TD Garden Renovation

TFP · Apr 7, 2014

Wow, that looks pretty awesome. Having been in some other arenas around the league, I'd rate the Garden near the top already. Will be interested to see what these renovations are able to provide. Increased traffic flow in/out of the building is definitely the one area of improvement I could think of right now, so that should be a big plus.

The Napkin · Apr 7, 2014

I hope they add more elevators. It's insane to me that a building of that size only has 2 elevators to get handicapped people in and out. And that those 2 elevators also have to shuttle broadcasters and team personnel and other various VI type Ps.

Dan to Theo to Ben · Apr 7, 2014

The Napkin said:
I hope they add more elevators. It's insane to me that a building of that size only has 2 elevators to get handicapped people in and out. And that those 2 elevators also have to shuttle broadcasters and team personnel and other various VI type Ps.

And those elevators are really really slow because of the Club people.

This is great. The crazy dough/Pro shop part of the arena is really congested.

The new parking garage entrance was a nice touch, and this should hopefully put the Jacobs dectractors to rest (myself included)

Considering Bruins ticket prices, good to see this.

Koufax · Apr 7, 2014

The only other arenas I have been in are Barclay in NYC and whatever it's called in Tampa. They are both nicer than TD.

Look again at that artists drawing and tell me how attractive the exposed cincerblocks look. Maybe that's part of North Station rather than the Garden, but it sure doesn't look beautiful to me.

TFP · Apr 7, 2014

That is the North Station lobby and it looks 200x better than what it does now.

Ferm Sheller · Apr 7, 2014

Are the guy and the girl on the top level all the way to the left rubbing each other's groins?

NortheasternPJ · Apr 7, 2014

The Four Peters said:
That is the North Station lobby and it looks 200x better than what it does now.

I agree. Looks great. Hopefully they tear out the pro shop and have more open space over where it is now.

Props to Jacobs for doing this. The arenas already pretty damn good, if not a bit generic and there's no real push to so this but he is anyways.

I agree about the elevators it's be nice to have another couple sets of them.

kenneycb · Apr 7, 2014

Well at least we have an answer as to why the B's didn't get Vanek now.

Smiling Joe Hesketh · Apr 7, 2014

jsinger121 said:
I've been to Pittsburgh and Philly's arenas and they are both better than the Garden. Hope these improvements bring it up to those arenas.

Can you guys expound on what ways the other arenas are better? I've heard this often, that the Garden as a new facility isn't all that great, so I'm curious as to what makes the other places better.

The only other arena I've been to is Buffalo. It's nice, but meh.

Smiling Joe Hesketh · Apr 7, 2014

jsinger121 said:
The Garden interior is pretty dark and dreary while both Consol and Wells Fargo center have some of there exterior of glass windows making it much brighter in the concourse. The concourses are also much bigger at both of these venues along with the pro shops as well.

Thanks, that makes sense. I assume the Garden is darker because it was built right up against the space of the Old Garden, so had they put windows in there they would have been looking out onto the old Garden bricks about 18 inches away. Perhaps that's something that can be rectified in the future.

As for the narrowness of the concourses, can't do much about that. The footprint of the building was narrow by necessity.

RedOctober3829 · Apr 7, 2014

jsinger121 said:
The Garden interior is pretty dark and dreary while both Consol and Wells Fargo center have some of there exterior of glass windows making it much brighter in the concourse. The concourses are also much bigger at both of these venues along with the pro shops as well.

I went to the Barclays last weekend and the concourses were absolutely huge. They also had Brooklyn-area businesses as their concessions i.e. Juniors Cheesecake, Nathan's Hot Dogs, etc. It is extremely dark in the arena however. I loved the arena except for the darkness. The walls and ceiling are pitch black.

RIFan · Apr 7, 2014

The new parking garage entrance was a nice touch, and this should hopefully put the Jacobs dectractors to rest (myself included)

As a long time Jacobs detractor I have to agree with you. The changes should really help the fan experience and aren't clear cut financial gains for Delaware North. It's hard to make any legitimate complaints over what Jacobs has done since the lockout.

zenter · Apr 7, 2014

RedOctober3829 said:
I went to the Barclays last weekend and the concourses were absolutely huge. They also had Brooklyn-area businesses as their concessions i.e. Juniors Cheesecake, Nathan's Hot Dogs, etc. It is extremely dark in the arena however. I loved the arena except for the darkness. The walls and ceiling are pitch black.

IIRC, Barclays Center also has a bigger footprint than TD Garden... Despite having the 2nd-lowest standing room capacity of any arena in basketball and soon hockey. The giant entrance and wide concourses might make for a better first impression, but mean it's even harder/more expensive to get a ticket.

Lupe Whalewatch · Apr 7, 2014

TD has always felt kind of generic to me, like it was built 5 years or so too soon, and there was little thought into creating a building of any character. Its obviously tough coming from a place like the original garden where it was all character, and I haven't been to many other arenas so not a ton to base it off of. I've been to Philly, and thought Philly was much better. It seemed like all the seats were closer to the ice, as if TD (especially in the loge area) is too big and spread out. I've been to Tampa and wasn't overly impressed, although we had a luxury box and they let us bring in a cooler of beers, so that was pretty cool.

FL4WL3SS · Apr 7, 2014

kenneycb said:
Well at least we have an answer as to why the B's didn't get Vanek now.

Has Chia ever faced the music on that one?

Red Right Ankle · Apr 7, 2014

Yes. It was a two-step. He turned his partner to and fro and he dosey-do'd. A good time was had by all.

