Originally Posted by
NYK orange and blue
Renovations for Garden May Include All-Stars
By
HOWARD BECK
Published: July 24, 2008
The
Knicks have not had an All-Star player since 2001, but they could welcome two dozen of them to New York in four years for the
N.B.A. All-Star Game.
[h4]With a $500 million renovation planned for Madison Square Garden, the Knicks are preparing an application to host the All-Star Game at the earliest possible date. The renovated Garden is scheduled to be ready for basketball by the 2011-12 season.[/h4]
Garden executives have already made an unofficial pitch to N.B.A. Commissioner
David Stern, who has embraced the prospect.
"I would say it's a very live possibility," Stern said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
The Garden has to file an application, and there will be competition from other N.B.A. cities, notably Orlando, Fla., which is building a new arena. But New York is likely to emerge as the favorite, given the Garden's history, the lure of Manhattan and Stern's enthusiasm for its bid.
Garden officials announced in early April that they intended to overhaul the arena's interior while preserving the outer shell. Changes will include a new, sunlit entryway off Seventh Avenue, the addition of luxury suites closer to the floor, wider public concourses and better sight lines throughout the arena.
Hank Ratner, the Garden's vice chairman, presented the renovation plans to Stern and the deputy commissioner Adam Silver about two months ago. Stern said the renovated Garden would essentially be a modern, state-of-the-art arena, albeit one housed within the old building. The current Garden opened in 1968.
"I can't speak as an architect or reviewer," Stern said, but the new Garden will be "quite extraordinary, quite commodious, and it's going to be quite a treat for the fans of New York."
The Garden has hosted the N.B.A.'s All-Star weekend once, in 1998, when the game turned into a memorable duel between
Michael Jordan, who was in his last season with the
Chicago Bulls, and
Kobe Bryant, who was then a 19-year-old rising star with the
Los Angeles Lakers.
The previous Garden, at 49th Street and Eighth Avenue, played host to the All-Star Game in 1954, 1955 and 1968.
The league has a history of awarding the All-Star Game to new arenas, as it did in 2002 (Staples Center in Los Angeles), 2005 (Pepsi Center in Denver) and 2006 (Toyota Center in Houston). League owners have lately shown a preference for warm-weather cities, placing the game in Houston, Las Vegas and New Orleans over the last three years. The 2009 game will be in Phoenix at the US Airways Center. Dallas is considered a favorite for the 2010 game.
Stern acknowledged that cities with warm climates and large convention centers have a distinct advantage in the bidding process.
"Without sounding too provincial, New York City has its own advantages," he said. "The 1998 All-Star Game here was a great success."
The N.B.A. offices are in Manhattan. Stern was born in New York and grew up in Teaneck, N.J.
Garden officials are looking at a number of major events, including an
N.C.A.A. basketball regional, as they proceed with the renovations. The Garden has not hosted an N.C.A.A. tournament game since 1961. Award shows and presidential conventions are also possibilities. The construction will take place over the next three summers, during the N.B.A. and N.H.L. off-seasons.
"Madison Square Garden is really the family room for all of New York," Ratner said in a separate interview. "To attract the greatest events in the world, the world's most famous arena really needs to be the world's most state-of-the-art arena. That's what we're going to do."
More Articles in Sports »
Need to know more? 50% off home delivery of The Times.
