On Wednesday night, the front row seats at Madison Square Garden were filled with A-listers watching Game 2 of the Pacers-Knicks match, with regulars like Spike Lee and Ben Stiller in the courtside stands. (Top, right)Chris Rock (Top, left)Former Knicks stars John Starks, Allan Houston and Bernard King all made appearances, as did New York royalty from other sports like CC Sabathia and Justin Tuck, and entertainment stars like Ice Spice, Kevin Bacon and Bryan Cranston. TNT even had legendary Knicks villain Reggie Miller do the play-by-play, and Miller had a courtside altercation with Lee. As Miller spoke about the Knicks-Pacers rivalry, Stiller burst into the TV feed behind him. So the celebrities were part of the show.
“Honestly, other than the All-Star Game, that was the most celebrities I've ever seen in the building,” said Joe Favorito, a former Knicks public relations director and now a sports consultant. Front Office Sports.
But there's a difference between capitalized “Celebrity Row” — the six to eight seats in the front row earmarked specifically for the game's most prominent spectators — and lowercase “Celebrity Row,” which more broadly refers to the dozens of actors, singers, athletes and big names who rub shoulders in the most expensive, camera-friendly seats. Whereas Celebrity Row, once title sponsored by a luxury real estate company, seats just three or four A-list stars and their guests, “Celebrity Row” is a much larger operation that may include free tickets but may also mean second- or third-row seats.
The distinction is part of a juggling act as the Garden makes its own determination as to whose star shines brightest.
For A-list patrons, the plush, velvet-rope world surrounding “Celebrity Row” comes with perks like private entrances, special elevators (so they don't have to ride escalators with fans), gourmet meals, the finest booze, and an almost mythical private party area called Suite 200, where celebrities can relax and mingle in complete privacy. “You can't pay to get in; it's by hand-selected invitation only, approved by management,” Favorito warns. “It's probably still the most exclusive club in New York.”
And the Knicks are touting “Celebrity Row,” which Lisa Anderson, founder of Anderson Group Public Relations, says is becoming increasingly popular because of the relatively limited number of seats available. To paraphrase Frank Sinatra's “New York, New York,” scoring a courtside seat to a Knicks playoff game confers “number one” status.
“It's like flying on a private jet. You don't have to go through all the things that most of us have to go through,” Anderson says. “You get to enjoy the best food, the best drinks, the company of people in your own community. So it's a social thing. It's fun.”
Of course, there's an answer to how this all works and who gets selected. But in the ephemeral world of modern stardom, it's not the simplest answer. Here's their answer, according to former Knicks executives and publicists with direct knowledge of how it all works: it dependsIt's all a negotiation with the secretive Garden committee, who make VIP ticket decisions based on their own arcane definition of someone's celebrity level.
It depends on the stardom of the requester; the game they're requesting; whether they feel beholden to the Gardens; and the relationship their publicist or agent has with the Gardens. Some pay, some don't. Favorito says the NBA reserves some seats of its own, but the Gardens coordinates everything. Generally, the more famous the celebrity, the better the view and the less likely they are to pay for a ticket. D-grade celebrities who ask for A-grade treatment are politely turned down or ignored.
But they will need to be careful not to violate the unspoken rules of “celebrity tussle,” such as by defying billionaire owner James Dolan.
MSG’s relationship with its VIP customers is smart business for both parties.
For the Garden, it's marketing basics: Beautiful people attract other wealthy ticket buyers and generate media buzz. According to Axios, the Knicks sell the most expensive tickets in the 30-team NBA, with a family of four paying a staggering $745.18 for the cheapest ticket, plus four hot dogs, two 16-ounce bottles of beer, two 20-ounce sodas, and parking. But what is the bragging rights of knowing your kids were sitting near Taylor Swift, Cardi B, and Jessica Alba worth to a Westchester family? Priceless.
Putting celebrities on the Jumbotron entertains Knicks fans who shell out big bucks for tickets, reaffirming the Garden as the place to be, giving fans an up-close look at some of the most popular entertainers in the country, and allowing the NBA's oldest arena (which opened in 1968) to wave the “No. 1” flag for younger challengers.
Wendell Crews – USA TODAY Sports
Unfortunately for other teams, national media coverage of this year's NBA playoffs has been mostly Knicks, Knicks, Knicks. Queens native Stephen A. Smith promotes his favorite team every day on ESPN's top-rated show. First TakeThe Knicks averaged 482,000 viewers in April. If the perennially struggling team makes it to the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years, the national media will likely go wild for the Knicks.
