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Hilary and Adam Rochlin agonized over whether to sell their tickets to the NBA Finals after their beloved team clinched a spot in the championship for the first time since 1999.
“Every night, we’re like, we could buy a house,” says Hilary, a 17-year Knicks season-ticket holder with her husband. “I know we should sell. We’re probably stupid for not selling, but we just can’t.”
The Rochlins, who live on Long Island, are among the many Knicks season-ticket holders grappling with the same dilemma: Hold onto their NBA Finals tickets at Madison Square Garden, or resell them for thousands of dollars at a huge profit.
Depending on whether they purchase quarter-, half-, or full-season packages, this group of fans has access to certain Finals games at face-value prices, significantly cheaper than their resale value.
The cheapest ticket for Game 3 on Monday night at MSG is $4,598 on TickPick as of this morning. Although prices have dropped from the $10,000 range that followed New York’s Game 2 victory in San Antonio on June 5, the ticket market is still astronomical, especially with so few seats available for purchase.
Season-ticket holders know they’re facing a potential windfall. But the Knicks haven’t won a championship since 1973. They haven’t been to the NBA Finals since losing to the Spurs—the same team they face this time around—27 years ago. The moment is here for a long-starved, basketball-crazed town.
For the Rochlins, whose seats are eight rows behind the basket, the decision to sell or not became even tougher when they received a text from Dwight Gooden’s team saying the Mets legend was looking for two tickets.
“Sorry, Doc,” Adam Rochlin, the owner of a real-estate advisory firm, wrote back.
“What if it’s 25 grand a ticket?” Gooden’s contact replied.
The Rochlins, who are sharing the tickets with their three adult children, didn’t respond.
“We don’t know if this is going to happen again,” Hilary Rochlin tells Front Office Sports. “It’s all we’ve talked about as a family. Imagine if they go to the Finals, and they’re in the Finals, so there’s no price on that.”
“I Don’t Think I’d Ever Forgive Myself”
With the Knicks currently leading the series 2–0, New York could clinch its first championship in 53 years at Wednesday’s Game 4.
At a minimum get-in price of $9,208, that ticket is the most expensive NBA Finals ticket on record—and costlier than a seat at Super Bowl LX in San Francisco in February, and July’s FIFA men’s World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The Game 4 ticket prices have jumped 103% since the start of the Finals, according to TickPick data shared with FOS.
Most season-ticket holders could sell one Finals ticket and cover the cost of their entire package. One of these people, who lives in New York City and has owned season tickets for three years, tells FOS anonymously that he spent $3,500 for a half-season ticket package in the 200-level and paid $875 for a ticket to Game 4 of the Finals. Tickets in his row are listed for around $15,000 on TickPick.
Similarly, Bailey Carlin, a five-year season-ticket holder, paid $1,600 for a 100-level ticket to Game 4. Now, prices have jumped to more than $25,000 for a nearby seat in his section. “I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself if I sold and didn’t go,” he says.
Sports-media consultant Carlin adds he’s been “actively monitoring the situation.” He “kicked around” the idea of selling—he says he wishes he didn’t know prices had spiked so high to avoid the temptation of unloading his seats for a big sum.
Right now, at least, he won’t sell, but he understands why some people are. “I can’t blame anyone for doing it,” he tells FOS. “I don’t think it’s a bastardization of your fandom if you do sell because it’s gotten so crazy. But I can’t imagine doing so. I can’t imagine not going.”
Cashing In
Not every season-ticket holder has the luxury of ignoring the market. One small-business owner in the transportation industry sold the seats he’s held since 2011 for “personal finance” reasons.
“New York is the wealthiest city in the country, and you have so many people who have more money than God,” says the seller, who requested to remain anonymous. “Even if they’re not Knicks fans, they want to be able to say ‘I was there.’
“I will not be able to say that,” he laments.
He sold his two tickets to a friend for $4,600 before the Finals began, earning double what he paid for them. Since then, the value of those tickets has dramatically increased. He tells FOS his friends berated him and claimed he wasn’t a real fan when he told them he’d offloaded his seats.
He’s relatively at peace with his decision but is already certain if the Knicks make another run next season, he’s not giving them up again.
And season-ticket holder Sam Lippman, who has had his seats since 2023, is also watching prices. The software salesman says if Game 4 tickets spike to $25,000 he’ll seriously consider selling. But Lippman—whose parents had season tickets in the 1990s before giving them up during the dismal 2000s—is mostly resolute he doesn’t want to trade the experience for cash.
“As a lifelong Knicks fan growing up in New York City, getting the experience to see the Knicks potentially clinch the NBA Finals at the Garden,” Lippman says, “it’s priceless.”
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