Madison Square Garden cancels outdoor watch party hours before Game 4
NYPD officers direct people outside of Madison Square Garden on Wednesday before Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs. Credit: Getty Images/Adam Gray
With just hours to go before Game 4's tipoff, Madison Square Garden canceled Wednesday's outdoor watch party, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, the latest in an escalating political battle between him and Knicks' owner James Dolan over the city's closure of public space near the arena.
As many as 999 fans were to be allowed to watch the game, between the Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, projected on giant screens outside the Garden, where the NYPD has banned the general public in Manhattan along Seventh Avenue from West 29th Street to West 35th Street, with restrictions also on nearby blocks.
"Mr. Dolan has now decided to cancel the watch party," Mamdani posted on X Wednesday afternoon. "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."
MSG statement
The cancellation came a day after the Garden issued a statement calling Mamdani, who attended Game 3, and Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, "NEW YORK CITY'S BIGGEST PARTY POOPERS" and followed up Wednesday by another accusing the pair of imposing a "police state."
In an interview late Wednesday afternoon, Dolan told "The Carton Show" with Craig Carton and Chris McMonigle on WFAN the TV screens for the party would not be put up and criticized Mamdani and Tisch for what the Knicks owner said were needless restrictions.
"He gave us the gift of allowing us to screen 999 people and tell 20,000 no," Dolan said sarcastically.
"I don't think that they have faith in their own police force," he said. "We do. We know they know what they're doing. But honestly, the mayor's office — and I'm sorry, the commissioner too — do not have the experience to do this. ... They have never managed anything like this before, and it's like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches coming out the sides.."
NYPD spokesman Brad Weekes told Newsday the Garden had filed a request for the watch party, with the capacity cap, and the city approved the request contingent on a registration requirement for any attendee, the same rule in place at two other Garden-sponsored watch parties, at Wollman Rink and Brooklyn Bowl. Weekes said the NYPD sent officers to police the Garden party in accordance with the permit filing.
Asked whether the city and the Garden had discussed the capacity cap before the filing, Weekes said he did not know, and suggested calling the Garden, which did not comment on that question.
In a statement, the Garden said the venue "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," the statement said.
Mamdani defensive
Earlier, Mamdani was on the defensive about his and his police commissioner’s plan to restrict public access to the area around Madison Square Garden for Game 4, including imposing a "security perimeter" covering West 29th Street to West 35th Street, between Sixth and Eighth avenues. Beginning at 4 p.m., Seventh Avenue along those blocks was to be closed to drivers and pedestrians, with the potential for an expanded cordon.
Mamdani said the restrictions would be similar to those in place for large-scale events such as the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve.
The Garden restrictions, Mamdani said, were being imposed "to ensure that everyone can safely enjoy the event."
On Monday night, near the Bryant Park watch party that had been put there because President Donald Trump was attending the game that evening, the NYPD detained at least 21 people during unrest among a crowd of nearly 7,000 as the Knicks fell to the Spurs.
Garden restrictions
The Garden said the restrictions will also harm businesses that rely on game-day foot traffic. The Garden statement said the city initially claimed the restrictions were necessary to protect Trump, but similar restrictions remain even without a president to keep safe.
On Wednesday, the Garden doubled down, saying the arena has nothing to do with the unruly party at Bryant Park — which was a city-run event — and that other cities have had outdoor events without incident.
Of officials in the Mamdani administration, Dolan told the radio hosts: “They're sitting there trying to say, ‘Well, we're big Knicks fans.’ But this isn't — they're not Knicks fans.”
Newsday's Ben Dickson contributed to this story.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
