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The New York Post reported over the weekend that Madison Square Garden officials, for the first time, publicly acknowledged they would be open to moving the legendary arena across the street to the former home of the Pennsylvania Hotel, which is currently being torn down.
During a Manhattan Community Board 5 committee hearing last Wednesday, MSG Executive Vice President Joel Fisher stated that the venue would be willing to move, if it was to that location across the street. It should be noted no plan to move the venue at all is confirmed and no proposal to take over that property is in place. Fisher, during the meeting noted, "But ultimately, who is going to pay for that? Where is the money? That plan hasn’t come to us but that would satisfy being right on top of a transportation hub."
Back in 2013, the city of New York only renewed MSG's permit to exist and operate above Penn Station for an additional 15 years. At the time, there were forces within NYC's political scene that wanted to see the Arena relocated to somewhere else in Manhattan so that Penn Station could be modernized and rebuilt without the stress of dealing with MSG sitting and operating above it. Madison Square Garden had been seeking a permanent permit to operate above the Station as it had just paid millions of dollars for a complete overall and renovation of the legendary facility, which took several years. The MSG renovations were not funded by the city.
For those who don't know the geography, MSG is literally in the center of Manhattan, within walking distance of every major NYC subway line and above the trains from New Jersey and Long Island. This version of MSG is the Arena's third location, having opened in February 1968. Under most scenarios, it would be near impossible to find another location that could house the venue in such a perfect location in NYC, but by moving it across the street, that would alleviate those concerns and still maintain their position in the city.
The Garden, long considered WWE's home arena, has hosted more historic title changes and milestone WWE events than any other dating back to the earliest days of professional wrestling promoted by the McMahon family. It has hosted three Wrestlemanias, including the first, tenth and 20th renditions of the WWE flagship event as well as countless other events, including Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling's G1 Supercard. The Hulu Theater (as it is now known) within the Garden complex, has hosted events from WWE NXT, WCW, POWW and AAA Lucha Libre. WWE is slated to return to MSG on 3/12 for a Road to Wrestlemania Tour event.
Meanwhile, the proposed site that MSG could move to, formerly the Pennsylvania Hotel, regularly hosted TV tapings for the Herb Abrams' version of the UWF in the early 1990s.
Thanks to Mike K.
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