Madison Square Garden

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Madison Square Garden
MSG, The Garden
The current Madison Square Garden is located at 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets.
Location	4 Pennsylvania Plaza New York, New York 10001
Opened	1968
Owner	Cablevision (through Madison Square Garden L.P.)
Operator	Cablevision
Construction cost	$123 million USD
Architect	Charles Luckman Associates, Ellerbe Becket
Tenants
New York Knicks (NBA) (1968-present) New York Liberty (WNBA) (1997-present) New York Rangers (NHL) (1968-present) New York Titans (NLL) (2007-present) New York Knights (AFL) (1988) New York CityHawks (AFL) (1997-1998)
Seats
Basketball: 19,763 Hockey: 18,200

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 the Northeast corner of Madison Square (Madison Ave. & 26th St.) from which the arena derived its the name. Subsequently a new 17,000-seat Garden (opened December 15, 1925) was built at 50th Street and 8th Avenue[1], and the current Garden (opened February 14, 1968) is at 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station. The present arena is informally known to some by the 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, as well as concerts and entertainment events that have taken place at the venue.

Contents 1 History 1.1 1879-1890 1.2 1890-1925 1.3 1925-1968 1.3.1 Madison Square Garden Bowl 1.4 1968-present 2 New arena 3 Present operations 3.1 Seating 3.2 Other venues 3.3 Other corporate operations 4 Notable firsts 5 Historic events 5.1 Politics 5.2 Music concerts 6 Film and television appearances 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

Madison Square Garden derives its name from the park where the first two gardens were located (Madison Square) on Madison Avenue at 26th Street. As the venue moved to new locations the name still stuck.

[edit] 1879-1890

The site of the first Madison Square Garden, now known as Madison Square Garden I, was formerly the passenger depot at 26th 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" in honor of Patrick S. Gilmore[2], America's most well-known bandmaster at the time. Gilmore's most famous composition was "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." Gilmore's Garden 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 26th 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.

[edit] 1890-1925

The second Madison Square Garden (now known as Madison Square Garden II), also located at 26th 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 the murderer's wife, Evelyn Nesbit had been White's mistress before her marriage. White kept an apartment, site of the famous red velvet swing, 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.

It hosted the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which nominated John W. Davis after 103 ballots. Afterwards, it 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.

[edit] 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 street car 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 that was above the main entrance, with its seemingly endless abbreviations(Tomw., V/S, Rgrs, Tonite, Thru, etc) Even the name was abbreviated: Madison Sq. Garden. 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 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 1972, the Garden's then chairman, Irving Mitchell Felt, talked about moving the Knicks and the Rangers to what was then merely a proposed arena in the New Jersey Meadows. This was a result of a row between the Garden and New York City over real estate taxes owed by MSG. The situation flared up again in 1980 when there was a reported threat by the Garden to move the Knicks to Nassau Coliseum and the Rangers to the nearly completed Meadowlands Arena if its city real estate taxes were not reduced. Both threats were not taken seriously by the city however, and no moves ever materialized.

In 1991 Garden ownership spent $200 million to renovate the Garden including adding 89 suites. In the process hundreds of seats in the upper mezzanine were removed to make way for the suites. Additionaly the color scheme of the garden was changed.

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.

[edit] 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 a rebuilt Penn Station.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 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 (also owned by the Garden), the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus when it comes to New York City (although Continental Airlines Arena and Nassau Coliseum also host the circus each year), selected home games for the St. John's men'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, and hosted the NFL Draft for many years (now held at Garden-owned Radio City Music Hall). In 2007, 4 of the 8 home games for the New York Titans will be played at the garden, with the other four to be played at Nassau Collesium.

