MSG says empty seats due to new tickets plan
The Knicks are showing they don’t have to sell out to win at the Garden.
In an odd quirk, the Knicks have sold out fewer than half their home games this season on their way to an 11-5 home mark. Only seven of 16 Garden games have seen a full capacity of 19,812.
The nine non-sellouts are only big news because the Knicks entered the season on a stirring run. Entering the season, despite all the losing, they had sold out 277 of 278 regular-season home games. The lone non-sellout in that spree came in March 2016 during a blizzard.
The toll of four straight nonplayoff seasons and a new regime that talked up player development — a euphemism for tanking — probably is one factor in the nonsellouts.
However, Garden officials said they also believe a new long-term marketing strategy in which more individual tickets were made available at the expense of full season-ticket plans is another cause.
In the long run, the Garden is confident the new strategy will pay off, giving the public more access to tickets. In return, the franchise was willing to take the short-term risk of not selling out.
Recently, the Garden limited the amount of season tickets for one purchaser to eight. The suspicion was purchasers hoarded season tickets to sell on the secondary market.
According to one Garden source, the larger amount of individual tickets available caters better to the growing number of European tourists who attend Knicks games.
The notion a new plethora of individual tickets now are available may not have reached the masses for Knicks fans who think seasonticket packages are the only avenue, as has been the case in past years.
“Our new ticketing strategy has provided fans more options and availability to attend Knicks games throughout the season, and we’re seeing terrific individual ticket sales for every game,” Jordan Solomon, executive vice president of MSG Sports, said in a statement provided to The Post. “By reducing the number of full season subscriptions, we opened up more individual and group tickets, as well as five-game holiday plans, allowing fans added opportunities to see this young and exciting Knicks team. So far this season, the Garden as usual has been electric.”