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The Knicks are now up 2–0 in the NBA Finals after a pair of come-from-behind road wins in San Antonio, and because of that, five-figure sums are now required on the ticket resale market for upcoming home games at Madison Square Garden.
Already-hefty ticket prices surged even further into unprecedented territory late Friday and early Saturday in the wake of the Knicks’ 105–104 Game 2 win over the Spurs. Among the latest developments:
- Game 4 on Wednesday carries a low-end, get-in price of $15,000 as that is now a potential clinching scenario for the Knicks should the team complete a four-game sweep. That figure, which briefly surpassed $16,000 Saturday morning, is nearly twice the level from just two days ago, and more than triple the market from the beginning of the week.
- Game 3 on Monday, meanwhile, has a get-in price of about $11,000, up by nearly $3,000 from Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump is also slated to attend this game and become the first sitting president to attend the NBA Finals.
- Game 6 on June 16, if necessary, similarly has a get-in price of about $12,000 per ticket.
The Knicks, seeking their first NBA title since 1973, have now won 13 straight playoff games—the second longest such streak in league history behind the 2017 Warriors.
Back in New York, a similar fan frenzy unfolded Friday night inside MSG for a watch party, around Manhattan at local events, and in borough streets clogged with fans. Such activity is expected to escalate much further next week as the Knicks return home.
“New York City showed up. The fans showed up,” said Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, also referencing the sizable contingent of Knicks fans present in San Antonio for Game 2. “The energy showed up. And we found a way to get it done.”
Venturing Into New Territory
The ticket resale figures for the upcoming Knicks games continue to break new ground in event history. Not only are these the most expensive tickets ever recorded for NBA Finals games, they far surpass comparable figures for other major sports events such as Super Bowl LX in February and next month’s FIFA men’s World Cup final.
Unlike those other events, though, the ticket resale market for the NBA Finals is not as overtly managed, leaving it more exposed to raw factors of supply and demand. In this case, that means the mania of Knicks fans running up against relatively low amounts of available ticket inventory.
“One of the things that stands out to me is that for a lot of these [existing ticket holders], short of truly life-changing money, they still want to be there,” Alex Warner, CEO and cofounder of season-ticket management company Winventory, tells Front Office Sports. “A lot of fans simply aren’t going to be simply motivated by money to sell.”
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