Hypothetical new MSG design question

[JRinNYC]

If a new MSG were to be built, would you want the seating bowl to be the same with the same ceiling as well, but just larger concourses, more bathrooms, better ingress/egress or would you prefer to have a new seating bowl design and an exposed rafters altogether? MSG has a unique seating bowl, in that it's not a very tall arena, so you're not high up if you're in the upper section, but you are further back from the ice. Compared to newer arenas where you're very high up, but closer to the ice. For example the Bell Centre is massive and sitting in the upper deck you are super high up and steep, but not as far back as MSG.

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[NYRFAN218]

Some sort of hybrid. I like the way the upper bowl is angled as well as the height from the ice. I much prefer this compared to being closer to the ice but 80 miles away. Same ceiling as well. That being said, the concourses especially the upper one are terrible, the amount of leg room in each seat especially compared to a new arena like UBS is a joke, and the vast majority of lower level seats are brutal to sit in and watch the game due to the way the lower bowl is elevated. Any seats that stretch from the faceoff circle to behind the net you lose a significant amount of view whether it’s in the corners or below the goal line and that’s not even factoring in peoples heads in the way.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

If they build a new arena, they have to get rid of that f***ing moat that separates the fans from the rink.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Oooh, I'm going to like this thread. I have OPINIONS about what a new arena should have.

The "new generation" of arenas starting with Anaheim, Boston, etc. are starting to age out, and they all suffered from a degree of sameness and blandness that robbed fans of any kind of unique character from city to city.

We need a few must-haves to modernize:
- Steeper seating bowl like you mentioned they have in Montreal. There's still too much "DOWN IN FRONT!" needed at the Garden
- Front seats right up against the glass all the way around the rink
- Dressing room access directly from both benches
- Longer distance between glass panel seams
- Better ice by any means necessary
- No obstructed views. The bridge is an interesting gimmick, but obstructing the view of the scoreboard for thousands of people is not the way to go about it
- For the love of f***, emergency exits that are up to code

Nice-to-haves:
- Overall seating capacity for hockey over 20,000
- More leg room and consistent seat pitch across the entire arena
- Cup holder at every seat
- Luxury boxes that are similar in number but don't feel like they separate bowls as much
- Actual customizable horn
- More bathrooms
- More/wider/higher concourses
- More views of the street from concourses
- Similar unique roof but with a lot more head room to allow for steeper bowl and a bigger scorebaord
- LED informational signage the whole circumference of the arena
- Intuitive section and seat numbering
- Some ability to walk the circumference of the arena while inside it (MSG used to have this on 6 and 7 - newer arenas tend to have it all the way in the back, or at least partially, like at UBS arena)

 

[irishlaxburger2]

The sightlines in the Bell Centre are spectacular. Granted, walking down the aisle to your seat is vertigo-inducing because they’re so steep. But the sightlines are ridiculous. The steepness also makes the place extremely loud.

Yeah, I’d want MSG to be similar to that.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

The sightlines in the Bell Centre are spectacular. Granted, walking down the aisle to your seat is vertigo-inducing because they’re so steep. But the sightlines are ridiculous. The steepness also makes the place extremely loud.

Yeah, I’d want MSG to be similar to that.

Well, I'm not an acoustics expert, but does steepness cause loudness or a low ceiling cause loudness? Because Nassau Coliseum and the arena in Winnipeg are known to be/to have been loud af despite being small.

 

[JRinNYC]

- For the love of f***, emergency exits that are up to code

That's what made me think about this post. I went up to Montreal for the solar eclipse and caught the TOR vs MTL game at the Bell Centre. I've always thought that the Bell Centre has been a great place to watch a game. Great atmosphere and site lines. I was all the way in the upper deck and the views were great. As I left the arena I was amazed at the fire exits. I've been to all 32 arenas (excluding the new EDM, ARI and DET arenas as I went to the older arenas) and amazed at the exits. Look at the Bell Centre exits. So many banks of stairs! This was just one of the stair cases. MSG exits are pathetic and total fire traps.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

That's what made me think about this post. I went up to Montreal for the solar eclipse and caught the TOR vs MTL game at the Bell Centre. I've always thought that the Bell Centre has been a great place to watch a game. Great atmosphere and site lines. I was all the way in the upper deck and the views were great. As I left the arena I was amazed at the fire exits. I've been to all 32 arenas (excluding the new EDM, ARI and DET arenas as I went to the older arenas) and amazed at the exits. Look at the Bell Centre exits. So many banks of stairs! This was just one of the stair cases. MSG exits are pathetic and total fire traps.
View attachment 850603

In the case of MSG, they are grandfathered in as they were constructed in the 1960s, but it's pretty terrifying, and I think about it every time I go to a game there. If anything bad ever happened in the arena, all you'd be able to do is put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye.

