Knicks Blame ‘Mistake’ for Sky-High Ticket Prices

It’s always expensive to catch the defending NBA champions in person. But it was a “mistake” that individual Knicks tickets for the season opener went on sale for an average of $2,500, and customers will receive partial refunds, Madison Square Garden Sports said Thursday.

When individual tickets were listed for sale on Ticketmaster—the Knicks’ official ticketing partner—the minimum price for the team’s season opener against LeBron James and the 76ers on Oct. 20 was $1,000. 

By Thursday morning, ticket sales had been paused, with MSG Sports Corporation issuing a statement saying there was a “mistake in our pricing.” Tickets are expected to go back on sale next week at lower prices; the Knicks intend to sell tickets for about 12% more than last season’s prices, and anyone who bought tickets this week will “be refunded the difference.”

“Our intention was never to overcharge our loyal fans, and we thank everyone for their support of the Knicks and their patience as we get this right,” the team’s statement said.

The snafu, and the team’s response, was first reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.

A representative for Ticketmaster referred Front Office Sports to the Knicks, saying it “does not set prices.”

It was not clear how many tickets were purchased, how the Knicks were first alerted to the issue, the total amount of money the team will need to refund, or when those refunds will be initiated. A representative for MSG Sports declined to comment beyond the statement.

Last month, after the NBA began rolling out its 2026–27 schedule, tickets for the Knicks’ first game against the 76ers were already going for roughly $2,200 on SeatGeek.

The Knicks have historically not raised ticket prices after seasons in which the team does not make the playoffs, although they’ve been able to increase prices in each of the past four years since Jalen Brunson joined the team before the 2022–23 season. 

Madison Square Garden is a popular place to be, especially when the Knicks are playing well, and the team’s stellar playoff run showed that in spades. Playoff tickets last season fetched record prices, with a pair of celebrity row seats for Game 3 of the NBA Finals going for as high as $1 million (those tickets were part of an auction to benefit the Garden of Dreams foundation and were won by law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Veritas Capital). Get-in prices for the same game on the secondary market reached $8,000. 

At the start of the finals, Seaport Research Partners analyst David Joyce estimated the postseason push would overall generate at least $145 million in revenue. He told FOS that tickets were “by far” the biggest driver of revenue, with each Finals game in New York producing more than $20 million in revenue. The Knicks didn’t receive all of that ticket revenue, as NBA teams keep 75% while the rest gets routed to the league, which uses it to cover postseason expenses.