Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden
4 Pennsylvania Plaza
(7th Avenue between W 31st St and W 33rd St)
New York, New York 10001

DIRECTIONS

Madison Square Garden, The World's Most Famous Arena, is located in Manhattan on Seventh Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets.

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, has been the name of four arenas in New York City. 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 Avenue and 26th Street) from which the arena derived its name. Subsequently a new 17,000-seat Garden (opened December 15, 1925) was built at 50th Street and 8th Avenue, and the current Garden (opened February 14, 1968) is at 8th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station. One Penn Plaza stands at the side.

HISTORY

A lodge had been built three years after James Madison's death in a critical spot at the then-northernmost departure and arrival point in New York City — and named Madison Cottage in honor of the recently deceased fourth president. The site of Madison Cottage would remain a critical crossroads throughout the city's history — after its demise the site gave rise to a park, in turn named Madison Square, which remains today. Madison Square in turn, gave rise to the names of Madison Avenue and Madison Square Gardens, the latter taking the name of its original location: adjacent to Madison Square — which also remained the location of the second building to carry the name.

The original Madison Square Gardens became a prominent cycling venue and gave rise to a form of track cycle racing, Madison Racing, which remains an Olympic Sport today.

PRESENT

The present Garden hosts approximately 320 events a year but it is best known as the home of the New York Rangers of the NHL; the New York Knicks of the NBA and their sister operation the New York Liberty of the WNBA, as well as the Big East Men's Basketball Conference Tournament. The aforementioned professional sports teams play their home games in the arena and are owned by the Garden itself. It also hosts the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus when it comes to New York City (although the Izod Center 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 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and 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-leased Radio City Music Hall). In 2007, over 13,000 fans enjoyed the National Lacrosse League's New York Titans inaugural home opener at Madison Square Garden. In 2008, the Titans played five home games at the Garden.

The Garden hosted the Stanley Cup Finals and NBA Finals simultaneously on two occasions: in 1972 and 1994.

SOURCE: Wikipedia