TD Garden

• 1. Introduction

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  TD Garden stands in Boston, Massachusetts, built directly above the MBTA's North Station. On the evening of the 29th of September, 1995, a farewell ceremony filled the old Boston Garden. WBZ-TV's Liz Walker and CBS anchor Dan Rather hosted it. Thousands of balloons rose into the rafters as the Boston Pops played. Bruins legends Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito stood beside Celtics greats Larry Bird and Red Auerbach. The Boston Globe put it in four words: "all New England has lost a friend." A new arena waited only a few feet away, set to open the very next night. It would carry more than one name before the decade was out. Today nearly 3.5 million people pass through its doors every year, making it the most visited sports and entertainment arena in New England. Getting to that opening night took almost two decades of false starts and a legislative fight over charity payments. It also took a funding deal built on $120 million in bank loans. The building that replaced Boston Garden also inherited something stranger. It gained a wooden floor with its own decades-old backstory. It also inherited a naming history that once let ordinary people buy the arena's name for a single day.

• 2. A Decade of Deadlock

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  As early as the late 1970s, the Boston Bruins were already hunting for a new arena. Boston Garden was closing in on its 50th year at the time. The Jacobs family had purchased the Bruins in 1975. They wanted a 17,000-seat facility somewhere in suburban Boston after talks with the city broke down. One option nearly succeeded: a move to Salem, New Hampshire, near where the Mall at Rockingham Park stands today. That deal fell apart, and the Bruins stayed at Boston Garden. The Celtics, meanwhile, separately considered a relocation to Revere, Massachusetts.

  In 1985, the Boston Redevelopment Authority and Mayor Raymond Flynn granted Delaware North the rights to build a replacement arena. Delaware North already owned Boston Garden. Weak economic conditions then stalled the project for years. On the 8th of May, 1992, Delaware North announced it had lined up $120 million in loans. The money was split evenly among Bank of Boston, Fleet Bank of Massachusetts, and Shawmut National Corporation. That December, Senate President William M. Bulger killed the construction bill in the Massachusetts Senate.

  Jeremy Jacobs walked away from the project in February 1993. Lawmakers had demanded his company pay $3.5 million in what were called "linkage payments." Governor Bill Weld backed a piece of legislation known as Chapter 15. It required Delaware North to fund at least three charitable events a year at the arena. The proceeds would go to the Metropolitan District Commission, the agency now called the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Two weeks of fresh negotiation followed. On the 26th of February, 1993, the legislature passed a bill clearing the way for construction. That came seven years after Delaware North had first won the right to build.

• 3. Building on Borrowed Ground

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  Construction began on the 29th of April, 1993. The new arena was meant to sit slightly north of the old one. When the work was finished, only nine inches of space separated the two buildings. The site covered 3.2 acres and eventually cost $160 million. The job took 27 months, including seven weeks of delay caused by heavy snowfall.

  The following night after the old Garden's farewell, opening ceremonies filled the new FleetCenter. The Boston Pops performed alongside Walt Disney's World on Ice. Olympic figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Paul Wylie appeared, along with musical acts James Taylor, Patti LaBelle, and US3. The Boston Bruins played their first game in the building on the 7th of October, a 4-4 tie with the New York Islanders. The Boston Celtics lost their FleetCenter debut on the 3rd of November, falling 101-100 to the Milwaukee Bucks.

  The FleetCenter name filling the arena that night would not last. It was already the building's second identity within months, and far from its last.

• 4. A Name Bought and Sold

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  During construction, the naming rights to what was then called the New Garden were sold to Shawmut Bank, a Boston-based company. The arena was originally slated to open as the Shawmut Center. Just as construction wrapped up, Shawmut merged with Fleet Financial Group. Every seat in the building, already stamped with the Shawmut logo, had to be replaced. Even the interior color scheme changed, from Shawmut's darker blue to Fleet's slightly lighter shade.

  The FleetCenter name faced its own expiration date. Fleet Financial's successor, FleetBoston Financial, merged with Bank of America on the 1st of April, 2004. On the 5th of January, 2005, Delaware North announced an agreement with the bank. It had paid to be released from the final six years of its naming rights deal. That left Delaware North free to find a new sponsor. On the 3rd of March, 2005, TD Banknorth, a Maine-based subsidiary of Toronto-Dominion Bank, purchased the naming rights for $6 million a year. The arena was officially renamed TD Banknorth Garden on the 1st of July, 2005. Bill Ryan, the chairman and CEO of TD Banknorth, had specifically pursued the deal. He wanted to restore the word Garden to the North Station building.

