NEW YORK — Mayor Mamdani announced Tuesday that the city has approved a ticketed watch party for Game 4 of the NBA Finals outside Madison Square Garden.
“We’re back outside the Garden,” Mamdani posted on Twitter. “We have approved a ticketed MSG watch party for Game 4. More details soon. As we prepare to watch together, let me be clear: this is a historic, joyful moment for our city. We will not allow it to be disrupted by violence. Be safe, take care, and celebrate responsibly. Knicks in 5.”‘
Tickets were not immediately made public, but will be provided by MSG.
Only those with tickets will be allowed into the watch party outside MSG through the event’s single access point planned for W. 33rd St. and Sixth Ave. Anyone leaving the event will be denied reentry.
Additional watch parties will be hosted at the Wollman Rink in Central Park and Brooklyn Bowl.
Similar to its plan for Monday’s Game 3, during which the watch party outside MSG was canceled due to Trump’s attendance, the NYPD will establish a security perimeter around the Garden running from W. 29th to W. 35th Sts., between Sixth and Eighth Aves.
Starting at 4 p.m., only those with tickets to the game or a train ticket, or who have credentials, or who live in the area, or who are heading to restaurants or bars in the area will be allowed inside the security perimeter.
Those seeking access to Moynihan Train Hall and Penn Station should use entrances located on the west side of Eighth Ave. at W. 31st and W. 33rd Sts.
Last month, midway through the Knicks conference semifinals series against the Cavaliers, the NYPD canceled the MSG watch parties, due to what it called “huge, very rough crowds.” But after reconsidering, City Hall and the NYPD decided to allow the Garden watch parties for the Finals. Whether to allow the events has been a game-by-game decision.
On Friday, an estimated 7,000 spectators flooded onto W. 33rd St. for the Finals Game 2 watch party outside the Garden. But the event was marred as fans celebrated the home town hoopsters’ squeaker win, when a female cop was punched in the face by a female fan and 26 people were arrested.
Although Monday’s Game 3 watch party outside MSG was cancelled due to Trump’s attendance inside The World’s Most Famous Arena, violence at an alternate viewing site at Bryant Park again left doubt as to whether the city would approve a Game 4 watch party at the Garden.
Up to five officers were injured late Monday at Bryant Park, some by thrown glass objects, according to the Police Benevolent Association, the NYPD’s largest union. Twenty-one people were taken into custody, including one at the Wollman Rink watch party in Central Park, late Monday.
The mayhem came as the Knicks lost Game 3 to the Spurs, leaving the Knicks leading the series 2-1.
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