The steep prices of tickets to watch the New York Knicks play at Madison Square Garden have always been in the news, especially during the playoffs. The extent to which the ticket pricing has gone out of hand is visible in the Eastern Conference Finals series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
According to TickPick, the get-in price for Game 2 at Madison Square Garden is $730. Whereas the combined get-in prices for all three games of this series held at Cleveland’s Rocket Arena are $596 (Game 3: $187, Game 4: $159, Game 5: $250).
Which means that a Knicks fan will pay more to watch one game at Madison Square Garden than a Cavaliers fan would have to spend for the combined price of all three games held at Cleveland’s Rocket Arena in the same series.
Meanwhile, even for tickets to a sports event just across town, one New York fan could buy 121 tickets to tonight’s Yankees game (starting price $6) for the same price as one get-in ticket.
Moreover, the floor seats (excluding the VIP section) start at $8,750, going as high as $25,000 as of now for Game 5 in New York. If the Cavaliers steal Game 2 on the road and confirm a Game 5 back at Madison Square Garden, those prices will definitely surge higher.
If there is a Game 7 in this series, the prices would likely skyrocket as the get-in price for a ticket as of now on TickPick is $1076, $346 more than Game 2.
Just last season, the Knicks fans were asked to pay as high as $108,000 for courtside seats to Game 3 of the Knicks-Celtics second-round series. Apparently, for the price of a Knicks courtside ticket, one person could attend the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup Finals, last year’s NBA Finals, the World Cup, and buy season tickets for your favorite NBA team.
One would still have some money left over after doing all this, which is mind-boggling if you think about it. The courtside seats are usually packed with celebrities and VIPs, and the arena is widely dubbed as the world’s most famous one, but it makes you wonder whether it’s worth it for a Knicks fan to spend almost their entire year’s savings to sit with them in the front row.
The Knicks’ average ticket price in the 2025-26 regular season was $213.43, reportedly 46% higher than any other NBA team’s. But it seems their fans are so passionate about the franchise that they don’t necessarily mind flooding the doors in each game at Madison Square Garden; you rarely see an empty arena when the Knicks are playing.
If there is a potential Game 7 in this series, it will be interesting to see how high they price the tickets and how the Knicks fans respond to that.
