Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s multi-day wedding celebrations in the heart of New York City are expected to cost residents almost as much as a presidential visit.
The billionaire pop star and the three-time Super Bowl champion will host droves of A-list celebrities at two events at Madison Square Garden (MSG) before the July 4 weekend.
The security apparatus around “America’s royal wedding” – as it has been called – is estimated to cost the New York Police Department (NYPD) $160,000 (£120,000). Typically, public safety coverage for high-profile events in the city is paid for by taxpayers.
Rodney Harrison, the NYPD’s former chief of department, said that the scale of Swift and Kelce’s wedding is not that of a typical high-profile event.
“If I can compare it to any type of event, I would compare it to a presidential event. You have to close down roads and have arteries to get people around,” he told The New York Post.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are said to be marrying in New York City this weekend – Patrick Smith/Getty Images
TMZ, citing police sources, said there will be roughly 130 officers from stations across the city assigned to the two wedding events at MSG, some working overtime.
They will include 70 detectives, who will cost a minimum of $95,200 (£71,300), with another 50 junior officers being paid $63,000 (£46,000), the outlet reported. More senior-ranking officers are also expected to be on hand, pushing the cost past $160,000 (£120,000).
It is not known how much the city paid to host Donald Trump at MSG in June for the NBA Finals game. In 2017, the NYPD estimated that the security apparatus deployed to protect the president while in the city cost $308,000 (£231,000) per day.
The expected cost has caused anger among New Yorkers, and demands are growing that the couple, worth an estimated $2.19bn (£1.64bn), reimburse the city. It remains unclear whether they intend to do so.
New York City is already facing large crowds and a strain on resources due to both the 250th anniversary of American independence and the Fifa World Cup – Richard Drew/The Associated Press
There are also concerns that the wedding is placing unnecessary strain on the city, which is experiencing extreme heat and is already full of visitors for both the United States’ 250th birthday celebrations and the Fifa World Cup.
Outside the 22,000-seat stadium, there was a frenzy of police cars, forklifts, trucks and fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the preparations on the eve of the festivities.
One police officer on duty at MSG told The Telegraph that he was working all weekend and expected it to be “very busy”. Another confirmed that some were being paid overtime for covering both the wedding and the July 4 fireworks display.
On Thursday, Representative Nicole Malliotakis, of New York, demanded the couple “reimburse the NYPD for the 130 officers needed per day to keep their multi-million-dollar, thousand-person wedding at MSG safe.
“Our officers are already working overtime for 4th of July festivities & NYC taxpayers should NOT be on the hook.”
Beyond policing costs, local businesses believe they could face major losses as a result of the street closures.
Workers have been seen unloading trucks and transporting large boxes into Madison Square Garden – MEGA
Michael O’Brien, who co-owns O’Briens Bar and Grill, which is located on the road opposite MSG, said he was worried that the barricades and fences going up would deter visitors.
The restaurant has a sign outside advertising “Wedding Cocktails”, including a Love Story Martini and Kelce’s End Game, but he’s now worried that customers won’t be able to get in at all.
“We were told our side of the street should be open to pedestrians. We heard that same thing when Trump was here [for the Knicks game in June], and that was not the case. They shut it down.”
He said they had reached out to Swift and Kelce’s representatives and received no response to their calls or emails. “If they’re going to close us down, we feel as though we should be compensated,” he said.