The same reason the Whalers left Hartford. The criminal element in both cities killed them
Look at Columbus. A bad team, but still makes money for the Arena District
I didn’t know that about Hartford; I remember seeing them play the Devils years ago. The Devils had a hard enough time selling tickets in their old arena, but it was accessible and safe (when they won the Stanley Cup their “parade” was literally in the arena parking lot because they weren’t close to any city; when the Rangers won they got a parade down Fifth Avenue). NJ has this mentality that if they force people onto mass transit, they’ll just go along with it, but it has never worked out like that. They certainly weren’t going to be waiting for a train in Newark at night.