NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 25: Knicks fans celebrate winning the eastern conference championship against the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 25, 2026 in New York City. The Knicks last reached the NBA Finals in 1999, falling to the Spurs, and are seeking their first championship since defeating the Lakers in 1973. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
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Four hours before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, about 20 people sat in O’Brien’s Bar and Grill in Manhattan, across from Madison Square Garden. Still, owners Pat and Mike O’Brien expected the restaurant to soon be filled with New York Knicks’ fans eager to watch their team face the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Two chalkboards outside touted that O’Brien’s would have 12 televisions with the sound on during the game and promoted “Brunson Buckets,” where customers could buy a bucket of beers for $35 in homage to Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson. In the window facing 31st Street and MSG, the O’Brien brothers had hung a Knicks’ flag, too, just like many other restaurants and bars that are all-in on the team that is playing in the NBA finals for the first time since 1999.
This time of year, the area around MSG is usually quiet, as the arena hosts fewer events and people take more vacations or work from home. But over the past few weeks, the Knicks’ run has helped drive business even as hundreds of fans gathered outside the arena on game days and blocked access to some establishments.
“Any night there’s something going on in the Garden, we know we're going to have a good crowd,” Pat O’Brien said. “But the playoffs are definitely a different story altogether. There's just way more people involved.”
For much of the 1990s, the Knicks were regulars in the playoffs, advancing to the finals in 1994 and 1999 and the conference finals in 1993 and 2000. But from 2001 through 2023, the Knicks made the postseason just six times and won only one series. They advanced to the conference finals last year for the first time in 25 years and are now conference champions for the first time in 27 years. They face the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the finals on the road Wednesday night.
Local establishments that rely on MSG events have embraced the winning, as has the Knicks’ business staff.
During the playoffs the past two seasons, the Knicks have held parties outside of MSG, where fans can gather and watch the games on a large projector screen free of charge. But the New York Police Department denied the franchise’s request for an outdoor party during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals last month, per the New York Post, citing unruly behavior and six arrests during the Game 3 celebration. The NYPD is not allowing the Knicks to have outside watch parties in the NBA finals, either.
Still, when the Knicks played Games 3 and 4 of the conference finals in Cleveland, the franchise held watch parties inside MSG and Radio City Music Hall, respectively. A Knicks’ spokesperson said the franchise will announce their viewing party plans for the finals early this week.
Jaime Young, partner and co-founder at Sunday Hospitality, saw firsthand what the crowds were like outside of MSG during previous home games. Sunday Hospitality owns the Dynamo Room, a steakhouse and restaurant attached to MSG that faces Plaza 33, where the watch parties took place on 33rd Street. Dynamo’s terrace area has tables where people could see the large screen showing the Knicks’ game, so the restaurant booked those spots.
“It gets pretty wild,” Young said. “It’s been so long since they’ve been so great. Everyone’s super excited about it.”
Young said the area around MSG is quiet on weekends when there are no events, and even on Mondays and Fridays when a large number of people work from home. But when the Knicks play, the Dynamo Room can count on a big night, especially before and during the games, although not as much afterwards because people are heading to their homes outside the city.
“It’s been great for us, honestly,” Young said. “We’re hoping they go all the way. It would be really incredible.”
Pat O’Brien said that his restaurant generates 25% more revenue for Knicks’ playoff games compared with regular season games. Meanwhile, the Stout NYC Penn Station bar and restaurant on 35th Street two blocks from MSG has seen up to three to four times as much in sales during Knicks’ playoff games compared to some other nights, according to Martin Whelan, owner and president of the Stout NYC Hospitality Group.
Whelan’s company operates 13 bars and restaurants in the city. He said even the ones that aren’t close to MSG are seeing huge crowds during Knicks’ games, as people look to congregate and celebrate.
No New York City-area team in one of the four major men’s professional leagues (NBA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball) has won a title since the New York Giants won the Super Bowl in February 2012. And while the region has multiple teams in each of those leagues, the Knicks may be the most universally beloved, as the other local NBA franchise (the Brooklyn Nets) has only been in New York since 2012 and has a small fan base.
“This town in general is starved for one of the major sports to have a champion,” Whelan said. “It’s not just the Knicks, but Knicks’ basketball is something that everybody follows. New York’s a basketball town. It always has been and always will be.”
Ian Conroy saw the Knicks’ impact when he opened Mustang Sally’s in 1993 near MSG. The next year, the Knicks made the NBA finals, while the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 54 years, which helped attract customers. Although Mustang Sally’s closed a few years ago, Conroy and his brother, Niall, still own and operate Mustang Harry’s, a popular bar two blocks from the Garden that’s been open since 1995.
Through the years, Mustang Harry’s has become a hangout for Knicks’ and Rangers’ season ticket holders. But when the teams struggle, many of those fans give away or sell their tickets late in the regular season, leading to fewer people visiting Mustang Harry’s. And if the teams don’t advance to the postseason?
“It can be a very lonesome May for people around the Garden,” Conroy said.
While the Rangers missed the postseason, the Knicks’ run has more than made up for it. Mustang Harry’s is one of several bars in the city that partner with the Knicks, with the franchise providing free t-shirts, towels and other memorabilia during games. The restaurant also hands out Mustang Harry’s stress basketballs to customers.
“We haven’t had much use for them this year so far,” Conroy said.
Mustang Harry’s has already fully booked its sit-down restaurant area for the first two games of the finals, which are in San Antonio on Wednesday and Friday night. Conroy said his restaurant’s sales are up 60% on the days the Knicks play.
“That makes a difference,” he said. “That’s the difference between missing the bottom line and hitting it. The revenue is up for everybody. The Knicks are a very, very positive thing for New York.”
At the Stout bars, Whelan and his employees plan on providing free blue and orange shots to patrons after Knicks’ victories, as they have done throughout the playoffs. The Knicks have 11 consecutive victories, tied for the third-longest postseason streak in NBA history. The past two rounds, they have won in four games, providing the team with plenty of time to rest, although bar and restaurant owners would have preferred longer series.
“I love that the Knicks are winning, but sweeps aren’t good for business,” said Whelan, laughing. “I say that tongue in cheek, but an extra game or two would be good.”
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