As New Yorkers relish the Knicks’ chances for a first championship in over 50 years, the organization continues to be at odds with City Hall and the New York Police Department over watch parties near Madison Square Garden.
MSG and New York mayor Zohran Mamdani issued dueling statements Tuesday.
After there were no MSG-adjacent watch parties for Game 3 on Monday, Mamdani pledged that the city had “approved a ticketed MSG watch party for Game 4” and said more details would follow. MSG sent a press release calling the mayor and NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch “New York City’s biggest party poopers”—in the headline.
MSG said of Mamdani and Tisch that “despite what they say, [they] don’t want to see these celebrations happen” outside the Garden.
“We have been told that the NYPD will once again implement the same ‘frozen zone’ restrictions for Game 4, which were supposedly to thwart any threats related to the President’s attendance,” the release said. The Knicks had previously said that the restrictions around Game 3 had nothing to do with Trump, while the police said they were planned with the Secret Service.
