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Mamdani’s Nosebleed Knicks Ticket and the Benefits of Being Mayor

Mayor Zohran Mamdani paid roughly $1,000 for a standing-room-only ticket to Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals, using access to house tickets not available to regular fans.

© Vincent Alban for The New York Times

Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended the Knicks’ Game 3 loss in the N.B.A. finals with some former colleagues in the State Legislature.
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Strict Security Around MSG Is Back for Knicks Game 4

Several blocks around Madison Square Garden will be closed to most people Wednesday afternoon. The city approved a ticketed watch party, though it was unclear whether it would take place.

© Vincent Alban for The New York Times

The Knicks face the San Antonio Spurs in the N.B.A. finals. Fan celebrations outside Madison Square Garden have at times been rowdy or violent.
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MSG Sports criticizes NYPD and Mamdani over Knicks Game 4 security

James Dolan’s company slams mayor and police commissioner as ‘party poopers’ over large restricted zone

The owner of the New York Knicks basketball team sharply criticized both the New York police department and Zohran Mamdani after city officials announced an extensive security strategy for Game 4 of the NBA finals, featuring a large restricted zone and additional access controls.

The expanded security measures follow Monday’s Game 3 watch party at Bryant Park, where disorder erupted and led to arrests, damage to property, and incidents involving assaults on police officers.

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© Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

© Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

© Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

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A World Cup of opulence and records: Soaring ticket prices and officials denied entry

The largest FIFA World Cup in history kicks off on Thursday, June 11, at the Estadio Azteca. The opening match between Mexico and South Africa will be the starting gun for a tournament also hosted by Canada and largely staged in the United States, where 78 of the 104 matches will be played, including the final on July 19. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said last May at the United Nations headquarters in New York, an organization founded in 1945 to prevent armed conflict, that “the eyes of the world will be focused on North America.” “We spend so much time in discussing what divides us, but actually we realize that when we put people together, what happens is that there are many more things that unite us than the things that divide us,” he added. The World Cup, however, will be co-hosted in a country that just over 100 days ago launched a war against Iran, alongside Israel, without any United Nations endorsement, that has an open diplomatic dispute with another co-host, Mexico, and whose anti-immigration policies — policies that frighten many fans — on Monday denied entry to Somali referee Omar Artan, one of the 52 match officials assigned to the tournament.

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© Ira L. Black - FIFA (FIFA via Getty Images)

FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the MetLife Stadium last Monday.
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