MSG hosted the 1994 NHL All-Star Game and 1998 NBA All-Star Game, two WNBA All-Star Games (2003 and 2006), and a portion of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

Connecticut-based World Wrestling Entertainment considers it a 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 several WrestleMania and SummerSlam events, two Survivor Series events and the 2000 Royal Rumble. WWE's strong relationship with Madison Square Garden prevented competitor World Championship Wrestling from ever having a show at the Garden. ^{[citation needed]} In 2005, WWE severed business ties with the arena because WWE felt that increased rental costs would prevent them from making a profit in the building. However, over a year later, World Wrestling Entertainment temporarily patched things up with MSG and the hiatus ended with a September 11, 2006 edition of WWE RAW. It seems that WWE has, again, severed ties with the arena due to the rental costs after the announcement of WWE pulling the 20th installment of SummerSlam, which would have been held at the Garden on August 26, 2007. (It will now be held at the Continental Airlines Arena)

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.

Many 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. The Garden usually hosts a concert each year on New Years Eve, with the Knicks and Rangers usually playing on the road.

Many musical acts released seminal live albums recorded at MSG, including Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel, Phish, Elton John 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. Mariah Carey released a DVD showing her live performance at the Garden.

The arena is also used for other special events, including Tennis, Circus, and Wrestling events. The New York Police Academy and Yeshiva University also hold their annual graduation ceremonies 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.

[edit] 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, Boston Bruins, and the Philadelphia Flyers. Rangers fans in the blue seats would defend their home from the invading hordes of visiting teams' fans at all costs. Fights were constantly occurring, and ushers would often let Rangers fans get their last punches or kicks in before hauling away the opposing fan. 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 arena floor 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.

[edit] 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 shows, stamp shows, 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.

[edit] Other corporate operations

In addition to the Garden itself, Madison Square Garden, L.P. also operates (but does not own) 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. The original plan was to build a larger stadium that would also have hosted the New England Patriots.

[edit] 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. [3]
• 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.

[edit] Historic events

[edit] Politics

Throughout its long history, the Garden has been involved its share of historical events. These events have included famous political rallies and celebrations.

The 1924, 1976, 1980, and 1992 Democratic National Conventions were held at MSG.

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 Party 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."

The 2004 Republican National Convention at MSG marked the first time that the Republican party held their convention in New York City.

[edit] Music concerts

Madison Square Garden has been host to a series of historical concerts as well.

The Rolling Stones 1970 live album Get Yer Ya Ya's Out was made with the Stones performances at MSG on November 27 and 28th 1969, during their legendary 1969 North American Tour.

On August 1, 1971, George Harrison held his Concert For Bangladesh. This historic event was the first special benefit concert to raise funds for charity (in this case, the country of Bangladesh, which was at that time in a severe and desperate state). There were two concerts held that day, with one taking place at 2:30pm and the other at 7:00pm. The show featured artists such as Harrison, Shankar, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, and Klaus Voormann, to name a few. A live album of the concert was released in 1972.

In June of 1972, Elvis Presley made his first and only appearances in New York City at the Garden. Elvis played four shows to 80,000 people, which at the time was a record for the venue. A week after the shows an album of the Saturday evening performance was rushed to release making it the fastest turnaround between a live performance and its recorded release. To mark the 25th aniversary of Elvis' Garden shows, a recording of the Saturday afternoon performance was released entitled "An Afternoon in the Garden."

On November 28, 1974, John Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at an Elton John concert - Lennon's last ever concert appearance. They sang together as a duet on Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Whatever Gets You Thru the Night and I Saw Her Standing There. The concert was released as the "There" portion of John's 1976 live album Here and There.

English rock band Led Zeppelin filmed and recorded their 1976 live album, and for many years, only live album and accompanying concert film, The Song Remains the Same, at The Garden during their 1973 U.S. tour.

In 1977, English rock band Pink Floyd performed here for the first time in their then ten year recording career playing four sold out nights in a row (July 1, 2, 3 and 4) on the final North American dates on their Animals tour. The show on July 1 saw problems between the band and local lighting technicians (they had to use instead of their own lighting crew due to union technicalities) who focused a spotlight at Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' feet instead of his face and body, and Waters reacted by bending down and 'willing' it upwards with his hand. At the end of the encore Waters cursed a local union for insisting the band used the MSG light employees instead of their own by saying quote "I think you New York lighting guys are a fucking load of shit!" end quote.

