Boston Garden - Final Years

Final Years

By the early 1970s, Boston Garden was largely obsolete. The building had no air conditioning and seats were obstructed by structural pillars. The seats themselves were decades old and terribly cramped. With a capacity of less than 15,000, it was one of the smallest major league sports arenas in the country. The Garden also lacked luxury suites, which had become a major source of revenue for teams in all professional sports and a veritable necessity. In 1972, Boston Mayor Kevin White announced plans for a new 18,000-seat arena to be built near South Station. Plans for the arena fell through when Storer Broadcasting, owner of the Boston Garden, announced that they would not be able to pay the $24 to $28 million required for the new arena to be built. In 1977 the Boston Celtics negotiated with the city of Quincy to have a $30 million, 21,000-seat arena built there.

In 1979, Boston Celtics owner Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. threatened to build a new arena unless the Boston Bruins, who owned the Garden, agreed to lower the rent. The team met with Ogden Corp., owners of Suffolk Downs, who proposed a $20 million, 18,000-seat arena to be built near the racetrack. They also met with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, who proposed $40 million, 15,000-seat arena that would be built behind the existing Garden and paid for with state bonds. The Bruins meanwhile announced plans to move to a proposed $50 million sports complex located on the former site of Rockingham Park in Salem, New Hampshire. The plans for the Salem site were eventually killed by the New Hampshire General Court.

In response to the Bruins plans to leave the state, U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas established a committee to put forward a plan for a new Boston arena. The committee, chaired by Tsongas, proposed a $56.8 million, 16,000 seat arena that would be paid for by tax-exempt bonds floated by an Arena Authority and by raising the commonwealth's hotel tax from 5.7% to 8%. The naming rights to the proposed arena were sold to Sheraton for $2 million. Tsongas' proposal died in the state legislature.

In 1985, Garden-owner Delaware North and developer Rosalind Gorin each submitted proposals for a new arena, hotel, and office development. Both proposals were rejected by the Boston Redevelopment Authority and Mayor Raymond Flynn. The two groups later resubmitted plans, with Delaware North's calling for a renovation of the Garden instead of having it demolished. Gorin's plan callied for the city to claim the Garden by eminent domain, as Delaware North refused to sell the Bruins and the Garden to a group led by Gorin, Paul Tsongas, and former Bruins Wayne Cashman and Bobby Orr. Delaware North was awarded the rights to construct the new arena, but poor economic conditions delayed the project.

On May 8, 1992 Delaware North announced that they had secured funding for a new arena in the form of $120 million worth of loans evenly split between Bank of Boston, Fleet Bank of Massachusetts, and Shawmut National Corporation. That December a bill approving construction of the new arena was killed in the Massachusetts Senate by Senate President William M. Bulger. Legislative leaders and Delaware North attempted to reach an agreement on plans for the new arena, but in February 1993 Delaware North owner Jeremy Jacobs announced that he was backing out of the project as a result of the legislature's demand that his company pay $3.5 million in "linkage payments". Two weeks later, after a new series of negotiations, the two sides finally came to an agreement and on February 26 the Legislature passed a bill that allowed for construction of a new sports arena. Construction began on April 29, 1993. Shawmut Bank purchased the naming rights for the new building with the intent of calling it the "Shawmut Center," but they were purchased by FleetBank before the new arena opened, and thus the "FleetCenter" opened in October 1995. In 2005, the FleetCenter was renamed the "TD Banknorth Garden," as Bank of America had acquired Fleet Bank and relinquished its predecessor's naming rights, selling them to TD Banknorth. As of July 2009, it is known as TD Garden.

The last official game played at the Garden took place on Sunday, May 14, 1995. It was game five of an NHL Eastern Conference quarterfinal series between the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils. The Devils edged the Bruins, 3–2, winning the series four games to one. The last event ever to be held at the Boston Garden was a preseason game between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens on September 28, 1995. In a special post-game ceremony, which included many former Bruins greats, the banners and retired numbers were removed. The Garden sat vacant for almost two years before it was demolished in 1997. The site where the building once stood is now a parking lot immediately adjacent to the arena's successor, TD Garden.

When the Bruins finally won the Stanley Cup in the 2010-11 NHL season, the rally started at the site of the Garden. The Bruins last won the cup 39 years prior to that season.