Koufax · Apr 7, 2014

Yes, the shops in the lobby at Barclay's are pretty cool. Tampa, while not overwhelmingly superior, is a tad less generic in its feel.

The Garden was built entirely with private funds, so they can do it however they want. I don't think it's a dump by any means, but it's not an example of great design either. It's a box, a large box with seats in it and concession stands designed to wring the last dollar out of patrons. (However, it is not unique in that respect either). I'm interested to see that the Jacobs family is willing to spend $70MM to upgrade the facility. I'm sure that they expect a fairly quick payback in terms of greater revenue.

One aspect of the situation that may soon become relevant: the lease to the Celtics. The Celtics pay $00.00 (US$zero) for the use of the Garden under a long-term lease that was signed when the building was built. They threatened to build their own arena if they didn't get that deal. Maybe the Jacobs' are figuring that the time is soon coming to renew the deal with the Celtics, and they want to upgrade the facliity to keep them in the stable (and maybe actually get them to pay some rent).

Carmine Hose · Apr 9, 2014

Isn't this mainly related to the multi-billion development that just got approved by the BRA for the front parking lot (i.e., the old Garden site)?

genoasalami · Apr 9, 2014

The Trop in St. Pete deserves the hate, but across the bay, the Tampa Bay Times Forum is an outstanding facility. Great scoreboard, great game experience, clean, wide concourses. It really is top notch. The owner (Vinik, minority holder of Red Sox, Fidelity guy) has put a ton of money into the building. Some of it was necessitated for the RNC convention that was here a few years ago, but the big reason is that the building is in a dog fight with the Amway Center in Orlando to attract the marquee events when they make a run through Florida. I go to a bunch of Lightning games and always leave impressed. They are 10th in the league in attendance, averaging about 18,500 a game. Not a bad place to be a hockey fan.

JimBoSox9 · Apr 9, 2014

Lupe Whalewatch said:
TD has always felt kind of generic to me, like it was built 5 years or so too soon, and there was little thought into creating a building of any character. Its obviously tough coming from a place like the original garden where it was all character, and I haven't been to many other arenas so not a ton to base it off of. I've been to Philly, and thought Philly was much better. It seemed like all the seats were closer to the ice, as if TD (especially in the loge area) is too big and spread out. I've been to Tampa and wasn't overly impressed, although we had a luxury box and they let us bring in a cooler of beers, so that was pretty cool.

One of Shank's last decent lines was describing the new Garden as the "K-Mart of modern arenas". It's perfectly functional and has zero nice elements. Private financing and all, blah blah blah, but it is what it is. The flow is cramped, the concourses are unfriendly, the concessions are bland and mediocre, the seating levels are unremarkable, and it contends for the worst media box in all of American professional sports.

Somewhat surprisingly, one of the best examples of a Cadillac modern indoor arena is The Scottrade Center (Blues) in St. Louis. In addition to a solid exterior and 10x better concourses overall, they have a small indoor version of the Fenway Right Field Roof deck along the club level which I find to be a cool feature. Also, look no further than the United Center (Bulls) in Chicago for the classic ur-example of all the things TD Garden isn't.

Koufax · Apr 9, 2014

genoasalami said:
The Trop in St. Pete deserves the hate, but across the bay, the Tampa Bay Times Forum is an outstanding facility. Great scoreboard, great game experience, clean, wide concourses. It really is top notch. The owner (Vinik, minority holder of Red Sox, Fidelity guy) has put a ton of money into the building. Some of it was necessitated for the RNC convention that was here a few years ago, but the big reason is that the building is in a dog fight with the Amway Center in Orlando to attract the marquee events when they make a run through Florida. I go to a bunch of Lightning games and always leave impressed. They are 10th in the league in attendance, averaging about 18,500 a game. Not a bad place to be a hockey fan.

I went to a Lightning game two weeks ago and it was a hoot. Yes, it is a better facility than TD. It probably helped that they didn't build it over a functioning train station, but it is very nice. The crowd was really into the game, too. It was quite a surprise.

Dan to Theo to Ben · Apr 23, 2014

Koufax said:
Yes, the shops in the lobby at Barclay's are pretty cool. Tampa, while not overwhelmingly superior, is a tad less generic in its feel.

The Garden was built entirely with private funds, so they can do it however they want. I don't think it's a dump by any means, but it's not an example of great design either. It's a box, a large box with seats in it and concession stands designed to wring the last dollar out of patrons. (However, it is not unique in that respect either). I'm interested to see that the Jacobs family is willing to spend $70MM to upgrade the facility. I'm sure that they expect a fairly quick payback in terms of greater revenue.

One aspect of the situation that may soon become relevant: the lease to the Celtics. The Celtics pay $00.00 (US$zero) for the use of the Garden under a long-term lease that was signed when the building was built. They threatened to build their own arena if they didn't get that deal. Maybe the Jacobs' are figuring that the time is soon coming to renew the deal with the Celtics, and they want to upgrade the facliity to keep them in the stable (and maybe actually get them to pay some rent).

Looks like Shaws is coming to North Station in 2 years, right at the end of the TD Garden renovation

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/04/17/independent-grocers-brace-for-competition-from-big-chains/54RFNaKABM51Ks4m1s5efJ/story.html

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/12/19/bra/LgQujsgnAPlgnkhSUGiL8L/story.html

Does the Orr statue get moved or is this view from the perpendicular side (garage, equal exchange coffee shop, etc.)?

TD Garden Renovation

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