The Knicks are expected to extend their home sell-out streak this season at the Garden, but will play before less live fans.
With the second stage of the Garden transformation nearly complete, the Garden capacity will fall about 1,000 lower than the usual 19,763 sell-out crowd, according to team officials. The Knicks enter the 2012-13 season with a 68-game home sell-out streak.
The second stage of the renovation featured a complete overhaul of the upper bowl. The final stage of the transformation next summer will restore the seating capacity to normal levels when the much-hyped glass bridge is built across the upper tier from one side of the Garden to the other. The bridge will also contain seats.
During a tour of the Garden today for some Knicks journalists, the club said the third stage will also contain a resurfacing of the Garden’s famed pinwheeled ceiling.
According to Knicks spokesperson Stacey Escudero, the ceiling will be resurfaced in order to better the already impressive acoustics. The Garden has always been known for its acoustics because of the ceiling’s shape, but over the years the constant paint jobs have had a slight effect.
The sight lines in the longer-expanse of the upper bowl have improved because of the seat’s angles. The first phase of the transformation consisted mostly of the lower tier.
As already reported by The Post, the old-time “blue seats’’ have been restored on the 400-level in the end zone. The exact shade of baby blue was used to replicate what the Garden had looked like before the 1990 makeover.
Rangers fans once took blue-collar pride in being called “blueseaters’’ sitting in the grimy nosebleeds – as were some Knicks fans.
The Knicks have been forced to play all six of their preseason games away from the Garden as the finishing touches are applied. In fact, the transformation schedule is so tight, the Knicks won’t even hold a Garden practice before their home opener Nov. 2nd vs. the Heat. The Knicks won’t hold an open practice for their loyal fans – as is usually custom.