Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG has been the name of four arenas in New York City, United States. 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 as "The World's Most Famous Arena".

Present operations

The present Garden is best known as the home of the New York Knicks (basketball) and New York Rangers (ice hockey), professional sports teams that play their home matches in the arena. 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 NBA Draft, 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. The Garden hosts 320 events a year.

Related Topics:
New York Knicks - Basketball - New York Rangers - Ice hockey - New York Liberty - WNBA - Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus - St. John's - College basketball - NBA Draft - 2004 - Republican National Convention - 1976 - 1980 - 1992 - Democratic National Conventions

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MSG is also known for its place in the history of boxing. Many of boxing's most important fights were held at the 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.

Related Topics:
Boxing - Joe Louis - Roberto Duran - Ken Buchanan - Joe Frazier - Muhammad Ali - Don King - Bob Arum - Las Vegas

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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 before his murder in 1980.

Related Topics:
The Concert for New York City - September 11 attacks - John Lennon - 1980

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The arena is also a primary location for WWE events. WWE events that have occurred during the past years are WrestleMania (1985), WrestleMania X (1994), Survivor Series 1996 and 2002, the 2000 Royal Rumble and WrestleMania XX (2004).

Related Topics:
WWE - WrestleMania - WrestleMania X - Survivor Series - Royal Rumble - WrestleMania XX

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The New York Police Academy also holds its annual graduation ceremony for new officers at Madison Square Garden.

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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 (at some events a still lower seating level, known as the Rotunda, is also provided); 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 abolished, mainly because the "blue seats" had become synonymous with rowdy behavior by fans, particularly those attending New York Rangers hockey games. 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.

Related Topics:
Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - New York Rangers - Concerts

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Other venues

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

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• The Theater, which seats between 2,000 to 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 a 8,000-square-foot lobby at the theater.
• the 36,000 square foot Expo Center, used for trade 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.

Other corporate operations

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

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The Hartford Civic Center Coliseum, 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.

Related Topics:
Hartford Civic Center Coliseum - Arena - Hartford - Hartford Wolf Pack - University of Connecticut

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

Related Topics:
Rentschler Field - Stadium - East Hartford - Football

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