Knicks Fans Confront High Ticket Prices for NBA Finals Games at MSG

As the New York Knicks prepare to compete in the N.B.A. finals for the first time since 1999, the cost to witness the games at the team’s home court, Madison Square Garden, has caught many fans off guard.

When ticket presales began on Tuesday, Knicks fans flooded social media to report that for the Chase presale, tickets ranged from just under $2,000 to more than $6,000. On resale sites, some tickets were being sold for more than $85,000. It was not clear on Wednesday how much tickets would cost once the general sale opens.

Chase did not respond to a request for comment. Ticketmaster referred inquiries to the Knicks.

“This is a historic moment at MSG and the organization spared no expense to get to this point for our fans,” a spokesman for MSG Sports, the group that owns the Knicks, said in a statement. “We understand our ticket prices are high, but the real issue are the brokers who jack-up prices as soon as tickets are available, and we are taking every possible measure to limit this unfair activity.”

The uproar over the cost of finals tickets joins a growing trend in the New York area this summer: the rarefied experience of watching live sports.

On the same day the Knicks presale began, the presale also opened for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in Queens. A grounds pass, which grants access to the concessions area outside Arthur Ashe Stadium as well as Louis Armstrong Stadium and the surrounding outdoor courts, was listed for $350 for resale.

Tickets to this summer’s World Cup matches at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which will host multiple games including the final, are so expensive that Mayor Zohran Mamdani stepped in to make 1,000 tickets available for $50 each via a lottery. On Wednesday, Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, and Jennifer Davenport, the attorney general of New Jersey, announced an investigation into FIFA’s ticket sales.

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