Listen to this article

The planned closure of the Izod Center became official to more than 1,700 workers this week, as arena employees and concession staffers received federally mandated notices that they would be laid off by the beginning of April.That includes 1,400 workers who were notified by the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, the operator of the state-owned arena, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Meantime, 339 Aramark employees received the so-called WARN notices under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

RELATED: Future unclear for shuttered Izod Center: Sports authority votes to close Meadowlands site, with no timetable for a sale

The notices make official what the workers learned last month: The NJSEA is closing the 34-year-old arena, which is projected to lose $8.5 million and has been struggling amid competition from newer or refurbished venues in the New York market. At a Jan. 15 meeting, the authority’s board voted to close Izod for at least two years, despite vocal protests from public officials and labor leaders.

The NJSEA in recent years has discussed selling or privatizing the cash-strapped venue to an operator that can repurpose the building, and such a move is still expected to happen. But, in the meantime, the authority is working with promoters to move some 50 events scheduled for Izod this year to the Prudential Center in Newark, while the Newark arena will pay the NJSEA $2 million over four years.

The arena, the former home of the New Jersey Devils and the NBA’s Nets franchise, is scheduled to close at the end of March.

The Izod Center employees who are being laid off include 159 full-time employees, according to a Department of Labor spokesman, while the others are part-timers who work when there are events. All told, that staff includes 618 stagehands, 263 security guards, 169 admissions workers, 116 trades workers, 66 box office employees and 50 parking attendants.

ALSO ON NJBIZ:

These towns have N.J.’s highest property taxes

Updated: 216K N.J. residents have signed up for Obamacare, as 2015 deadline nears

Even N.J. Republicans feel Christie more concerned with 2016 than governing, poll finds