Uproot MSG? Mayor Adams 'Open' To Moving Knicks' Arena
Back in the New York ... move?
New York City Mayor Eric Adams reopened discussions about moving the New York Knicks' famed home of Madison Square Garden this week, expressing a desire to meet with team and MSG Company owner James Dolan to discuss the possibility in comments obtained by the New York Post.
MSG sits atop Penn Station, NYC's main intercity railroad station and has long been a target of the New York state government for a polarizing redevelopment project. Such redevelopment was a pet project of disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and is now spearheaded by his successor Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Adams is in support of the project for its potential housing investments.
"The Penn Station project is a crucial one," Adams said, per The Post. "I think that area is ripe for housing, is ripe for real investment ... We have to build more housing. There’s a real need for housing in the city and particularly in areas that have access to transportation, good health care, good schools.”
To that end, Adams said he would be "open" to meeting with Dolan about moving the Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers. Adams, a Brooklyn native, even managed to slip in a crack about the Knicks' recent fortunes when expounding on the potential.
"If (the housing plan) fits into Madison Square Garden moving into another location, maybe we’ll help the Knicks win," Adams said of a franchise seeing its first playoff series victory since 2012. "We should be willing to speak with Mr. Dolan and see how it fits into the overall scheme of that area.”
The fourth and current iteration of MSG, which also serves as the part-time home of St. John's University's men's basketball program, has stood in Midtown Manhattan from 31st to 33rd Streets since 1968.
Dolan has long been opposed to moving, with the MSG Company telling the New York Times in 2013 that it would be "incongruous" for the arena to be moved in the wake of the Penn Station reformation. Those comments came shortly after the arena a $1 billion renovation. Dolan reportedly held talks with developers about potentially moving to Manhattan's West Side, namely to Hudson Yards, but Hochul shut those plans down.
The Knicks' first official Garden party of the 2022-23 season lands on Oct. 21, when they welcome in the Detroit Pistons.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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