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June 5, 2026 / 6:56 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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As President Trump prepares to watch his hometown New York Knicks take on the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden next week, local and federal officials are planning for a heightened security posture, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the planning.The president is expected to travel to New York City to watch Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday, according to the official White House schedule. Mr. Trump said he was invited by Knicks owner James Dolan, and described himself as a "big fan" of the team.As a result, the security footprint will look very different from the first two games of the series in San Antonio, with hundreds of U.S. Secret Service officers and agents deployed on Monday, along with thousands of New York Police Department personnel, sources said.A hard closure is expected around the entirety of Madison Square Garden. Officials are planning for no watch parties, no vehicle access and no pedestrian travel through the secured area, which sits in a busy part of Midtown Manhattan and is above a major transit hub.The Seventh and Eighth Avenue corridors around the arena are expected to be closed. Only ticketed fans will be allowed to enter Madison Square Garden, and they will go through Secret Service-level screening before entering — similar to the Transportation Security Administration's screening process at airports. No bags will be permitted, and attendees are advised not to bring purses, backpacks or totes of any size, law enforcement sources said.Checkpoints are expected to open at 6:30 p.m., two hours prior to the scheduled tipoff, and fans are encouraged to arrive early. Magnetometers can screen roughly 300 people per hour, and officials expect to have dozens operating to process tens of thousands of attendees.