The Knicks have won just two NBA championships in their 77-year history, the last time in 1973 during the Nixon administration, but the Garden's 145-year history and location in midtown Manhattan, the media capital of the world, have ensured that the Knicks (and the Rangers, who also have their fair share of top-tier players in the front row) will always be at the forefront of people's minds.
The Knicks were ranked the second-most valuable team in the NBA last year with a valuation of $6.6 billion. ForbesThat's behind only the Warriors at $7.7 billion.
The Garden's modern “Celebrity Row” evolved naturally under the reign of former Knicks president Dave Checkett from 1991 to 2001, Favorito recalled. The Knicks wisely realized that frequent courtside appearances by celebrity supporters such as Woody Allen, Dustin Hoffman and Spike Lee presented an opportunity to promote and monetize the reserved seating sections around the court. The Garden's stage lights included fans in the front row, making them part of the show. In 2014, Douglas Elliman Real Estate signed a multi-year deal with the Knicks to become the title sponsor of “Douglas Elliman's Celebrity Row.”
“This has become a destination where you can do really creative things, and at this point the wealthy will pay for a seat,” Favorito said. “Win or lose, it's a place famous people want to go. We've tried other places, but we've never had the success we've had at the Garden.”
The big Hollywood studios buy their own courtside seats, Favorito adds. So some stars come at the studio's expense. But the Garden wisely asks visiting entertainers if they'd be happy to be seen on the video board or film promotional hits. Their usual answer is “yes.” For entertainers, courtside seats are proof of their desire for attention. Make no mistake, they're ready to be on camera. Cheering on their basketball heroes at the Garden humanizes their image to a public that increasingly despises Hollywood arrogance. It's also a PR strategy at work. Anderson says that if a Hollywood star has a romantic comedy coming out soon, placing them courtside is a great way to let sports fans know about the new movie. “It's very strategic to do it that way. It could be a good move for someone looking for a wider audience,” she says.
But even here, they're being paid: The Garden's complimentary VIP guests are expected to say cheese for the celebrity cameras during games, film promotional spots for the arena and the MSG Network, support Garden of Dreams charities and even help with player recruitment. Discovered by Pablo TorreThe late James Gandolfini and Edie Falco star in HBO's The SopranosThis was actually part of the Knicks' failed attempt to recruit LeBron James to New York in 2010.
Brad Penner – USA TODAY Sports
Action star Liam Neeson lives in the Garden. If the arena asked him to come, he would be happy to oblige. As Neeson said: The New York Times 2014: “You can't get something for nothing. If having a celebrity like me come to the Garden helps, however high or low it may be, then I'll put on my best Armani suit and go out there.”
Other celebs don't care. Maybe that's why Lee, the Knicks' most famous supporter, buys his own tickets. In 2020, Smith reported: First Take Lee paid $3,400 per game for two front-row seats, meaning he's paid millions into the Garden as a season-ticket holder over more than three decades. “I feel like a fool now,” Lee admitted.
The Garden is famous for pleasing its celebrity clientele, but Hollywood folk shouldn't take its generosity for granted, or they'll be quickly cut off in New York. In November, supermodels Emily Ratajkowski and Irina Shayk committed the cardinal sin of leaving their free seats early just as the Knicks were storming back against the Heat. It was a poor decision; when Ratajkowski later asked for free Rangers tickets, the Garden coldly refused. “She is always invited and welcome to buy good seats,” a spokesperson said. New York Post.
Actor Ethan Hawke told Bill Simmons that he, too, lost his spot on “Celebrity Row” after publicly questioning Dolan's hiring as a coach. “They always put me through,” Hawke told Simmons in 2018. “Then one time I called and they said, 'This will be $7,800.' … I thought, 'Wow, this is real.'” (The actor is now a regular courtside at Nets games across the river in Brooklyn.)
But even big-name players are grateful for tickets when demand is surging. When the Knicks made two NBA Finals appearances during the Patrick Ewing era in the '90s, the late John F. Kennedy Jr. applied for season tickets. He was mistakenly assigned a cheap seat in the 300s, but Kennedy didn't complain because Knicks tickets were so scarce, Chris Herring writes in his book. Blood in the Garden.
The Garden has declined to comment on the matter, but the silence surrounding the “celeb furore” only adds to its mystique. In an age when celebrities seem to have it all, it's comforting to know that some little-known Garden executive is turning down a C-list celebrity's free tickets and instead planning to make his head explode.
“It depends on who you are and who you know,” Anderson says, “but if you're a high-level celebrity, it's not difficult. It's just a phone call away. If you're an A-list celebrity, anything.”
Front Office SportsAlex Schiffer contributed to this article.
