In early 2021, after a year long Covid break, the State of New Jersey allowed arenas to reopen to a percentage of spectators.  When Prudential Center reopened, several changes were made to assist with social distancing and safety measures.  Most of these changes were acceptable and easy to handle.

One change, however, has been deemed by most arena-goers as unreasonable and unnecessary, and that is the new bag policy.

The new policy states the following:

"Bags are not permitted inside of Prudential Center. The only exceptions are soft sided clutches/purses/wallets under 4x7" that do not have a shoulder strap or chain attached, and medical or childcare bags under 12"x16"x6".  Bags that do not meet these expectations must be returned to the guest's vehicle or stored in a Prudential Center supplied locker at the guest's expense."

This change is nearly impossible and unfair to most concert and sporting event attendees.

Many events occur on weeknights and a large percentage of attendees take public transportation directly from their jobs.  People should not have to bring only a clutch with them to their jobs, or leave their regular bags at their jobs just to accommodate this unreasonable bag policy.

In addition, there are several other negatives involved:

1.   There are items women carry in their bags that are needed --wallets, keys, feminine products, phones.  None of these items will fit in a small 4x7 bag.

2.   No straps on bags allowed--this makes it extremely easy for a patron to lose said bag.  Without a strap, the bag must be carried in your hand at all times.  This makes it difficult if you need to carry concessions or souvenirs.  If you put the bag down even for a second, there's a good chance it will be lost or stolen.  There is absolutely no reason why a bag cannot have a strap.

3.  Using a locker outside--in NEWARK.  Everyone knows Newark is not the safest city in the world, so why would anyone trust leaving their valuables outside on a Newark street? There's no guarantee said lockers are 100% secure.  In addition, there is no reason why anyone should pay to store something that they should be able to carry.

A baggage policy is understandable, however, these size restrictions are inconvenient, unreasonable, unfair and unacceptable.  No one is asking the Prudential Center to remove the baggage policy, however, the policy does need to be change to a more acceptable size so that people can carry their necessary items with them.  

No other arena is this restrictive and there is no reason for it.

As hockey season will be starting in just a few short months and concerts and other events are becoming frequent again at full capacity, a change needs to be put into effect immediately to satisfy the people who matter--the patrons.