Even if New Yorkers don’t occupy a majority of seats, it appeared on Friday night that Spurs fans might be outnumbered at Frost Bank Center on Saturday. Less than 20 percent of tickets available for Game 5 on TickPick, StubHub and SeatGeek were purchased by people with Texas-based credit cards, the companies said. Fans from California and Florida together account for 15 percent of the Game 5 tickets TickPick has sold, Mr. Gluskin said.
“It looks like San Antonio might effectively become New York City’s sixth borough on Saturday,” said Jack Sterne, a spokesman for StubHub.
When away fans travel to dominate an arena, it’s usually a short drive from home, said Margaux Elias, a spokeswoman for SeatGeek. Chicago Bulls fans have no trouble driving 90 miles north to harass supporters of the Milwaukee Bucks; booing the Detroit Pistons is as easy as a five-hour round trip for fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Frost Bank Center sits 1,800 miles from Madison Square Garden, a 27-hour drive. A flight would be faster, but by Friday night only a handful of flights leaving LaGuardia would reasonably get a traveler to the arena in time for the game. A Delta flight leaving LaGuardia at 6 a.m., with a leisurely layover in Atlanta, would cost $703, according to Flights.com.
For Knicks fans, that might be the best deal of the finals. This month, the cheapest seats for a Knicks game at the Garden were selling for about $8,000 apiece. Compare that with the going rate in San Antonio, where on Friday afternoon the average cost of a Game 5 ticket was $2,372, said Julia Young, a spokeswoman for Vivid Seats.
And considering what they will pay at the Garden if the Spurs push the series to a Game 6, Mr. Ferrel said, “These fans also know they’ll get a relative bargain.”
Maia Coleman contributed reporting.