Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG, known colloquially simply as The Garden, has been the name of four arenas in New York City, United States. It is also the name of the entity which owns the arena and several of the professional sports franchises which play there. There have been four incarnations of the arena. The first two were located at Madison Square, thus the name. Subsequently a new 20,000-seat Garden was built at 50th Street and 8th Avenue, and the current Garden is at 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station. The present arena is informally known to some by its advertising slogan, "The World's Most Famous Arena".

The arena lends its name to the Madison Square Garden Network, a cable television network that broadcasts most sporting events that are held in the Garden.

History

Madison Square Garden derives its name from the park where the first two gardens were located (Madison Square) on Madison Avenue at 23rd Street. As the venue moved to new locations the name still stuck.

1879-1890

The site of the first Madison Square Garden, now known as Madison Square Garden I, was formerly the passenger depot at 23rd and Madison Avenue of the New York and Harlem Railroad. When the depot was moved to the current site of Grand Central Terminal in 1871 the depot was sold to P.T. Barnum and converted into a hippodrome called "Barnum's Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome." In 1876 it was renamed "Gilmore's Garden." It was an open air arena.

William Henry Vanderbilt officially renamed Gilmore's Garden "Madison Square Garden" and reopened the facility to the public on May 30, 1879 at 23rd Street and Madison Avenue. The first arena was originally built for the sport of track cycling, which is still remembered in the name of the Madison event.

1890-1925

The second Madison Square Garden (now known as Madison Square Garden II), also located at 23rd and Madison Avenue was designed by Stanford White, who would later be killed at the Garden's rooftop restaurant on June 25, 1906 by Harry K. Thaw allegedly because he seduced the murderer's wife, Evelyn Nesbit. White kept an apartment in the building.

The new structure was 200 feet by 485 feet of Moorish architecture with a minaret-like tower soaring 32 stories over Madison Square Park and was the city's second tallest building. The Garden's main hall, was the largest in the world, measured 200 by 350 feet with permanent seating for 8,000 people and floor space for thousands more.

Topping the garden was a statue of Diana which is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A copy is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The statue is 18 feet high and is made of finely wrought copper and is gilded. It was designed by Augustus St. Gaudens, and was made by W. H. Mullins at Salem, Ohio. It weighed 1,800 pounds but spun in the wind.

The Garden was torn down to make way for the landmark New York Life Insurance Building.

White was a member of the architecture firm McKim, Mead and White which designed Pennsylvania Station which was torn down to make way for MSG IV. The firm also designed the James Farley Post Office which is being proposed as the anchor for the proposed new Pennsylvania Station as well as the proposed MSG V.

1925-1968

The third garden, now known as Madison Square Garden III, was built on 50th Street and Eighth Avenue by boxing promoter Tex Rickard and was dubbed "The House That Tex Built." The New York Rangers got their name in a wordplay on Tex's name (e.g., Tex's Rangers). It was built in 249 days on the site of the city's trolley barns.

In 1928 Rickard built "Boston Madison Square Garden." The name got clipped to Boston Garden.

Boxing was Madison Square Garden III's principal claim to fame. The building exterior in contrast to the ornate towers of the first two Garden was a simple box. Its most unique feature was its ornate marquee. On January 17, 1941 23,190 people witnessed Fritzie Zivic successful welterweight defense against Henry Armstrong. That is the biggest attendance record of any of the Gardens. MSG III was featured prominently in the 2005 Ron Howard film Cinderella Man (although exterior montage shots glorified it by placing it against the Times Square signs on Broadway when it was in fact one block west).

It hosted the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which nominated John W. Davis after 103 ballots. It also hosted the only indoor bout in the career of Jack Dempsey. It cost $4.75 million to build; this one hosted seven NCAA men's basketball championships between 1943 and 1950. It also hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 1954 and 1955. When it was torn down, there was a proposal to build the world's tallest building on its site prompting a major battle in its Hell's Kitchen neighborhood that ultimately resulted in strict height restrictions. The space remained a parking lot though until 1989 when Worldwide Plaza designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill opened.

Madison Square Garden Bowl

Madison Square built an open air arena, the Madison Square Garden Bowl at 48th and Northern Boulevard in Long Island City in 1932 that could seat 72,000. This was the site where James Braddock defeated Max Baer for the World Heavyweight title on June 13, 1935 that was dramatized in the film Cinderella Man. Ironically Braddock was born on West 48th Street in Hell's Kitchen just a few blocks from the West 49th Street location of MSGIII. Braddock's first come back fight against John "Corn" Griffin was also in the venue. Jack Sharkey and Primo Carnera also captured the heavyweight crown in the 1930s at the Madison Square Garden Bowl.

The bowl was torn down after World War II to make way for U.S. Steel and Ronzoni Macaroni Company factories. They in turn were torn down and the area is now home to a series of car dealerships.