 

[Machinehead]

Some suggestions having just been there last night:

-If you get up with 1 minute left in the period to get a beer, @Megustaelhockey sternly scolds you.
-If you start the "Potvin Sucks" whistle you get banned for life.
-The main halls need to be wider. Whenever I go to UBS are Barclays, I can walk around with relative ease. At MSG I end up running people over.
-Others have mentioned it: the exits. Worst case scenario, 18,000 people die in a crush if something happens. Best case scenario it takes an hour to get our of there on a good day.
-A real goal horn. It can sound the same, but a recoding is lame as hell.
-LOWER THE f***ING PRICES A BIT YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY!
-Expanding the size of the team store so I don't have to be in a death metal mosh pit to look at a $90 hoodie and decide against it.
-I understand safety first but can we get moving through security to be just a bit faster? Granted, it's not as bad as Barclays where you need to arrive an hour before the game to leave time for your strip search, but UBS takes like ten seconds. I think a good way to solve this is maybe warn people about which lines are bag lines and which are not before it's too late. You're staring down the metal detector before you see the sign.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Any new arena should also carry the name Madison Square Garden, even if it changes locations a bit.

I don't want to go to a game at...

 

[JRinNYC]

Any new arena should also carry the name Madison Square Garden, even if it changes locations a bit.

I don't want to go to a game at...View attachment 850630

Should a new MSG incorporate which version of MSG it is? "Madison Square Garden V"

 

[RangerBlues]

Id say in 10-20 years The Knicks and Rangers will not be playing at the current location.

 

[duhmetreE]

Should a new MSG incorporate which version of MSG it is? "Madison Square Garden V"

Madison The Sphere Garden.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Should a new MSG incorporate which version of MSG it is? "Madison Square Garden V"

Yes, a new arena would be the fifth one so named.

 

[RangerLifer]

As a woman, MORE BATHROOMS are my number one priority. LOL!

 

[Megustaelhockey]

As a woman, MORE BATHROOMS are my number one priority. LOL!

Currently, MSG has the ability to switch some bathrooms from men's rooms to ladies' rooms and back, but I don't know if any arena has ever been able to get this right because of the different ratio of attendees by type of event.

Although... there are definitely more female fans attending hockey games than there were when I was a kid.

 

[PetahFromBensonhoist]

In regards to the building itself, it would be cool if the hypothetical new MSG was inspired by its predecessors (MSG 2 in particular) and didn't look like a watch battery.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

In regards to the building itself, it would be cool if the hypothetical new MSG was inspired by its predecessors (MSG 2 in particular) and didn't look like a watch battery.

MSG II looked like this:

 

[PetahFromBensonhoist]

MSG II looked like this:
View attachment 850988

Magnificent

 

[Crease]

As a woman, MORE BATHROOMS are my number one priority. LOL!

Is there a bathroom issue for women? Whenever I go with my wife, my wife is able to walk right into the women’s room, while the men’s room line stretches multiple sections and causes traffic issues.

 

[RangerLifer]

Is there a bathroom issue for women? Whenever I go with my wife, my wife is able to walk right into the women’s room, while the men’s room line stretches multiple sections and causes traffic issues.

I haven’t been to MSG since 2007. Long lines at women’s rooms at intermissions.

 

[Crease]

I haven’t been to MSG since 2007. Long lines at women’s rooms at intermissions.

The 2013 renovations may have fixed this.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

One thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post in this thread is that any new arena should of course be ADA-compliant. Obviously there are going to be steps in any arena, but the current MSG is nightmarish for disabled people.

 

[Baby Punisher]

Has anyone ever been to the old Boston Garden? That's the type of seating I would like.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Has anyone ever been to the old Boston Garden? That's the type of seating I would like.

I went to the old Maple Leaf Gardens and Montreal Forum that were similar. Those arenas were teeny tiny by today's standards, but the fans were RIGHT ON TOP of the play, and players could hear them for sure.

They also smelled like a mix of cigarettes, mustard, and piss.