Photos: Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden

With today's announcement that the New York Islanders are Brooklyn bound, New York City will be home to two National Hockey League arenas that are either new or renovated. Barclays Center recently opened to the public and is ready for the inaugural season of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team. The Islanders are moving to Brooklyn in 2015 after the lease expires at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in suburban Uniondale.

I lived in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Windsor Terrace this past summer and one day in early September I decided to snap some photos of the under construction Barclays Center. One of the greatest advantages to the arena is how transit accessible it is. Eleven subway lines and eleven bus lines stop near the arena and the Long Island Railroad's Atlantic Terminal is located across the street from the arena. The LIRR stop will make it convenient for Islanders fans traveling from other areas in Long Island. Plus there are 400 free bicycle parking spaces.

Madison Square Garden, the home of the Rangers hockey team and Knicks basketball team, is in the middle of a three-year, $850 million interior and exterior renovation that is transforming the historic arena into a modern, 21st century sports and entertainment venue. And MSG in midtown Manhattan sits atop the busiest train station in the United States -- Penn Station, which is going to be renovated and the main terminal replaced by a new high-speed rail hub called Moynihan Station, located at the Farley Post Office Building across Eighth Avenue. And there are thirteen subway lines that stop at or near MSG.

So with the easy mass transit access to both MSG and Barclays, it should provide an even more exciting rivalry between the Rangers and Islanders and the Knicks and Nets.

Here are photos of Brooklyn's brand new Barclays Center:



Here are photos of Manhattan's Madison Square Garden under renovation: