Ticketmaster said on Saturday that no tickets bought through its platform for Knicks Spurs Game 5 have been canceled or will be canceled, calming a wave of fear that New York fans heading to San Antonio could be shut out at the door. The company also said fans buying on Ticketmaster can be confident they are getting a real, authenticated ticket that will get them into the game Saturday night.
The panic started after reports on Friday night that some purchases made from outside 150mi (241km) of the San Antonio arena would be canceled and refunded without notice. For fans already making the trip, the question was simple: would a ticket bought in good faith still work? Ticketmaster’s answer on Saturday was yes, at least for sales made on its platform.
That mattered because Game 5 carried real stakes and real nerves. Kathy Hochul posted that Knicks fans had finally gotten within one game of a championship only to be told their tickets were being canceled. Letitia James pushed back too, demanding that the Spurs drop the policy and let Knicks fans and anyone else who could buy a seat attend.
The Spurs said the restriction was not new. It had been in place since the NBA playoffs began in April and was meant to give local fans a better chance to buy tickets, a common practice for high-demand games. A Spurs spokesperson said people whose billing ZIP code falls outside the designated area cannot finish a purchase that is subject to the rule, but tickets already bought are not being canceled or revoked.
That left one sharp contradiction in the middle of the noise: Ticketmaster’s note described out-of-area purchases as subject to cancellation, yet it also said no tickets purchased on its platform have or will be canceled. Madison Square Garden Sports Corp said it had confirmed with Spurs ownership that no Knicks fans’ tickets would be revoked and that all ticket holders would be allowed into Frost Bank Arena. James later said she was glad Knicks fans would be able to attend the game tonight in San Antonio.
The practical result is that the feared lockout did not materialize for people who already had seats. What was still unclear was how many fans had been caught in the scare before the reassurance arrived. By Saturday night, though, the message was plain: if you had a valid ticket, you were going in.
