Knicks game 4 watch party outside MSG now canceled
For Game 4 of the series between the Knicks and Spurs, the event was approved but capped at 999 people.
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After a lot of back and forth, the NBA Finals watch party outside Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night has now been canceled.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted Wednesday on X around 5 p.m. that "MSG requested a permit for a watch party for 500-999 fans. We approved that permit for 999 fans. Mr. Dolan has now decided to cancel the watch party."
"I know this is breaking hearts across our city. But if there's one thing Knicks fans don't need permission for, it's showing up for our team wherever we may be — no matter the block or the borough."
For Game 4 of the series between the Knicks and Spurs, the event was approved but capped at 999 people.
Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. previously called Mamdani and NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch ‘New York City's biggest party poopers.'
Gatherings of elated Knicks fans took place outside the arena during the previous series during the team’s historic playoff run, but the area was mostly closed off for the first home game of the Finals on Monday, when President Donald Trump was in attendance.
“We now know these restrictions were never about the President, it was just a convenient excuse to restrict how and when Knicks fans celebrate," MSG said in a statement.
Game 3’s watch party, which was moved to Bryant Park and attracted a crowd of around 7,000, ended in violence with 21 people being arrested, including two accused of assaulting a police officer.
MSG released the following updated statement:
“Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks declined to use the permit that was granted by Mayor Mamdani’s office due to the fact that only 1,000 people would be allowed into the area and they would need to be ticketed, leaving the tens of thousands of people who want to come to The Garden to celebrate the Knicks out in the cold. We did not think it was fair to just allow a small group to celebrate outside The Garden when everybody else was being shut out.”
