Thousands of Knicks fans were turned away. Should parades be held beyond NYC's cramped Canyon of Heroes?

Two hours before the Knicks parade’s 10 a.m. start time Thursday is when Mayor Zohran Mamdani had suggested the public arrive along the Canyon of Heroes, the mile-long stretch of Broadway between the Battery and City Hall in lower Manhattan where New York City has, since 1886, feted the most distinguished honorees.

“We expect viewing areas to fill quickly,” the NYPD’s commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said.

The viewing areas filled quickly.

By 7:24 a.m., the NYPD posted on X that every one of the pens was full, following up four minutes later: “No one else will be allowed in the viewing areas.”

Tens of thousands had crammed onto little more than a dozen blocks at Manhattan's tip to toast the Knicks first championship victory in 53 years.

Tens of thousands more couldn't get in.

Some say a parade like Thursday’s ought to be extended to accommodate more parade-goers.

"Should have minimum gone up Broadway with a left on 34th Street to end in front of MSG," Fabien Levy, a former deputy mayor to Eric Adams, posted on X. "Without question, the whole route would have be[en] packed and the whole city would be able to participate."

Mamdani’s press office did not respond to a message Friday seeking comment.

Countless parades have been held in New York City, particularly uptown along Fifth Avenue, for stretches longer than the Canyon of Heroes that hold far bigger crowds. But those are typically annual events and don’t mark the singular and unexpected.

The Canyon of Heroes — near where the Dutch held parades in the 1650s in what was then New Amsterdam — has hosted more than 200 parades since the first one, in 1886, to dedicate the Statue of Liberty. In addition to sports champions, the honorees have included kings, war heroes, presidents, soldiers, sea captains, a pope and a concert pianist.

It is rare but not unprecedented to extend the route.

In 2015, a parade to celebrate the U.S. Women's World Cup was lengthened several blocks beyond City Hall — Worth Street to Lafayette Street and then concluding at Chambers Street.

And in 1962, when John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, his motorcade traveled from LaGuardia Airport to Manhattan to Broadway and then to City Hall, where the parade continued to midtown Manhattan and the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. Well-wishers cheered him on along the 18-mile way.

Mitchell Moss, a New York University professor and expert on urbanism, said he believes the current Canyon of Heroes route should stay as is.

“We play basketball in the Garden. We have parades in lower Manhattan,” he said, adding that life and business in New York City must go on beyond parade-going.

“That’s what makes New York different from Philadelphia,” he said. “We don’t close the city for a parade. We have an area where we hold it.”

But where parades do happen, being crowded is the point.

“Part of the joy of the parade is the crowd. The energy of the crowd should not be dissipated,” he said, adding: “If there’s not enough space, go to a bar. If you can’t go to a bar, go to a watch party.”

On Thursday, the NYPD closed lower Manhattan to traffic below Canal Street and, with barricades, restricted pedestrian movement on the sidewalks where tens of thousands who couldn’t gain access to the parade gathered in disappointment.