The second show on July 2 went smoothly. On July 3, fans lit off fireworks during "Pigs On The Wing (Part 1)" and Roger Waters substituted one line for "You cunt!" Then, during "Pigs On The Wing (Part 2)", Roger accidentally sang the words to Part 1 and stoped after one line still strumming the guitar and said "I've got to start again, I'm singing the wrong verse, that motherfucker threw me off". When the first set ended, Waters told the crowd that they would be taking a short break and to "stop lighting off fucking fireworks!" Before the encores, Roger said, "For those of you who didn't bring fireworks, thank you for coming, we've enjoyed it". The following night, during Pigs On The Wing Part 2, fireworks went off again and Waters substituted a line for "You shit-bag!". All of the shows are available on ROIO. The band would not play here again until their 1987 A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour this time the shows went more smoothly than a decade earlier.

In 1978 reggae superstar Bob Marley raised the profile of reggae music in America with his performance at the Garden. In 1980 Marley played two concerts as the opener of The Commodores; the performances were sold out, but the Garden was almost empty after Marley's show. The day after Marley, already fatally ill, collapsed while jogging in the Central Park and performed one last concert in Pittsburgh before cancelling the tour. Marley died months later of cancer.

Jethro Tull filmed a concert at this venue on their 1978 Bursting Out tour which aired on television. Some bits were released on the re-issued Thick as a Brick album and various concert videos.

During Queen's show in November of 1978 the band had numerous naked women on stage riding bicycles during their song "Bicycle Race" This stunt attracted lots of media attention.

John Lennon's posthmously released 1986 album Live in New York City was recorded on August 30, 1972 at The Garden.

Comedian Andrew Dice Clay became the first comic to do two sold out shows in a row in 1991 in a film entitled "Dice Rules".

Billy Joel played a four hour concert for 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. Highlights from the show were also used for the live album 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert.

New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen sold out a then-record 10-night stand at the Garden in June and July 2000. Highlights of the show were used for his live CD/DVD Live In New York City.

The Garden played host to "The Concert for New York City" after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

On 7 September and 10 September 2001, Michael Jackson gave 2 shows commemorating the 30th Anniversary of his legendary career. The show featured tribute performances by artists such as Gloria Estefan, Shaggy and Britney Spears, as well as the Jackson 5's first concert together since 1984.

Pearl Jam's 2003 live DVD Live at the Garden was recorded on July 8, 2003 at The Garden.

On November 25, 2003, Jay-Z held a concert at the Garden, which would later be the focus of his film Fade to Black. This concert was his "retirement party." All proceeds went to charity. Other performers included collaborators like The Roots (in the form of his backing band), Missy Elliott, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Siegel, Freeway, Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Twista, Ghostface Killah, Foxy Brown, Pharrell and R. Kelly with special appearances by Voletta Wallace and Afeni Shakur; the mothers of Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur respectively.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the Garden played host to yet another charity concert. From the Big Apple to the Big Easy", was an event where the funds went to helping in rebuilding New Orleans after the devastation caused by Katrina.

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. The concerts were released as the album 12 Gardens Live in 2006.

On November 12, 2006, comedian Dane Cook performed two sold out shows in one night.

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.[4]

[edit] 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. In Paternity, Burt Reynolds plays the manager of the Garden. The famous scene from Citizen Kane with Orson Welles standing in front of his giant picture took place in the third Garden.

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 appears like a cube, standing on one corner, buried a little ways under the ground.

[edit] References

• McShane, Larry. Looking Back at 125 Years of Madison Square Garden. NYC.gov. Retrieved on August 7, 2005.
• MSG: Corporate Information. Retrieved on August 7, 2005.
• Rent The Garden. Retrieved on August 7, 2005.
• Bagli, Charles V.. "Madison Square Garden's Owners Are in Talks to Replace It, a Block West", The New York Times, September 12, 2005.
• Huff, Richard. "Arena's the star of MSG revamp", New York Daily News, August 22, 2006.
• Anderson, Dave. "SPORTS OF THE TIMES; DUES FOR THE CITY", The New York Times, February 19, 1981.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Madison Square Garden

