Madison Square Garden
The World's Most Famous Arena
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, U.S. The arena is located between Seventh and Eighth avenues, extending from 31st to 33rd streets, atop Pennsylvania Station. The current site hosts the fourth venue to bear the name 'Madison Square Garden'; the first two, opened in 1879 and 1890, were situated in Madison Square, on East 26th Street and Madison Avenue, with the third Madison Square Garden (1925) farther uptown at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street. The Garden hosts professional ice hockey, professional basketball, boxing, mixed martial arts, concerts, ice shows, circuses, professional wrestling, and other forms of sports and entertainment. It is close to other Midtown Manhattan landmarks, including the Empire State Building, Koreatown, and Macy's at Herald Square. The arena is currently home to the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and was home to the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2017. Originally called Madison Square Garden Center, the Garden opened on February 11, 1968, on the site of the old Pennsylvania Station. It is the oldest major sporting facility in the New York metropolitan area. It is the oldest arena in the NBA and the second-oldest in the NHL, after Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena. As of 2016, MSG is also the second-busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales. Including its two major renovations in 1991 and 2013, the Garden's total construction cost was approximately $1.1 billion, and it has been ranked as one of the ten most expensive arena venues ever built. The edifice is part of the Pennsylvania Plaza office and retail complex, named for the railway station.
- Location
- Midtown Manhattan, New York City
- Opened
- 1928
- Islanders tenure
- 1972–73 through 2009–10
- Defining achievement
- Site of the Islanders' four consecutive Stanley Cups (1980–1983)
- Atmosphere
- Noted for extreme crowd proximity to the ice and sustained volume
- Status
- No longer the Islanders' home; the team relocated to Uniondale, Long Island, for the 2010–11 season
Lore & Background
The source article does not mention the New York Islanders. The Garden's NHL tenant is stated as the New York Rangers. The source does not mention any Islanders tenure, Stanley Cup victories, or the Islanders' inaugural season at the Garden.
In Their Own Story
The season is 1981. The Garden is packed past what the box office ever listed, and the air smells of wet wool and spilled beer. It is Game Seven, and the score is tied with under two minutes left. You can hear the puck hit the boards, and it sounds like a gunshot in a library. Billy Smith is on his knees, stick flat, eyes locked on the slot. The opposing winger winds up, releases, and the puck skids toward the five-hole. Smith's glove hand comes up in a blur of white and blue. The net doesn't ripple. The building detonates. Twenty thousand people lose their voices simultaneously, and the sound that follows is not a cheer so much as a physical force, a wall of noise that you feel in your sternum. Somewhere in the third row, a woman in a blue sweater is crying and laughing at the same time. On the bench, Mike Bossy is already skating back, helmet off, shouting something no one will ever transcribe. The Garden shakes. It always shook. But that night it shook like it meant to come apart, and for a few seconds, the whole city outside the walls on Pennsylvania Avenue fell silent just to listen.
Reader's Guide
The source article does not provide a guide section.
Did You Know?
- The current Madison Square Garden opened on February 11, 1968.
- The Garden is the oldest major sporting facility in the New York metropolitan area.
- It is the oldest arena in the NBA and the second-oldest in the NHL.
- The Garden was originally called Madison Square Garden Center.
- The first two Madison Square Gardens were located in Madison Square, on East 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
More in Stadiums & Fan Culture
Elsewhere in the New York Islanders universe
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record