Tuesday, December 2, 2008

MSG Renovations Delayed?

This is a little old, but I hadn't heard about it. Neil deMause at The Village Voices' Runnin' Scared blog, reports that based on the New York Liberty's plans to continue playing their home games at Madison Square Garden this summer that The Garden's $500 million renovation will most likely be delayed.

deMause says that "according to an email sent by the New York Liberty to their fans in October, the women's basketball team will be back at the Garden next summer -- which would be difficult if the place were being renovated."

He adds Cablevision officials wouldn't comment for the record, but a Liberty fan reports being told by a team official in a follow-up phone call that the renovation has been "delayed." The Liberty's website is currently advertising 2009 season ticket sales.

Last April, Arthur Staple at Newsday wrote regarding the renovations " Work will begin in the spring of 2009 and be done primarily over the summers of 2009 and 2010, likely displacing the WNBA's Liberty for all or part of their seasons."

The official MSG Renovation Webpage does not offer a start date for the renovations.

...i know this is from the Village Voice, not exactly sports central, and deMause has some mistakes saying the potential delays will push back completion of the project to fall 2011, which is the original completion date. But if the Liberty are scheduled to play at MSG this summer, renovation plans must be delayed. And if Newsday's story is correct it would take two summers to complete the renovations, meaning we might not see a new Garden until the 2012-2013 season.

...this is something to keep on eye on.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice update. I hadn't heard anything about this. I'm all for the renovation but I can't imagine when they'd have the time to do all of the deconstruction-construction.

bpette02 said...

I can't believe they would delay the renovations because of the Liberty!