Knicks and Rangers fans cried foul Thursday over the possibility of moving Madison Square Garden as part of the planned redevelopment of Penn Station.
“I wouldn’t want them to move the Garden. I have too much nostalgia,” said Mike Stanisz, 49, of Toms River, N.J.
“I’m a big Ranger fan and I’ve been watching them at the Garden for 30 years. I usually come with my wife and my two boys, aged 12 and 13. It’s all I’ve ever known.”
Stanisz, an NJ Transit train conductor, also noted that “they just upgraded everything — it looks like a brand new arena.”
“It would be such a waste of money to move it,” he said.
The staunch opposition emerged during interviews outside the Garden or inside Penn Station and was prompted by Mayor Eric Adams’ surprise announcement that he’d be “open” to relocating “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” which sits atop the rail terminal.
“The Penn Station project is a crucial one,” he said Tuesday at a Crain’s New York Business “Power Breakfast” event.
“I think that area is ripe for housing, is ripe for real investment.”
Hizzoner also joked that moving the famed sports and entertainment venue might “help the Knicks win” again after racking up eight losing seasons during the past nine.
Matt Castro-Giovanni, 18, said he’d “be pissed off if they tore down Madison Square Garden.”
“I’m a big Rangers fan. Losing MSG would be pretty annoying,” the Massapequa, Long Island resident said.
“I see a game at MSG once a month. I love it.”
Brad Moser, 49, said, “Penn Station needs to be redeveloped but the Garden should stay right where it is.”
“I’m a Knicks fan,” the Park Ridge, N.J., resident said.
“The first concert I ever saw was at the Garden — it was Billy Joel and I was 14 in 1986. My whole lifetime, the Garden has always been here.”
Representatives of MSG owner James Dolan haven’t returned repeated requests for comment on Adams’ remarks.
Dolan’s 10-year operating permit for the Garden is set to expire next year.
When the Garden’s initial, 50-year permit expired in 2013, Dolan sought a permanent extension and he’s expected to do the same thing again, a source familiar with the matter told The Post last year.
Dolan hasn’t publicly expressed any interest in moving the Garden but he reportedly held secret talks about relocating to the Hudson Yards development on Manhattan’s West Side until Gov. Kathy Hochul got involved and killed the plan.
Some passers-by who spoke to The Post on Thursday were willing to consider a new location.
East Village resident Brian Barr, a 26-year-old Massachusetts transplant, said he goes to the arena to cheer on the Boston Bruins against the Rangers.
“I would not mind if they moved it somewhere else because this area’s hard to get to,” he said.
“It’s congested and it’s a mess most of the time.”
Rich Bean, a 49-year-old software sales worker from Hoboken, N.J., also said he wasn’t “attached to the area, per se.”
“If they were able to build a new station nearby and pay for a better Penn it could be good,” he said.
Sports fan Duncan MacKenzie of Albany, who was visiting the Big Apple for Thursday night’s match-up between the Yankees and their arch-rival Boston Red Sox, said, “I wouldn’t be disappointed if Madison Square Garden was demolished and moved.”
“I’ve seen hockey games there and Billy Joel one time,” he said.
“There’s nothing magical about where Madison Square Garden is located.”
Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan
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