More Velvet Rope Treatment at MSG

The Garden is getting tricked out. According to a story in today’s New York Times, the arena’s first major renovation since 1991 will include new luxury suites (called “The Lofts”), more lower level V.I.P. seating, a members-only club with a panoramic view of the Farley Post Office, and a new scoreboard. “We could be sitting here and just waiting to either renovate or move to the Farley building, but we are not,” Hank Ratner, the Garden’s vice chairman, said. “The demand for the V.I.P. premium seating at a lower level is there, and we are trying to fill it in steps.” According to the article:

For season-ticket holders who want the velvet-rope treatment, a members-only club with a bar and a panoramic view of Eighth Avenue facing the Farley building is set to open in the spring. To become a member, season-ticket holders for the Rangers and the Knicks will pay an extra $7,500 a season, and membership will be capped at 65 people per season for each. Access will be sold separately for concerts…Six additional new V.I.P. boxes, called the Lofts, are perched directly above the entrance ramps to the court-level sections, each with four to six seats. They are selling for $250,000 a box, providing access to all events and generating about $800,000 more in revenue than the seats they replaced.

Read “Face-Lift at the Garden Taps Corporate Money,” by David Joachim in The New York Times