2024's Top 10 Retail Center Experiences: No. 4 American Dream

American Dream sits alongside the New Jersey Turnpike in the Meadowlands. Its next-door neighbors there are Met Life Stadium — home of the NFL’s New York Jets and Giants — and the FanDuel Sportsbook.

Hmm. Now where did the management of Triple Five’s 3 million-sq.-ft. mega-mall and entertainment space get the idea to become the nation’s leading purveyor of sports-related activations?

This past January and February, the top eight men’s and women’s curling teams met at the center’s NHL-regulation ice rink to vie for United States championships and improve their chances of qualifying for the Milano Cortino Olympics in 2026.

In June, the Arena Football League’s Billings Outlaws beat the Albany Firebirds 46-41 to win ArenaBowl XXXIII in the same space (re-made as a football field). American Dream made it a three-day, weekend event that included player meet-and-greets and celebrity appearances.

In August, the rink will re-appear as a basketball court to allow the Harlem Globetrotters to assume their first-ever sports residency. They will remain at the center to play 10 games and sign autographs, pose for pictures, and direct skill clinics for fans.

“Each of these events have their own special events marketing teams that help us to pull in new customers,” said American Dream COO Paul Ghermezian. “The Globetrotters have never done a 10-game appearance like this in a single location. Our market is New York and New Jersey, but with events like these, we’re pulling in people from well beyond the Tri-State area.”

American Dream’s most-promising sports spectacular awaits it in 2026, when the World Cup comes to North America. The finals will be hosted by the arena across the parking lot: Met Life Stadium.

“We are super excited,” Ghermezian exclaimed. “Seven games will be played there. Our team will be engaging all our partners to pull activations out of their stores and into the main mall areas.”