New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday blasted Ticketmaster and the San Antonio Spurs after ticket sales for Game 5 of the NBA Finals were restricted to customers inside a 150-mile radius of San Antonio. She said thousands of New Yorkers had already bought tickets, booked flights and made plans in good faith, then asked why their tickets were being canceled as the game approached.
The dispute landed just hours before Game 5 in San Antonio, when the Knicks held a 3-1 series lead and were one win from their first NBA championship in 53 years. That made the policy more than a ticketing fight; for fans who thought they had secured seats, it was a question of whether a big night would still belong to them.
Ticketmaster said the restriction applied only to new orders and that fans who had already bought valid tickets should still be able to attend. It said sales would be limited to customers within the 150-mile radius and that new orders from outside that zone would be canceled without notice, with refunds issued. The Spurs said the geographic limits put in place during the NBA playoffs were still in effect during the Finals and that the policy was meant to prioritize local fans across San Antonio, Austin and surrounding communities.
Hochul, posting on X, pressed for the restriction to be reversed. New York Attorney General Letitia James did the same, calling for the policy to be lifted and saying fans who could buy tickets for the game should be allowed in. Madison Square Garden then said tickets were not being revoked and that all ticket holders would be allowed in to Frost Bank Arena, underscoring the gap between the political outrage and the company line.
The fight is not happening in a vacuum. Similar location-based limits were used when the Knicks played the Pistons in Detroit during the NBA playoffs last year, and the Yankees also limited American League wild card ticket sales to residents of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. This year’s Finals drew a long list of high-profile names, including Kylie Jenner and Taylor Swift, along with President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
What remains unresolved is how many tickets, if any, were ever caught by the San Antonio-area restriction before Ticketmaster narrowed its explanation. For now, the company says people who already have valid seats should get in, and that leaves Saturday night’s real test in the arena itself.
