yahoo - 5/26/2026 9:30:27 PM - GMT (+2 )
New York Knicks fever has hit the Big Apple, and it might just take an arm and a leg for some fans to get inside Madison Square Garden for the team's first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.
Just as soon as the Knicks officially swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals on Monday, May 26, the demand to be in the building when they face either the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs pushed ticket prices to levels not seen in recent years for the NBA Finals.
Tickpick announced in the immediate aftermath of the Knicks' Game 4 win over the Cavaliers that Games 3 and 4 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden are "the most expensive NBA Finals tickets on record." The secondary ticket marketplace app said get-in prices at that point were $3,745 for Game 3 and $3,464 for Game 4.
NBA FINALS: The New York Knicks are going to the NBA Finals, get your tickets now
Those price ranges are holding and even increasing into Tuesday, with the cheapest Game 3 ticket on Stubhub as of 2 p.m. ET set at $4,273. And that's just to sit in the upper deck. It'll cost more to sit in the lower bowl, and a small fortune to be really close to the action.
On Tuesday, there were two courtside tickets on Stubhub listed at $107,103 and $101,748. There was no seat listed in the 100 level of Madison Square Garden for less than $6,000. Sports business reporter Darren Rovell reported the first two courtside seats for the NBA Finals were actually sold on Stubhub on Sunday – before the Knicks clinched the Eastern Conference finals – for $279,804.
The good news for Knicks fan is there is still an opportunity to buy face value tickets to the NBA Finals through the franchise's Knicks Fan First program. Fans who register by Tuesday, May 26 at 11 p.m. ET will have the opportunity to purchase Knicks' NBA Finals tickets before the general public.
The Knicks haven't won an NBA championship since 1973, and their postseason run this year has been punctuated by raucous watch parties around the city and famous fans like Timothee Chalamet, Ben Stiller, Fat Joe, Tracy Morgan and Jimmy Fallon joining the ever-present Spike Lee courtside at many playoff games.
The NBA Finals will begin on Wednesday, June 3 with the Thunder or Spurs hosting the first two games of the series by virtue of having home-court advantage. The Knicks host Game 3 at Madison Square Garden on June 8 and then play Game 4 inside the World's Most Famous Arena on June 10.
Game 6 of the NBA Finals would also be held in New York on June 16 if the best-of-seven series were to reach that point. The get-in price as of Tuesday was also more than $4,200.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New York Knicks NBA Finals ticket prices are already getting crazy
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