MMA Match Saturday At American Dream; Performing Arts Center Opens At Mall

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — A performing arts center will open Saturday at American Dream, and it will host a professional MMA fighting match as its debut event.

The performing arts center is called the Dream Live and it will open Saturday, July 25 for VFL 4: Havoc on the Hudson, beginning at 7 p.m. This is an MMA fight hosted by Victory Fighting League.

Also, a brand-new event center just opened at the mall, too. The 60,000 square-foot event center quietly opened Sunday, when it hosted a private event for several thousand ticket holders prior to the World Cup final. (We are sure President Donald Trump was inside American Dream, but the mall won't confirm.)

The performing arts center is called Dream Live, and it will host concerts, comedy shows, theater productions, cultural programming and live sporting events. Ticketmaster will serve as the venue’s official ticketing partner.

"DogMan the Musical" and French Montana live in concert will be at the performing arts center in August.

Here's the full line-up of what they have planned at Dream Live:

• July 26 – Comedy Night with Yechiel Jacobs
• July 30 – Free screening of the original Jaws movie
• July 31 – Free screening of Jaws 2 and Jaws III
• August 1 and 2 - Club 90s Presents BTS Night
• August 8 - As It Is
• August 9 -14 - DogMan The Musical
• August 15 - French Montana live in concert
• August 16 - Good Guys Podcast Live
• August 20 - Arrival from Sweden
• August 23- High School Musical Sing Along!

The event center is located inside The Avenue, the collection of high-end shops in the mall.

The event center can hold up to 3,500 guests and space for more than 300 exhibitor booths and 190 banquet tables. It's designed to hold exhibitions, consumer trade shows, corporate gatherings, private celebrations (on the scale of when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce rented out Madison Square Garden for their wedding) and large-scale "hospitality experiences."

The space has a window wall with views of the Manhattan skyline.

“American Dream continues to redefine the entertainment and retail experience,” said Roy Ghermezian, of the Ghermezian family that owns the mall under Triple Five Group. The Ghermezians also own Mall of America in Minnesota. “These two state-of-the-art venues further enhance our property, allowing us to host even more world-class performances, live events, hospitality experiences, conventions and trade shows for visitors from around the world.”