• TheGarden.com
• New York Architecture Images Madison Square Garden

Preceded by: first arena

Home of the New York Knicks 1946–1968 (MSG III) 1968–present (MSG IV)

Succeeded by: current

Preceded by: first arena

Home of the New York Rangers 1926–1968 (MSG III) 1968–present (MSG IV)

Succeeded by: current

Preceded by: Barton Street Arena 1920–1925

Home of the New York Americans 1925–1942 (MSG III)

Succeeded by: last arena

Preceded by: first arena

Host of WrestleMania 1985

Succeeded by: Nassau Coliseum/Rosemont Horizon/Los Angeles Sports Arena

Preceded by: Caesars Palace

Host of WrestleMania X 1994

Succeeded by: Hartford Civic Center

Preceded by: Safeco Field

Host of WrestleMania XX 2004

Succeeded by: Staples Center

Coordinates: 40°45′1.75″N, 73°59′36.77″W

Current arenas in the National Hockey League
Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Air Canada Centre | BankAtlantic Center | Bell Centre | Continental Airlines Arena | HSBC Arena | Madison Square Garden | Mellon Arena | Nassau Coliseum | Philips Arena | RBC Center | St. Pete Times Forum | Scotiabank Place | TD Banknorth Garden | Verizon Center | Wachovia Center		American Airlines Center | Gaylord Entertainment Center | GM Place | HP Pavilion | Honda Center | Jobing.com Arena | Joe Louis Arena | Nationwide Arena | Pengrowth Saddledome | Pepsi Center | Rexall Place | Scottrade Center | Staples Center | United Center | Xcel Energy Center

Current arenas in the National Basketball Association
Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Air Canada Centre | AmericanAirlines Arena | Amway Arena | Bradley Center | Charlotte Bobcats Arena | Conseco Fieldhouse | Continental Airlines Arena | Madison Square Garden | Palace of Auburn Hills | Philips Arena | Quicken Loans Arena | TD Banknorth Garden | United Center | Verizon Center | Wachovia Center		American Airlines Center | ARCO Arena | AT&T Center | EnergySolutions Arena | FedExForum | Ford Center | KeyArena | New Orleans Arena | Oracle Arena | Pepsi Center | Rose Garden Arena | Staples Center | Target Center | Toyota Center | US Airways Center

Current arenas in the Women's National Basketball Association
Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Charlotte Bobcats Arena | Conseco Fieldhouse | Madison Square Garden | Mohegan Sun Arena | Palace of Auburn Hills | UIC Pavilion | Verizon Center		ARCO Arena | AT&T Center | KeyArena | Staples Center | Target Center | Toyota Center | US Airways Center

Current arenas in the National Lacrosse League
Eastern Division		Western Division
Air Canada Centre | Blue Cross Arena | HSBC Arena | Madison Square Garden1 | Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum2 | Sears Centre | Wachovia Center | Xcel Energy Center		HP Pavilion | Jobing.com Arena | Pengrowth Saddledome | Pepsi Center | Rexall Place | Rose Garden Arena
1The New York Titans play four of their home games at Madison Square Garden. 2The New York Titans play four of their home games at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Current Basketball Arenas in the Big East

Allstate Arena (DePaul men) • Bradley Center (Marquette men) • Carnesecca Arena (St. John's) • Carrier Dome (Syracuse) • Continental Airlines Arena (Seton Hall men) • DePaul Athletic Center (DePaul women) • Dunkin' Donuts Center (Providence) • Fifth Third Arena (Cincinnati) • Freedom Hall (Louisville) • Gampel Pavilion (Connecticut) • Hartford Civic Center (Connecticut) • Joyce Center (Notre Dame) • Louis Brown Athletic Center (Rutgers) • Madison Square Garden (St. John's men) • McDonough Gymnasium (Georgetown women) • McGuire Center (Marquette women) • The Pavilion (Villanova) • Petersen Events Center (University of Pittsburgh) • USF Sun Dome (South Florida) • Verizon Center (Georgetown men) • Wachovia Center (Villanova) • Walsh Gymnasium (Seton Hall women) • WVU Coliseum (West Virginia)