Want a 'cheap' ticket to the Knicks banner-raising and season opener? You'll need $1,000 and some luck
The Knicks' Jalen Brunson controls the ball during the second quarter against the Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
If you want to get the cheapest ticket on the resale market for the Knicks’ championship banner-raising ceremony and season opener against LeBron James and the 76ers on Tuesday night at the Garden, you’ll need two things:
A little more than $1,000. And a lot of luck.
The get-in ticket price was $1,010 as of Sunday evening for a standing-room-only ticket, according to online ticket reseller TickPick. A ticket with a seat was only a little more expensive: $1,049.
The average price was about $1,800.
Of course, you could spend more if you like. A lot more.
Resale tickets were being listed for as much as $21,645 on Ticketmaster, $18,453 on StubHub and $13,037 on TickPick.
It’s been clear since the schedule came out that this game would be the most expensive NBA regular-season game ever on the resale market. The Knicks will be hoisting their first championship banner since 1973 and a marquee matchup against James and the 76ers will follow.
“I think the pretty wild part is that the ticket prices are holding very steady right now,” said Kyle Zorn, TickPick’s director of content and a former Stony Brook University lacrosse player. “The demand is still there, and realistically it could increase from this point forward as more press will come out about this game and people get antsy and want to be at this historical moment.”
In general, waiting until the last minute to try to snap up a resale ticket for a sporting event can be a winning strategy as folks lower their asking prices right before the event, but Zorn said that might not be the case this time around.
“Everyone wants to be there, and especially given this game, the historical significance, the run last year, this game is just a little bit different than your standard event,” he said. “Is it possible that you could get a last-minute deal? Yes.”
He added, “There’s going to be a lot of people all vying for the exact same tickets. People hanging out at the bars outside of the stadium. Everyone’s going to be checking and everybody’s going to be going after the same exact tickets. But this event is just kind of like an anomaly, and the Knicks in general are just a team that is kind of in a league of its own.
“We’ve never seen demand for any team be that high. So, I mean, it’s possible. I just don’t want to put out that if you wait last-minute, there’s a good chance you can get a great last-minute deal. I just think the fact that ticket prices are still this high just shows how in demand they are and how everybody kind of wants to be there.”
The good news if you can wait a little longer to see the defending NBA champions? The get-in price on TickPick for the Knicks’ second home game, on Oct. 25 against Orlando, is “only” $177.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
