Madison Square Garden (Madison Square Garden) is known to New York locals simply as MSG or simply as "The Garden". It is located above Penn Station, one of the largest train stations in the United States, and many foreign tourists who come to New York by train, the first thing they see is the 126-year-old Madison Square Garden, which is the face of New York.
[edit]Basic Overview
A large white cylindrical building on the corner of 8th and 33rd Streets. Madison Square Garden is a temple to sports and entertainment, with numerous ball games and rock concerts, etc., often held there. Originally constructed and completed in 1879, Madison Square was relocated 2 times, and today's building is the third generation, completed in 1968. The name of the building remains the same as the original "Madison," although the location has changed repeatedly.
[edit]Origin of the name
In fact, "Garden" was the name of four ballparks in New York City, the first two of which were located in Madison Square, hence the name Madison Square Garden. The third ballpark built later was at the corner of 50th Street and Eighth Avenue, and the current fourth is located at 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue, which are no longer even remotely related to Madison Square, but the memories left by 'Madison Square Garden' are so deep that the third and fourth ones built later are still named after it.
[edit]Role of the arena
Madison Square Garden is the home of the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, the New York Liberty, St. John's University, the Red Storm and other teams, as well as the site of large-scale indoor events such as individual concerts and political rallies. New York's first inspirational concert after the devastation of 9/11 and John Lennon's last concert before his murder in 1980 were both held here. The hall in the garden has a special seating sequence chart detailing the different seating arrangements for different events such as basketball, hockey, concerts, etc. According to statistics, the dome hosts 320 major events a year. It is not only the NBA's "Mecca of Ballparks", where Jordan, Reggie Miller and other superstars have left their magical memories, but it is also the "Mecca of Boxing" before Las Vegas, and the most active arena for boxing in the past century, hosting the first and second fights between Frazier and Ali, the first and second fights of Joe Ali, and the first and second fights between the two. It hosted the first and second fights of Frazier and Ali, many of Joe Lewis' fights, and other all-time classics.
A history of Madison Square Garden is in fact a vivid history of American sports, literature and politics.
[edit]Development and change
In 1874, Barnum, a pioneer American charlatan, rented an old railroad station at Madison and 26th Streets in New York City just to give his grand circus a place to stay. Little could Barnum have imagined that it would become a shrine in the history of American sports. The sites of many of history's hallowed grounds are no longer known; Madison Square Garden is luckier in that regard, and while it has had four versions over 131 years, most New Yorkers understand the transformation.
Madison Square Garden, now the home of the Knicks, is the fourth building in New York City with the same name, and it too will soon be history. Last week, Madison Square Garden owners were in talks with two developers to build a new arena one block west of the stadium that would be the fifth incarnation of Madison Square Garden.
Like the first three versions of Madison Square Garden, the stadium, which is currently located in Penn Plaza, would be torn down, and several skyscraper commercial buildings would stand on the site. Mary Ann Tye, who has served as a real estate consultant for Madison Square Garden, said, "Penn Plaza is positioned as a first-class business center, and in order to achieve that position, tearing down Madison Square Garden is imperative."
But it won't be easy to tear down the stadium, which holds so many historical memories, and the resulting back-and-forth has been going on for a long time. Back in 2003 and 2004, New York City authorities notified Madison Square Garden's owners, the Dowland father and son, on two occasions that they were required to move their home west. The Dowland father and son responded by announcing last June that they would invest $300 million to renovate the stadium.
It's not that the Dowland father and son aren't willing to get a new stadium; they're just upset with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Previously Bloomberg approved the NFL's Jets to spend $2.2 billion on a new stadium, and the Dowland father and son felt his decision favored one over the other. The Dowlands spent tens of millions of dollars on television ads claiming the Jets' new stadium was "a stupid decision by the mayor," and Bloomberg countered by claiming the Dowlands were selfish and greedy.
The winners were the Dowlands, who agreed to build a new home after the New York State Assembly rejected the Jets' proposal for a new stadium in June. Said Mary Ann Tye: "The Dowland father and son scored a big win; not only did they put the Jets on the spot, but they got a prime location for a new stadium."
Negotiations over the construction of the new stadium have only just begun, and many questions hang in the balance, such as who will pay for the more than $500 million construction, whether the Dowland father and son will have an equity stake in the skyscraper to be built on the stadium's original site, and the exact construction plans for the new stadium. In addition, both the creation of the new stadium and the development of the original site would require approval from the New York City Council.
Building a new Madison Square Garden is not a new proposal, as early as 18 years ago, when New York's largest real estate developer, Canadian Leichtman, was ready to contribute $2.5 billion to the construction of a new stadium, and his aim was also to build a set of skyscrapers on the foundation of the stadium's current site. Bay & West, which owned Madison Square Garden at the time, rejected Leichtman's proposal, arguing that it would be too risky.