May 07, 2010

MSG renovations on for 2011, sending Liberty into three-year exile

The on-again, off-again renovations to Madison Square Garden are back on again, slated to begin next summer and be completed by Fall 2013, a full year later than at last report. By limiting work to the summer, MSG will be able to avoid disruptions to the New York Knicks and Rangers schedules, but as I wrote on the Village Voice website yesterday, the New York Liberty WNBA franchise won't be so lucky:

This won't be the first time that the Liberty will be forced to relocate: The orange-teal-and-black were displaced to Radio City Music Hall for part of their 2004 season so that George W. Bush could be re-coronated on their home court. But there's a big difference between shifting a few home games 20 blocks north and completely pulling up shop for three seasons...

As for future summers, it's as yet unclear where Maddie will be parking her doghouse. Newark's Prudential Center, as the Times suggested, is the most accessible big arena to city Liberty fans, and would if nothing else lead to a rise in the average Kinsey number among PATH ridership. (It could also make for a nice low-cost option for hoops fans in one of the tristate area's most impoverished cities; Liberty games at the Garden are already distinct from Knicks games for drawing a large number of African-American teens of all genders.) And with MSG renovations slated to last through 2013, there's even the possibility of a one-season stay in Brooklyn, given that Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards is still — officially, at least supposed to be complete by late 2012. Liberty officials didn't immediately return calls seeking more info on the team's plans.

The renovation itself, which will essentially end up gutting the Garden and building a new seating bowl inside the existing shell, are now estimated to cost between $775 million and $850 million, all of which will be paid for by MSG's corporate owners. MSG's corporate owners who already get an $11 million a year tax break from the city of New York, mind you, but it's still a pleasant change to see a sports team not asking for new subsidies on top of the ones they've already received.