Knicks-Pacers Game 1 ticket prices at MSG will be sky-high - Newsday
There is a simple solution for New York-area fans looking for inexpensive tickets to the NBA’s conference finals this week: Visit Oklahoma City.
As of Monday morning, the least expensive ticket on StubHub.com for Game 1 of Pacers-Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday was $763, including fees.
But the least expensive offering for Tuesday’s Game 1 of the Western Conference final between the Timberwolves and Thunder was $160.
One could have purchased a round trip plane ticket from LaGuardia to Oklahoma City on Monday for $559, for a total of $719 including a game ticket, still lower than a seat at the Garden.
So it has gone during the Knicks’ playoff run, with pent-up demand after a quarter century of disappointment driving sky-high prices on the secondary market.
Not all fans attending games are paying those prices, of course. Some got tickets at face value as part of season ticket packages. (Not that those are cheap, either.)
Resale market tickets to the Knicks’ games in Indianapolis are not as inexpensive as those in the West, but they still are far more affordable than at the Garden.
As of Monday, the “get-in,” or lowest, price for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday was $296.
The bigger challenge for Knicks fans considering traveling to Indianapolis for Games 3 and 4 is hotel prices. The Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, a massive event that will crowd the city.
And remember early series games generally are the most affordable. What if the Pacers and Knicks go to a Game 7 at the Garden, as they did last year in the second round?
The least expensive ticket on StubHub on Monday for a potential Game 7 on June 2 was $1,158. The costliest asking price was $44,630 for a front-row, midcourt seat.
What if the Knicks reach the NBA Finals? As of now, asking prices for that theoretical series start at $3,000-plus.
The good news for fans on a budget who want to be part of the fun is that the Garden has been hosting free watch parties for every home and road playoff game on 33rd Street, with three big screens and the company of thousands of fellow supporters.
But that comes at a cost, too: time. Those who do not arrive early risk being shut out of the pedestrian plaza next to the Garden because of overcrowding.
TV and radio also are options, naturally. Those who wish to hear local voices on the games will have to turn to ESPN New York radio for Tyler Murray and Monica McNutt.
The TV coverage will be on TNT, which has been carrying NBA games since 1989 but no longer will do so after this series as a new round of NBA media contracts kicks in for 2025-26. Play-by-play man Kevin Harlan will be joined by analysts Stan Van Gundy and . . . . former Pacers star and infamous Garden villain Reggie Miller.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.