New York City's Committee on Land Use voted to extend Madison Square Garden Company's permit to operate the arena by just 10 years last week setting the stage perhaps for the "World's Most Famous Arena" to be the site formerly known as the World's Most Famous Arena.
That is right, Madison Square Garden may face the bulldozers because of the city's plans to renovate Penn Station and, perhaps, correct the decision that paved the way for the current Madison Square Garden and the demolition of the old Penn Station. To say the least, the Knicks and MSG tried to pull out all the stops to try and reverse the council's decision to no avail.
Of course, 10 years is a long time from now too. But the clock is ticking for the Knicks to figure out a way to save the quote-unquote Mecca of Basketball.
No amount of spending will save them. . .
Or maybe it will. It is politics after all. And 10 years is a lot of time for the Knicks, and the massive bankroll they have thanks to their MSG television network, to find some way (within legal means, of course) to make things work and save Madison Square Garden.
Of course, the Knicks could go the Nets route too and use this time to buy up property and build their own state-of-the-art stadium in the middle of New York. That is not so easy to do.
Then again, nothing the Knicks do is easy.
Win basketball games — as they seem to be doing with this plan to acquire talent for Carmelo Anthony — and it may not really matter where you play.