  While still searching for that long-term sponsor, the FleetCenter tried something unusual. From the 10th of February to the 13th of March, 2005, it auctioned off one-day naming rights on eBay, selling the arena's name thirty times. Net proceeds of $150,633.22 went to charities across greater Boston. Only two of those names were ever rejected. New York lawyer and Yankees fan Kerry Konrad won the rights for the 1st of March with a bid of $2,300. He proposed calling it the Derek Jeter Center, a jab at his 25-year rival, Harvard alumnus and Red Sox fan Jerry Rappaport Jr. Executives rejected the name in a city that belonged to the Red Sox. Rappaport then added $6,300 to the pot, for a total bid of $8,600, a nod to the 86 years of the Curse of the Bambino. His chosen name, New Boston Garden, Home of the Jimmy Fund Champions, was approved. Fark.com founder Drew Curtis ran his own contest after buying a day's rights. His site's users voted for Fark.com UFIA Center, but the name was rejected for its inappropriate meaning. Curtis settled on a simpler choice: Boston Garden.

  TD Banknorth became TD Bank in April 2008, following a merger with Commerce Bancorp of New Jersey. Delaware North announced on the 15th of April, 2009, that the building would take the name TD Garden that July. Delaware North and TD Bank extended the naming deal again on the 12th of January, 2023, pushing it through the 30th of June, 2045. That keeps the arena's name fixed for 40 years. The same agreement extended TD Bank's helmet advertising rights for the Bruins through the end of the 2044-45 NHL season.

  Underneath whatever name hung outside, one fixture never changed: the parquet floor the Celtics had carried with them from Boston Garden.

• 5. The Parquet Legacy

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  TD Garden is one of only two NBA arenas with a parquet floor, the other belonging to Orlando's Kia Center. The Celtics' parquet tradition began at Boston Garden, built after World War II when lumber was scarce and expensive. That original floor had first been used at Boston Arena before moving to Boston Garden. It was carried over to the FleetCenter when the new arena opened, and stayed in play for four seasons.

  A newly refurbished parquet floor, combining old and new sections, debuted during the 1999-2000 season. It was replaced entirely with a new floor before the 2015-16 season. Starting in the 2007-08 season, longtime Celtics coach Red Auerbach's signature was added to the floor. Bill Russell's number 6 jersey joined it before the 2022-23 season. The Celtics remain the only NBA team to play on oak rather than maple; the other 29 teams all use maple floors.

  In 2023, the Celtics used an alternate design for the NBA's in-season tournament. A traditional maple floor was painted mostly dark green, with a light brown middle strip. The free-throw lanes and center circle incorporated the NBA Cup trophy. Later home games in the tournament used a court based on the team's Statement alternate uniform, a green gradient inspired by the parquet pattern itself.

  NCAA rules require a special tournament-specification floor for tournament games. TD Garden has used one for events including the 2006 NCAA Women's Final Four and the 2009 and 2018 NCAA Men's East Regionals. A maple parquet floor with the same NCAA-specific design was used for the 2012 Men's East Regional instead. The wood underfoot has changed many times since 1995. What has stayed constant is the banners hanging above it, and what it took to fill them.

• 6. Banners and Blowouts

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  The Celtics and Bruins had dominated at the old Boston Garden. Both teams missed the playoffs repeatedly in their new arena, and neither reached its league finals again until 2008. Since then, the Celtics have reached four NBA Finals and won two championships. The Bruins have reached three Stanley Cup Finals and won one championship.

  The arena hosted the NHL All-Star Game in 1996. The Eastern Conference All-Stars beat the Western Conference All-Stars 5-4. Bruins defenseman Ray Bourque won the game's most valuable player honors.

  The Celtics clinched their 17th NBA championship at home on the 17th of June, 2008, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 in Game 6. It was their first title since 1986. They returned to the Finals in 2010, hosting games 3, 4, and 5 against the Lakers before losing the series in seven games. In 2022, the Celtics hosted games 3, 4, and 6 against the Golden State Warriors, who clinched the championship in Game 6. That made the Warriors only the second visiting team to win an NBA title in Boston, after the Lakers had done it in 1985. On the 17th of June, 2024, the Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 in Game 5 to clinch a record 18th championship, again at home.

  The Bruins hosted games 3, 4, and 6 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final against the Vancouver Canucks and won the series in seven games. In 2013, they hosted games 3, 4, and 6 against the Chicago Blackhawks, who clinched their second Cup in four seasons in Game 6. In 2019, the Bruins hosted games 1, 2, 5, and 7 against the St. Louis Blues, who won their franchise's first Stanley Cup in Game 7.

  TD Garden hosts the annual Beanpot college hockey tournament between Boston University, Boston College, Harvard, and Northeastern. Boston Garden had hosted the Beanpot from 1954 through 1995, continuing a tradition Matthews Arena began in 1952. Unlike most arenas, TD Garden plays no live goal horn for the Bruins. Since the 2007-08 season, a recording of a Kahlenberg KM-135 horn has sounded after home goals, followed by the song Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation. TD Garden hosted its first WNBA game on the 20th of August, 2024, when the Connecticut Sun played the Los Angeles Sparks. The league returned on the 15th of July, 2025, for a game between the Sun and the Indiana Fever. The Professional Women's Hockey League played its first game at the arena on the 11th of April, 2026. The Montreal Victoire beat the Boston Fleet 1-0 in front of 17,850 fans.

