Madison Square Garden’s new Chase Bridge seats, perched on two platforms suspended high above the seating bowl, are a hot ticket.
As of last week, partial-season-ticket buyers and Chase credit and debit card holders had bought the majority of the 430 seats for Knicks and Rangers games. Fewer than 50 seats were available for individual ticket buyers for all regular-season games, said Dave Howard, president of MSG Sports.
Partial-season-ticket prices are $130 to $150 a game for the bridges. Individual ticket prices start at $110 a game. “This is going to be an incredible experience, the first of its kind,” Howard said. “We can’t show the seats to customers because they’re still under construction, but it says something that we’ve been able to sell them sight unseen.”
The bridge seats will make their debut Oct. 25 for the Knicks-Bobcats preseason game. The Rangers’ first regular-season home game is Oct. 28 against Montreal. MSG has scheduled a press event Oct. 24 to show the new bridge seats and other arena upgrades.
Each bridge spans 230 feet across the top of the arena. The platforms holding the seats are 21 feet wide.
The north bridge has 355 ticketed seats, distributed among two rows of regular seats and a third row of bar stools with countertops. The south bridge has 75 seats, and the remaining space is reserved for media. Rangers television broadcasters Sam Rosen and Joe Micheletti will call home games from the south bridge, Howard said.
At the end of the two bridges are balconies filled with concessions and bars. The east balcony is officially the Eighteen/76 Balcony, presented by Anheuser-Busch, recognizing the year Anheuser-Busch was founded, three years before the original Madison Square Garden opened.
Food options for bridge seat patrons will include the Daily Burger, run by New York restaurateur Drew Nieporent; Casa Nonna Pizza, another well-known local brand; and chicken and fries. MSG operates food in-house.
Chase Bank, one of the arena’s marquee partners, will have signs attached to the bridge seats. The bank’s brand extends to Chase Square, the Garden’s newly configured main entrance.
The Garden is completing the final phase of a three-year, $980 million renovation.
