Venue Detail
New York Rangers
Revenues From Sports Venues Pro Facilities Report
February, 2012
New York Rangers
|
4 Penn Plaza New York, NY 10001-2819 Phone: 212-465-6485 Fax: 212-465-6494 URL: www.newyorkrangers.com Owner: Madison Square Garden League: National Hockey League, Conference A
Venue
Madison Square Garden, 2 Penn Plz, New York, NY 10121-0078 Owner: Cablevision Systems Corp Managed by: Madison Square Garden Corp Built: 1968 Capacity: 19,763 Permanent concession stands: 24 Concessionaire: Madison Square Garden Suite caterer: Madison Square Garden Soft drink: Coca Cola Beer: Anheuser-Busch InBev
Ticket prices
Season tickets range from $749 to $1,554 Single tickets range from $50.00 to $1,005.00
Attendance
2009 average attendance: 17,854 2010 average attendance: 18,076 2011 average attendance: 18,103
Suites
Quantity: 78 Term: 3 to 7 years Price: $400,000 to $1, 000,000 Seats: 12 to 16 Includes: Tickets to Rangers and Knicks games, other events, restaurant membership.
Club seats
Quantity: 2,500 Term: 1 to 1 years Price: $9,240 to $12,540 Includes: Tickets. Prices differ between the Knicks and Rangers. See text below.
Financing
Original construction information is not available, but a $200 million renovation in 1990 was privately financed.
Faced with potential new competition from an arena in Brooklyn, a new stadium in the Meadowlands for the Giants and Jets and continued efforts to build a venue on Long Island for the Islanders, Madison Square Garden began a $500 million upgrade.
The work called for the lower bowl of the Garden to be fully renovated with 20 new event-level suites and 58 new lower-level suites followed by work on the upper bowl the following season.
A pair of sky bridges span the playing floor five stories above the playing surface.
“This is our signature element. It will be a unique experience in sports and entertainment,” Hank Ratner, CEO of Madison Square Garden, said.
The Garden has benefited from a permanent property tax exemption worth more than $11 million, enacted more than 25 years ago, when previous owners threatened to move its teams out of the city. In 2008, the City Council passed a resolution asking the Legislature to revoke it and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he'd oppose any effort to continue it should the arena move to the new site west of the train station.
The current Garden, which opened in 1968, sits on the site of the original Pennsylvania Station, which was torn down by the Pennsylvania Railroad after it sold the site's development rights. The demise of the Beaux Arts station triggered the city's landmark preservation movement.
Observers say the Garden doesn't have many of the amenities of modern buildings and its design makes it difficult for promoters. Among the problems is that the performance floor is five stories above ground level, meaning equipment for shows must fit in and be moved up in elevators.
In 2009, Cablevision Systems Corp. decided to spin Madison Square Garden, the NHL Rangers and NBA Knicks into a separate company. The new firm is owned by existing shareholders.
The new company is called Madison Square Garden and includes Radio City Music Hall.
Splitting off Madison Square Garden will allow Cablevision to focus on its more profitable cable- television business and could lure potential buyers for the company.
The suite price includes 12 tickets for every event at the Garden; catering to the suites is extra.
Club seats vary in price. For the Knicks, the price ranges from $9,240 to $12,540. For the Rangers the price ranges from $5,280 to $6,600. Luxury suite and club seat patrons have access to two restaurants, the Club Bar & Grill and the Play By Play Sports Bar and Restaurant. (Facilities, Financial, Ice Hockey, NHLNHL, Professional Sports)