Image Credit: Kowarski (CC BY 2.0)

By: Tina Kassangana

“I’m coming home, I’m coming home tell the world I’m coming home”, many die hard New York Knicks fans who cannot afford season tickets, looked with bittersweet eyes as they saw Carmelo Anthony announce he was becoming a New York Knick.

Losing fan favorites Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov and Wilson Chandler caused some fans to hate the trade, while others looked to the future. With the Carmelo Anthony trade, there is no doubt that almost every computer in the NYC metro area looked up tickets for the Milwaukee Bucks game for Carmelo’s homecoming. They were then greeted with $50.00 nosebleeds selling for $170.00 a piece. That was it; all the Knicks fans who bought game by game tickets were finished. Carmelo might as well have had the fans singing “I’m going broke, I’m going broke”. Within 48 hours tickets had sold out.

Of course, on the outer surface it appears that the Carmelo/STAT partnership caused the tickets to rise. In truth yes, but this was going to happen in the future anyways. Madison Square Garden, the world’s most famous arena, is undergoing an extreme makeover. So extreme that I advise anyone with an iPhone to purchase the MSG insider app (you’ll need it to get around). Arena renovations will include: comfortable seating, first class food (I had no problem with my nachos to be honest), views of our great city, a bridge that will hang above the court for a unique view, and many other cool things.

The total cost of this makeover? A staggering $977M. And they say we are in a recession. New York Knicks fans now are suffering the price (no pun intended) of Carmelo and the new arena. The season ticket holders are in an even worse position by being hit with a playoffs invoice. They're required to buy either by rounds or in total, and are being forced to renew their subscriptions by May. New York Knicks tickets are now more expensive than New York Rangers tickets. My only comment on this ridiculous pricing; if my tickets are going up 49%, I also want the player’s efforts to go up 49%. I don't want to deal with a 6 game losing streak to sub .500 teams.

 

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