According to an article from the NY Daily News, Madison Square Garden is being recommended a new operating permit by New York’s Department of City Planning in an effort to ensure the arena is compatible with proposed upgrades to Penn Station beneath it.
There will be a vote on the recommendation on Wednesday by the City Planning Commission, the latest step in a long process to determine the future of the area.
New requirements detailed in the recommendation include commitments around public spaces, pedestrian flow, and truck loading, with all improvements notably requiring the use of property currently owned by Madison Square Garden.
The special operating permit the Garden currently holds will expire on July 24, and if a deal is not reached by then the arena could, in theory, end up limiting its audience to accommodate upgrades to Penn Station.
This could potentially include future shows from WWE, who has a strong history with the arena from its early days (including the first-ever WrestleMania in 1985), with its most recent show being the 7/7 edition of SmackDown.