1968-Present

On February 11, 1968 the fourth Madison Square Garden, Madison Square Garden IV, opened after the financially troubled Pennsylvania Railroad tore down Pennsylvania Station (although the tracks remained underneath). The current Garden is the hub of Madison Square Garden Center in the office and entertainment complex known as Pennsylvania Plaza, for the railroad station atop which the complex is located.

In 1991 Garden ownership spent $200 million to renovate the Garden including adding 89 suites.

In 2004-2005 Cablevision was involved in an intense battle with the City of New York over the proposed West Side Stadium which they said would be competing with their venue. During the battle, Cablevision announced plans for $360 million in proposed renovations. When the stadium ultimately was stopped, Cablevision signed on to tear down the Garden and rebuild it on Ninth Avenue.

New arena

As of September 2005, the Garden's current owner, Cablevision, has plans to build a fifth Garden. If the project moves forward, a new Garden would be built at the western end of the James Farley Post Office, on 33rd Street and Ninth Avenue across the street, which is also eyed for a western expansion of Pennsylvania Station. The new Garden, which would remain home to the Rangers and the Knicks, would feature wide concourses with stores and restaurants, luxury boxes with better sight lines for basketball and hockey games, a museum, and a hall of fame. The current garden would be torn down to be replaced with an office tower.

Present operations

The present Garden hosts 320 events a year but it is best known as the home of the New York Knicks of the NBA and New York Rangers of the NHL. The aforementioned professional sports teams play their home matches in the arena and are owned by the Garden itself. It also hosts New York Liberty (WNBA) home games, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus when it comes to New York City, home games for the St. John's Red Storm (college basketball), the annual pre and postseason NIT tournaments, the NBA Draft, the Millrose Games athletics meet, and almost any other kind of indoor activity that draws large audiences, such as the 2004 Republican National Convention. It has previously hosted the 1976, 1980 and 1992 Democratic National Conventions.

World Wrestling Entertainment considers it its home arena as well, due to the fact that all generations of the McMahon family, including Vince McMahon's father and grandfather. have promoted shows at the Garden. MSG has hosted three WrestleManias, three SummerSlams, two Survivor Series, and the 2000 Royal Rumble. However, in 2005, World Wrestling Entertainment temporarily broke off their relationship with 'The Garden' due to the fact that WWE felt that since rental costs for the building have gone up, they could no longer make a profit in the building. However, a year later, World Wrestling Entertainment patched things up with MSG, and have agreed to host the 2007 edition of SummerSlam in the venue.

MSG is also known for its place in the history of boxing. Many of boxing's biggest fights were held at Madison Square Garden, including many of Joe Louis, the Roberto Duran-Ken Buchanan affair, and the first and second Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali bouts. Before promoters such as Don King and Bob Arum moved boxing to Las Vegas, Madison Square Garden was considered the mecca of boxing.

Most large popular-music concerts in New York City take place in Madison Square Garden. Particularly famous ones include The Concert for New York City following the September 11 attacks and John Lennon's final concert appearance before his murder in 1980.

Many musical acts released seminal live albums recorded at MSG, including Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel, Phish, and Elvis Presley. Pearl Jam released a DVD of a concert at the Garden. Bands including Phish, Cream and The Jacksons have had reunion shows there.

The arena is also used for other special events, including Tennis, Circus, and Wrestling events. The New York Police Academy also holds its annual graduation ceremony for new officers at Madison Square Garden. It has become the New York site of the annual Grammy Awards, (which are normally held in Los Angeles) and hosted the 2005 Country Music Association Awards (normally held in Nashville).

The Big East Conference men's basketball tournament has been held at MSG every year since 1983.

Seating

Seating in the present Madison Square Garden is arranged in five ascending levels. The lowest one is referred to as "rink-side" for hockey games or "court-side" for basketball games. Next above this is the First Promenade, followed by the Second Promenade, First Balcony and Second Balcony. The seats of these five levels originally bore the colors red, orange, yellow, green, and blue, respectively; however, this color scheme has since been changed, mainly because the "blue seats" had become synonymous with rowdy behavior by fans, particularly those attending New York Rangers hockey games. It was a common sight for Rangers fans to set fire to the jerseys of fans from visiting teams, especially those from the New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers. Rangers fans in the blue seats would defend their turf from invading visiting teams' fans at all costs. For hockey, the Garden seats 18,200; for basketball, 19,763; and for concerts 20,000 center stage, 19,522 end-stage. The arena features 20,976 square feet (1949 m²) of arena floor space.

Because all of the seats are in one monolithic grandstand, distance from the court/rink is significant from the upper sections. Also, the rows rise much more gradually than other North American arenas, which can cause impaired sightlines, especially when sitting behind tall spectators or one of the concourses.

