{"id":351624,"date":"2026-09-20T11:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T11:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/351624\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T11:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T11:20:07","slug":"brother-i-do-not-have-2000-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-has-a-problem-with-the-ticket-prices-of-the-knicks-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/351624\/","title":{"rendered":"“Brother, I do not have $2,000” – NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has a problem with the ticket prices of the Knicks’ season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks <\/a>gave the \u201cCity That Never Sleeps\u201d the title it had been waiting for, and now Madison Square Garden is ready to celebrate again. Jalen Brunson<\/a> and the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals to win the series 4-1, bringing the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy back for the first time since 1973.<\/p>\n

Brunson was the superstar for Knicks fans, averaging 32.6 points in the Finals, scoring 45 in Game 5, and winning the unanimous Finals MVP.<\/p>\n

Now, the Knicks are set to raise the championship banner on October 20, before hosting the Philadelphia 76ers at 7 p.m. ET in the season opener. But there is just one problem for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, which may keep him from seeing it.<\/p>\n

Mamdani is concerned about the pretty big price tag<\/p>\n

Speaking with NBC New York, Mamdani was asked whether the Knicks would go back-to-back, and he crossed his fingers before giving an answer that quickly turned toward the hefty price of watching them in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, hopefully at cheaper ticket prices,\u201d Mamdani said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thereafter, he was also asked whether he would be at the season opener when the Knicks raise their championship banner. <\/p>\n

Zohran added, \u201cBrother, I do not have $2000 ready for that ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani was referring to the cheapest Knicks-Sixers tickets reportedly available<\/a> on SeatGeek, which were listed at $2,219 with fees. Moreover, tickets in the 100 level started at $3,479, also including fees.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Mamdani has expressed concern about the Knicks\u2019 ticket prices, speaking about the same issue during the team\u2019s playoff run. His relationship with the franchise has also included a public disagreement with chairman James Dolan over their respective views on how to serve New York City.<\/p>\n

But that does not appear to have changed how Mamdani feels about the man who helped bring the NBA title back to New York.<\/p>\n

Related: Gilbert Arenas revealed the NBA teams\u2019 cheerleader hiring strategy: \u201cThere was a point where none of those girls can dance\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Mamdani puts JB above the NBA\u2019s biggest stars<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s support for Brunson was on display in a recent interaction when given a simple challenge \u2014 break a stick if he heard the name of a player he believed was better than the Knicks \u2018 Finals MVP.<\/p>\n

The NYC Mayor kept the stick as it was, even when he heard names like Ja Morant, LaMelo Ball, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil you win a championship for New York City, I\u2019m not going to say that you\u2019re better than Jalen Brunson,\u201d Mamdani said<\/a> in a clip posted by Overtime. \u201cHe has delivered something that we have waited for 53 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the end, the NYC mayor even joked that he might need a second stick because the first one was nowhere near breaking. As a Knicks fan, he showed complete loyalty to the love the city has for its star guard.<\/p>\n

Related: \u201cA mayor playing president\u201d \u2013 Kyle Kuzma weighs in after Zohran Mamdani calls for Netanyahu\u2019s arrest<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 5:55 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks gave the \u201cCity That Never Sleeps\u201d the title it had been waiting for, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":["post-351624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351624","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=351624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}