{"id":264477,"date":"2026-06-12T14:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/264477\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:49:15","slug":"knicks-owner-nyc-mayor-at-odds-over-watch-party-size-and-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/264477\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks owner, NYC mayor at odds over watch party size and safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(NewsNation<\/a>) \u2014 New York is still buzzing after the Knicks\u2019 Game 4 comeback, but as fans look ahead to Game 5, there\u2019s drama between New York City Hall, the NYPD, and Madison Square Garden over a watch party.<\/p>\n

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The Knicks\u2019 owner has said the city is turning the area around Madison Square Garden into a police state.<\/p>\n

The big question is whether Knicks fans will even get a watch party outside MSG.<\/p>\n

Knicks owner James Dolan<\/a> scrapped Wednesday\u2019s Game 4 party and placed the blame on Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the NYPD, sparking a public back-and-forth.<\/p>\n

World Cup begins as US prepares for long-awaited opener <\/a><\/p>\n

Dolan complained the approved watch party size was too small.<\/p>\n

The city approved a permit for up to 999 people. Mamdani posted this: \u201cMSG requested a permit for a watch party for 500-999 fans. We approved that permit for 999 fans. Mr. Dolan has now decided to cancel the watch party.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Following Wednesday\u2019s historic win, Knicks fans took to the streets by the thousands, leading to a night of chaotic celebrations ending in more than 50 arrests.<\/p>\n

A similar scene played out at New York\u2019s Bryant Park Monday when President Donald Trump attended the game.<\/p>\n

Knicks\u2019 owner James Dolan isn\u2019t doing enough for fans: Stephen A. Smith <\/a><\/p>\n

City officials said this is all about public safety. Dolan sees it differently, saying during a radio interview, \u201cThis is all really designed around stopping people from celebrating around Madison Square Garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolan said the restrictions are preventing fans from celebrating at what he calls the \u201cmecca of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

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City Hall insists the event was approved and security measures were consistent with other large public gatherings in New York.<\/p>\n

Game 5 is Saturday night. It remains to be seen if a watch party will be held outside of the garden.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(NewsNation) \u2014 New York is still buzzing after the Knicks\u2019 Game 4 comeback, but as fans look ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[44600,10663,222,9,55452,56,63,65,64,896,54478,82],"class_list":["post-264477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-james-dolan","tag-knicks","tag-madison-square-garden","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-hall","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-watch-party","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}