  Every banner and every horn blast still plays out under a scoreboard that has been rebuilt more than once.

• 7. More Than a Scoreboard

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  Before the 2006-07 season, TD Garden installed a new HD entertainment board. Video panels replaced the old sideboard scrolling panels in time for the 2006 Women's Final Four. See-through shot clocks were added to the basket stanchions. TD Garden joined the FedExForum, Wells Fargo Center, and United Center in adopting the feature years before the NBA required it in 2011. A vintage siren, matching the one the original Boston Garden had used, replaced the hockey end-of-period horn. The Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins' longtime rivals, had used a similar siren at the Montreal Forum and the Centre Bell.

  An LED energy-efficient lighting system went up on the building's exterior in 2009. The Boston Globe later reported on a $70 million project to upgrade the concourses and the Legends Club restaurant. The project also included technology upgrades and a relocated retail shop. That construction ran in two phases, during the summers of 2014 and 2015.

  During a Celtics-Knicks game on the 25th of January, 2013, television announcer Marv Albert made an accusation. He said the TD Garden production crew used artificial crowd noise on nationally televised broadcasts. The Celtics' official Twitter account denied that the team had ever done so.

  Before the 2021-22 NHL season, TD Garden added a new center scoreboard and audio system called Hub Vision. The system runs above 4K UHD resolution, with main replay screens measuring 18 by 32.5 feet, nearly double the size of the old ones. Smaller auxiliary screens beneath them measure 6.5 by 23 feet, aimed at fans in the first few rows. Two ring displays sit above the main boards, each 3.5 feet tall with a 179-foot circumference, replacing the old jumbotron's three-ring design. TD Garden partnered with Clair Global Integration to install Cohesion Series CO10 loudspeakers. The whole project was part of a $100 million investment from the Jeremy Jacobs family known as the Legendary Transformation.

  None of that technology explains why crowds return for the concerts, comedy, and championship fights that fill the building between hockey and basketball games.

• 8. A Stage Beyond Sports

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  The Town, Knight and Day, Zookeeper, What's Your Number?, and Ted have all featured TD Garden on screen. The documentary Celine: Through the Eyes of the World filmed concert footage at the arena during Celine Dion's 2008 Taking Chances World Tour. Comedians including Bill Burr, Denis Leary, Chris Rock, and Louis C.K. have all performed there on nationwide tours, and Dane Cook sold out two shows. WWE has staged numerous pay-per-views at the Garden, including WrestleMania XIV and multiple Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series events. Its 2022 Survivor Series introduced the WarGames match to WWE's main roster. Rival promotion AEW held its Blood and Guts and Royal Rampage episodes there in 2023.

  The UFC made its Boston debut at the Garden in August 2010 with UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2. The promotion returned repeatedly in the years after, including UFC 220 in January 2018 and UFC 292 in August 2023. Boxer Ricky Hatton began what he called his American dream at the Garden on the 13th of May, 2006. He moved up to welterweight to face WBA champion Luis Collazo. From the 26th to the 29th of July, 2004, the arena, then still called the FleetCenter, hosted the Democratic National Convention. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry was nominated there as the Democratic candidate for president. That same convention carried a keynote address by Senator Barack Obama, a speech that launched speculation about his own presidential run four years later.

  In May 2010, a bronze statue of Bobby Orr, captured in a flying pose celebrating The Goal, was unveiled outside the arena. The Sports Museum operates inside TD Garden, with exhibits covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox, and other New England teams. Below it all, North Station's commuter rail waiting area still shares space with arriving fans. A 2007 concourse expansion only partly eased the crowding. On the 6th of January, 2019, a new pedestrian tunnel connected North Station directly to the MBTA's Green and Orange Line platforms. That link followed years after the Green Line itself moved underground in June 2004. A tunnel replaced the elevated track that had once run along Causeway Street. The disused track served briefly as a security platform during that year's national convention, then was torn down.

  In May 2013, Delaware North and Boston Properties proposed the Hub on Causeway, a three-tower development on the site of the original Boston Garden. The plan called for about 1.87 million square feet of space, including retail and office towers. It also included roughly 500 residential units and a 200-room hotel called CitizenM Boston North Station. Construction began in late 2015 and unfolded in phases. The first phase built a podium level with shopping and dining. It added a new entrance to TD Garden and to the MBTA's Green and Orange Lines at North Station. The second phase added apartments and a hotel above the podium's west side.

  Four years into that construction, in the spring of 2017, teenagers from the Hyde Square Task Force examined TD Garden's original development agreement. They found its owners had never fulfilled a legal requirement to fund three charitable events a year for the agency overseeing Boston's recreational facilities. Then-governor Bill Weld, who had negotiated the original 1993 deal, reminded Jeremy Jacobs of the obligation. In August 2017, TD Garden agreed to pay the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation nearly $2 million.

  The development's third phase, an office building planned for the podium's east side, remains part of the plan first announced back in 2013.