Other venues

Today's Madison Square Garden is more than just the arena. Other venues at the Garden include:

The Theater at Madison Square Garden, which seats between 2,000 and 5,600 for concerts and can also be used for meetings, stage shows, and graduation ceremonies. No seat is more than 177 feet (54 m) from the 30-foot-by-64-foot stage. There is an 8,000-square-foot lobby at the theater. When the current Garden opened in 1968, the Theater was known as the Felt Forum, in honor of Garden President Irving Mitchell Felt. In the early 1990s, it was renamed the Paramount, after Paramount Communications, which then owned the Garden (and which had previously been known as Gulf & Western.) The theater received its current name in the mid-90s.
The 36,000-square-foot Expo Center, (formerly known as "The Rotunda") is used for trade shows, cat show, often in combination with the arena, banquets, and receptions.
A 9,500-square-foot terrace and two restaurants: the Garden Club and the Play-by-Play.

Other corporate operations

In addition to the Garden itself, Madison Square Garden, L.P. also operates two major sports venues in Connecticut.

The Hartford Civic Center, an indoor arena in Hartford, is home to the Hartford Wolf Pack, a minor-league hockey team also owned by MSG, and also serves as the part-time home of the men's and women's basketball teams of the University of Connecticut.

Rentschler Field, a stadium in East Hartford, hosts UConn's football team.

Notable firsts

February 12, 1879 - The first artificial ice rink in North America opens at the Garden.
1902 - The first indoor professional American football game is played.
1934 - The first college basketball game at the Garden is played, between the University of Notre Dame and New York University.
February 28, 1940 - Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh).
March 19, 1954 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at the Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
March 31, 1985 - The World Wrestling Federation (known now as World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE), presents the inaugural WrestleMania. The annual event would return to Madison Square Garden in 1994 and 2004 for WrestleMania X and WrestleMania XX, celebrating the 10th and 20th anniversaries of WrestleMania.
June 14, 1994 - After 54 years, the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup at Madison Square Garden. It is the first time that a Stanley Cup has been won by the Rangers at the Garden.
June 29, 1997 - The New York Liberty professional women's basketball team plays its first home game - the first WNBA game to be played at Madison Square Garden. ^*
March 1, 2003 - Quinnipiac University defeats the University of Connecticut 4-3 in the first college hockey game played at Madison Square Garden since 1977.

Historical events

Throughout its long history, the Garden has been involved its share of historical events. These events have included ones with political implications. On February 20, 1939, A large German-American Bund convention was held prompting riots and protests in and around the arena by American Jews. Former Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie led 20,000 African-Americans on June 7, 1943, the largest Civil Rights rally of its time, in demanding equal rights and victory in the war against Hitler. President John F. Kennedy's 45th birthday celebration took place at the Garden on May 19, 1962. During it, Marilyn Monroe sung her now infamous Happy Birthday, Mr. President.

On July 1, 1982 Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon held a Blessing Ceremony in the Garden for 2075 couples. This event attracted a lot of public and media attention (including a story in Life Magazine), often being called a "mass wedding."

Madison Square Garden has been host to a series of historical concerts as well. On November 28, 1974, John Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at an Elton John concert - Lennon's last ever concert appearance. The pair duet on Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Whatever Gets You Thru the Night and I Saw Her Standing There.

New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen sold out a then record 10 night stand at the Garden in June and July 2000. Billy Joel played a four hour concert for the New Year's 1999, dubbed 'The Night Of The 2000 Years." Two songs from this concert were broadcasted live on ABC-TV as apart of the ABC 2000 news program.

The Garden has also played host to the significant charity concerts "The Concert for New York City" and "From the Big Apple to the Big Easy".

In 2006, Billy Joel set a record with a string of 12 sold-out performances, breaking the record of 10 set by Bruce Springsteen in 2000. On night 12 of the stand, MSG raised a #12 to the rafters on top of the Garden to join the numbers of Rangers and Knicks players that have had their numbers retired by their respective teams, making Joel the first ever non-sports individual to have his "number" retired at The Garden.

In 2006, Madonna was marked as the performer with most performances played ever at the venue, beating out the Rolling Stones, with 23 performances. The artist who holds the all-time record for the greatest number of appearances at the Garden is Elton John who has played the arena 58 times. The band that played more dates in the Garden than any other is The Grateful Dead, rocking the arena an amazing 52 times from 1979 through 1994.^*

Film and television appearances

As an iconic figure, Madison Square Garden has made various appearances in film and television programs. It was featured in the 1979 Robert Redford film The Electric Horseman. Madison Square Garden is featured in the opening scenes of Highlander (1986), which included footage of former tag team The Fabulous Freebirds. (It is worth noting, however, that only the exterior was used; the interior shots were from Continental Airlines Arena.)

Madison Square Garden was the "nest" for the carnivorous Godzilla babies and was later destroyed by F-18 bombers in the Americanized version of Godzilla (1998). Madison Square Garden was featured in the film Glitter, Finding Forrester, and the Adam Sandler remake of Mr. Deeds.

The arena has also made various appearances on television. In the television series Futurama, which takes place in the year 3000, the MSG is known as "Madison Cube Garden" and has been changed in appearance drastically.

References

External links

New York Rangers

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