Having acquired the original Madison Square Garden, Rickard, with the aid of circus owner John Ringling and others, established the Madison Square Garden Corporation. This arrangement allowed investors to place their money in a corporation dedicated entirely to profitable sporting events. Rickard opened the new Madison Square Garden in December 1925 and acted as director of the facility until his death.
    In 1926 he married his second wife, Maxine Hodges, at Lewisburg, West Virginia. The couple had one child. Believing that Florida was an area of potential growth and profit, Rickard began investing in the Miami Beach area during the 1920s. He constructed a dog-racing track there. He was engaged in fight promotion in Miami Beach when he died on January 6, 1929, of complications following an appendectomy.