The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) has added a dynamic exterior LED lighting system to The World's Most Famous Arena from Philips, the world leader in lighting. The state-of-the-art, connected LED lighting system can reflect the home teams’ colors and highlight special events by creating dynamic visual effects on the façade of the Arena. The lighting communicates which home teams’ games or events are taking place at the The Garden and helps create a sense of excitement in the surrounding area.

Following The Garden’s unprecedented three-year transformation, MSG decided to add a connected LED lighting system to the exterior cove channels of the building, as well as the roof ring at the top. MSG opted to replace the previous lighting with an energy-efficient, LED solution from Philips that could change colors in real time, run customized lighting designs, and includes a cloud-based real-time monitoring system for diagnostics. With this new system, maintenance teams can be alerted instantaneously should there be outages with any of the 1,952 fixtures or more than one mile of cove lighting around the building. In addition, because the system is LED and offers very precise beam angles, light is focused where it is needed on the building and does not spill into the night sky.

Avi Gerver/MSG Photos (Philips Lighting)

“As one of the busiest destinations in New York City, we knew we had an opportunity to create a unique public experience,” said Joel Fisher, executive vice president of sports properties, MSG Sports. “Philips’ dynamic lighting system helps bring whatever game, concert or special event is happening inside the building to the public outside, engaging everyone who walks by the Arena in the excitement of The Garden.”

Working with renowned lighting designer Al Borden of The Lighting Practice, who also worked on the Empire State Building’s tower lighting replacement, Jones Lang LaSalle, the building’s management company, and value-added partner Electric Light Agencies, Philips was able to deliver a tailored lighting solution that met MSG’s unique lighting goals.

“We have the industry expertise, partners, and best practices for delivering innovative, turnkey solutions, such as the one at Madison Square Garden, quickly and effectively because we understand that today’s lighting systems go far beyond the light fixture to integrate with other business-critical systems on the network,” said Amy Huntington, CEO Philips Professional Lighting Solutions. “The new LED lighting system gives The Garden a unique new way to engage fans and heighten team pride and support by allowing the community to stay connected with the games and events, even from outside its walls.”