NEW YORK – Thursday’s Knicks parade will include a historic presence for the NYPD.
On Wednesday, the Big Apple’s police force announced that 10,000 officers will be assigned to the Knicks’ 1-mile ticker-tape parade route from Battery Park to City Hall, making it the largest number of officers working a planned event in the city’s history.
The Knicks defeated the Spurs in five games to win the franchise’s first title since 1973 with the series-clinching Game 5 coming on Saturday night. The end of the 53-year title drought has led to massive celebrations in the streets and historic levels of merchandise purchased.
The city is expecting millions of people to attend, which is why police commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday that people will have to be screened and access the Canyon of Heroes route through specific access points and will be treated on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The parade is set to start at 10 a.m. ET with public access starting at 6 a.m. Media access will begin at 4 a.m. with City Hall’s doors closing to credentialed media at 8 a.m.
“We want this to be a safe and memorable celebration for Knicks fans and for New York City,” Tisch said Wednesday. “But public safety comes first and we are planning accordingly.”
On Wednesday afternoon, the city was still setting up for the festivities at City Hall, which is expected to host Alicia Keys as the highlight of the closing ceremony. Keys’s 2009 hit song “Empire State of Mind,” which she sings with Jay-Z, was sung by Knicks fans celebrating in the streets on Saturday night.
Barricades were already lining the streets of the parade route and police were present to prepare for the city’s first championship parade since the Giants’ Super Bowl win in 2012. Mayor Zohran Mamdani briefly came outside City Hall to rehearse at the podium while big display screens and surround sound speakers were tested.
Mamdani launched a specific website for New Yorkers to have access to information regarding the parade.
A week ago, Mamdani was trading barbs with Knicks owner James Dolan over who was to blame for the lack of watch parties outside of Madison Square Garden for Game 4. MSG filed for a petition with the city, but limited the number of attendees while Mamdani said Dolan “cancelled it.”
Mamdani told Fox 5 he’s moved on from the feud with Dolan and his attention is on the parade.
“I’m less interested in relitigating the past and more about the fact of how we can work together to celebrate this moment for the city.”
