Knicks fans face soaring prices as NBA Finals tickets near $5,000
The cheapest available ticket for a Finals game at the Garden is selling for just under $5,000 on the secondary market, putting the event out of reach for many longtime supporters.
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For many New York Knicks fans, the excitement of a potential NBA Finals appearance is being overshadowed by the staggering cost of attending games at Madison Square Garden.
The cheapest available ticket for a Finals game at the Garden is selling for just under $5,000 on the secondary market, putting the event out of reach for many longtime supporters.
Fans Carl Garcia and Richard Rincon said they were shocked by the prices. During the Knicks' previous playoff series against Cleveland, the pair chose to travel to Ohio to watch the team because attending an away game was significantly less expensive than buying tickets in New York.
"It's ridiculous. It's not fair to fans," Rincon said.
Consumer advocates and industry observers say ticket resellers are driving up prices by purchasing large quantities of tickets and then reselling them at substantial markups. As a result, face-value tickets can be nearly impossible for average fans to find.
"With the bots and everything, they buy up the tickets. You don't have a chance," Rincon said.
Garcia echoed those concerns.
"If a ticket's $500 and you're selling them for $4,000, that's just not fair," he said.
The impact of resale activity extends beyond game tickets themselves. Tickets for a Knicks away-game watch party at Madison Square Garden, which originally sold for $10, have also appeared on secondary marketplaces at significantly higher prices. Some are listed for $40, while others are selling for more than $100.
Meanwhile, the high cost of Finals tickets in New York has created unusual travel economics. A fan could fly to San Antonio, purchase a ticket to Game 1, and stay in a hotel for roughly $1,500 — still far less than the cost of attending a game at Madison Square Garden.
Lawmakers in Albany are considering legislation aimed at addressing ticket resale practices. A bill in the New York State Senate would cap resale prices at face value for certain live events, including concerts and comedy shows. However, the proposal would not apply to sports events or Broadway productions.
Despite those limitations, some consumer advocates view the measure as a positive first step.
"It would go a very long way to limiting the use of ticket bots," said Chuck Bell, of Consumer Reports. "It's been difficult to defeat them through technological means, so you'd be reducing the incentive to resell tickets because you're taking the profit out of it."
Not everyone agrees. Brian Berry, executive director of the Ticket Policy Forum, criticized price-cap proposals, arguing they could have unintended consequences for consumers.
In a statement, Berry said resale restrictions could limit consumer choice, push buyers toward unregulated social media marketplaces where fraud is more common, and strengthen the market position of Ticketmaster, which he said already controls a large share of the live-event ticketing industry.
Berry also argued that resale caps would not necessarily lower prices because they would not affect dynamic or surge pricing offered through primary ticket sellers. He urged lawmakers to avoid policies that could inadvertently increase the market power of dominant ticketing companies while ongoing antitrust challenges continue.
