drape that has a silver siding look. There’s more of that color around, but the ends feature tons of glass and that includes a 52-foot glass wall towering over the adjacent soccer field. You could argue that there is missing color or other design elements, but I found the exterior to be impressive.
Exterior Ranking: 6.5 out of 10
Concourse
The WEC really is an impressive building and there is so much more to it than a basketball court. It contains both training and competition space for a variety of athletics, plus it is somewhat of a student center for recreation use. As a fan, I felt a little out of place wondering and that is punctuated by no real ticket taking entrance. There are two entrance corridors with the main one along Warren Street featuring an enclosed ramp with a box office at the end. That’s where I was instructed to buy a ticket and I just walked right in to the arena. The other entrance features a multi-tiered hallway to various rooms and facilities in the complex. On the second floor is an arena entrance and that’s where I saw a student just scrolling through her phone, so perhaps you can walk in without paying the out-of-touch $23 ticket cost. Inside the arena, a running track shapes the concourse and on one sideline, it comes with wide table tops to eat and watch the game. Rounding the track to the other side, it is more traditional, underneath the bleachers. The bathrooms were (unnecessarily?) shuttered around this part of the arena. All around, the area is so neat and clean, with coloring and designs that pop. That north side of the WEC containing the 52-foot high glass wall overlooking the soccer field is really a great visual in addition to how much natural light it lets in.
Concourse Ranking: 4 out of 5
Food
I know not many fans come to the games, so you shouldn’t go all out with food offerings, but this was sub-standard. That picture below is all you got and the lack of care from the people serving at the stand made me question if a Hot Dog was worth it. Thankfully, there was some sort of coaches clinic at the nearby practice court and they had free pizza at the end of it. So much, that they were telling people walking by on the concourse to come in and get some.
Food Ranking: 1.5 out of 8
Interior
This is the steepest seating bowl that I’ve ever seen for a college basketball arena and I love it. It provides excellent sightlines and it feels like you are right on top of the action. Even the lower seats feature rows that go up two stairs at a time and when you sit down, the back of the seat in front is up to just your shin. Chairs themselves may look on the flimsy side because all of the lower ones are retractable, but they do have cushion on the bottom and there are pull down armrests with drinkholders. Each side with 8-9 rows is unremarkable on the metal risers with gaps in the corners and ends featuring bucket seating. Where the extra seating comes is a 200 section that starts after a railing behind a side and end. Tickets generally aren’t sold here given popularity of the team and unfortunately, these are made up of hard bleachers. At peak, 16 rows are found in the 200s. Over and above the other sideline is an elevated row of windows that belong to basketball offices and a hospitality area.
Interior Ranking: 9 out of 14
Scoreboard
The video board takes up a good portion of the open end wall as it is positioned perfectly, running more horizontal than vertical. It has everything you need during game action, plus replays were frequent. The score display is spaced oddly enough that you had to train your eyes where to look. If that’s an annoyance, those sitting in sections 109 – 111 can look up at the other sideline for a smaller dot matrix display.
Scoreboard Ranking: 3.5 out of 4
Displays
The WEC pays homage to several sports throughout the complex with informative and interesting display classes. There’s also an Athletics Hall of Fame, which includes an interactive screen to learn more about each member. Missing though was a dedicated section for basketball as I couldn’t find anything for the Men’s or Women’s teams (and I walked around much of the building). I’m sure it’s somewhere, but they have to make it more visible to fans too. The inside of the arena also features bare walls. This perfect space for banners and individual honors instead gets relegated to a practice court.
Displays Ranking: 2 out of 6
Cost
It was a bit of sticker shock when I walked up to the ticket window and saw this sign for $23 seats ($55 courtside), especially after I just came from Monmouth a few hours earlier, where it cost $16 to get in. Most other America East teams aren’t close to that ticket price and it adds up if you are bringing the family. Plus, parking is $8.
Cost Ranking: 6 out of 8
Fan Support
NJIT’s average paid attendance of 664 this season ranks them 326th in NCAA Basketball, but somehow 6th out of the 9 teams in America East. For this MLK Day afternoon game, I’d guesstimate 400 people came out. There unfortunately just isn’t much of a following from Newark or Jersey and with NJIT being a mostly commuter school, there is limited support from students. Yes, there were handfuls in attendance, but with no organized section or a pep band.
Fan Support Ranking: 1.5 out of 8
Atmosphere
The team came out to no fanfare as there was sad silence during and after the pregame hype video. As the arena started to include more fans, they clapped decently for buckets and defensive stops. An impressive dunk featured crowd noise that was equally matched by the NJIT bench. Towards the end of the game when the starters were pulled signaling a clear victory, only a few people stood to clap.
Atmosphere Ranking: 3 out of 14
Other Stuff
Sebastian Robinson (#0) and David Bolden (#1) of NJIT both stayed well after the game, signing autographs and taking pictures with so many of the kids in attendance. All doing it with smiles on their face and genuine interaction. Their coach may be a constantly yelling grump, but I’ll be following these guys the rest of the year to see if they can make their first ever move in the America East after a decade. They are a team I enjoy watching and seem like are a good group…..Newark isn’t exactly a place that would make you think “hills”, but there is a slight relative aspect to the terrain further away from the Passaic River. The area was known as Newark Heights and that gave way to the “Highlanders” nickname…..In 2023, Joel and Diane Bloom were honored with their name attached to an already long facility title…..The team’s tagline is Roll Tech.
Game
This one was close until John Kelly’s electrifying put-back jam towards the end of the first half. That seemed to get the Highlanders going and their six-point lead at the half widened big time as they went on a 17-4 run after the break. During that time, I watched Bryant’s Aaron Davis pout like a baby after his second get in your face trash talk resulted in a technical. His “OMG Me?” reaction followed by sadness was deserved comedy for someone acting up so much beforehand. The Bulldogs folded after that and NJIT cruised to a 79-55 win. Robinson had 22 points and Bolden 17.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
