Chicago Theatre: Now With MSG

By Margaret Lyons in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 10, 2007 4:09PM

The Chicago Theatre is being sold to Madison Square Garden. At least that's what Chris Jones is saying. According to the article, Madison Square Garden Entertainment has agreed to purchase the downtown landmark and is just waiting for a few formalities — like the City signing off on the sale — before closing the deal.

MSGE owns — duh — Madison Square Garden, plus Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theater in NY. It's an arm of Cablevision, the nation's fifth-largest cable provider, and owner of AMC, IFC, We TV and Clearview Cinemas. We're loathe to start beating the Big Media Companies Eat Imagination And Crap Money drum and all, but man, there's something really unsavory about this. The current owners, Theatre Dreams Chicago, LLC (worst ... name ... ever), are selling, Jones says, because they "found it hard to compete with the subscription and programming muscle of Broadway in Chicago, a joint venture by the Nederlander Organization and Live Nation that operates the nearby Oriental Theatre, the La Salle Bank Theatre and the Cadillac Palace Theatre."

image via smussyolay.