“The World’s Most Famous Arena” has hosted countless star-studded events since opening its doors in 1874. Come along as we celebrate some of the fabulous firsts that have happened at the Garden over the past 130+ years.
NORTH AMERICA’S FIRST ARTIFICIAL ICE RINK
Madison Square Garden was transformed into a winter wonderland on February 12, 1879, with the installation of a 6,000-square-foot indoor ice rink, the first in North America. The opening coincided with a gala ice carnival that attracted thousands of revelers to the arena.
FIRST INDOOR FOOTBALL GAME
Football came in out of the cold on December 28, 1902, when Syracuse defeated “New York” (a team made up of several professional football players from around the state) in the inaugural game of the World Series of Pro Football. Organized by the Garden’s operations manager, Tom O’Rourke, the innovative event was an attempt to attract patrons to the building during its slowest time of the year. Unfortunately, New Yorkers continued to stay away in droves, and the short-lived, six-day series was discontinued in 1904.
FIRST TELEVISED BASKETBALL GAME
Basketball made its small-screen debut on February 28, 1940, when the local NBC affiliate W2XBS broadcast a regular-season game between Fordham University and the University of Pittsburgh live from Madison Square Garden. Only one camera was used in the no-frills telecast as the Fordham Rams defeated Pitt’s Panthers, 57–37.
THE JACKSON 5’S FIRST TELEVISION APPEARANCE
The pop group was still relatively unknown on August 22, 1969, when they made their television debut at the Miss Black America Pageant at Madison Square Garden. The event gave the group some much-needed exposure and paved the way for a series of sold-out Michael Jackson shows at the Garden over the next four decades.
The oldest park in NYC: Bowling Green (founded 1733) The largest: Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx (2,764 acres).
FIRST SPECIAL BENEFIT CONCERT
The Garden made headlines around the world on August 1, 1971, when it played host to the Concert for Bangladesh, the first humanitarian benefit concert. Organized by former Beatle George Harrison and featuring artists like Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, and Ringo Starr, the one-day event raised money for Bangladeshi refugees victimized by the 1970 Bhola cyclone and the bloody fallout from the Bangladesh Liberation War. The initiative generated more than $243,000 in ticket sales and led to the creation of future benefit concerts such as Live Aid and Farm Aid.
FIRST WRESTLEMANIA
Big-time wrestling overtook the Garden on March 31, 1985, when the World Wrestling Federation presented its first WrestleMania. Billed as “The greatest wrestling event of all time,” the show featured nine wrestling matches, including a heavily hyped tag-team bout with Hulk Hogan and Mr. T battling another team. (Hogan’s side won.) WrestleMania has since become an annual tradition that attracts millions of viewers each year.
FIRST HDTV SCOREBOARD
In October 2000, the Garden changed the way fans watch live sporting events when it installed the world’s first high-definition scoreboard system. Unveiled at the New York Rangers’ regular-season opener, the system included four huge screens on the Garden’s main hanging structure and 150 smaller screens scattered throughout the building. Other arenas around the world have since followed the Garden’s lead in an attempt to give fans crisper images and higher resolution replays.
It’s a fact: In the 1998 movie Godzilla, the enormous, menacing lizard made a nest for its 200 eggs inside Madison Square Garden.