Hours before Game 4 of the N.B.A. finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, the watch party outside Madison Square Garden was canceled after a spat erupted between the mayor and the Garden’s owner.
In a statement posted on X, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that James L. Dolan, the owner of the Knicks, had “decided to cancel the watch party,” a move that he said was “breaking hearts across our city.”
In a radio interview on “The Craig Carton Show,” Mr. Dolan blamed Mr. Mamdani and Jessica S. Tisch, the police commissioner, for enhanced security measures around the arena.
He attacked both as being inexperienced and intent on disrupting the team’s run through the playoffs, which has captivated New York City and fans hungry for a title that has eluded them for more than 50 years.
“This is about celebrating the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, at the Mecca of basketball,” Mr. Dolan said. “This is what the mayor’s office and the commissioner’s office is trying to kill. They don’t want the celebration.”
Mr. Trump attended Game 3 at the Garden and sat with Mr. Dolan in a luxury suite, where he was vociferously booed during his sole appearance on the arena’s video board. The visit drew heightened security measures that subjected fans to long lines and invasive inspections, a decision that the Police Department made in coordination with the Secret Service.
Mr. Mamdani also attended Game 3, but watched farther away from the action than Mr. Trump did. He paid about $1,000 for his spot in the standing-room section, which came from a pool of tickets reserved for V.I.P.s., a common practice at arenas around the country.
Mr. Dolan is a friend of Mr. Trump’s and has said that he got married at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in 2018. He asserted that the tightened security measures at the Garden did not come at the request of the Secret Service. Mr. Trump’s visit, he claimed, was “an excuse” for more security.
He called Mr. Trump “a great guy” and “a Knicks fan.” Mr. Mamdani, he said, was “not a Knicks fan.”
A Police Department spokeswoman said earlier on Wednesday that the agency had been prepared to deploy for a watch party, noting that the city had approved the permit ahead of time and had put security measures in place accordingly. Ms. Tisch, the commissioner, had said at a news conference on Monday that certain measures from Game 3, including street closures, would return for Game 4 for “safety purposes.”
In a statement released right before tip-off, Madison Square Garden Sports, which operates the arena, said that it “declined to use” the permit granted by the city, saying it would be unfair to “tens of thousands of people” who could not be there.
Mr. Dolan has been known to employ intense security measures of his own at the Garden. According to reporting from multiple outlets, Madison Square Garden has employed facial-recognition technology to ban Mr. Dolan’s enemies, causing concerns among some advocacy groups.
In his statement, Mr. Mamdani said that Madison Square Garden had applied for a permit to hold a watch party for up to 1,000 people.
Applicants seeking to hold public events in New York City must specify the number of people they would like to attend. Madison Square Garden’s application for a Game 4 party listed attendance between 500 and 999 people, but not more, according to a copy of the application obtained by The New York Times. Applicants can request up to 10,000 attendees for a given event, city officials said.
“We’re not about 999 people,” Mr. Dolan said. “We’re about millions of people.”
The cancellation was the latest escalation in a growing feud between Mr. Dolan and city officials over whether viewing parties outside the Garden could go forward. The city, which approves permits for such gatherings, briefly banned the parties last month, after crowds of revelers descended on the arena following multiple games, causing chaos.
The city restored the parties just ahead of the tipoff for Game 1 of the championship series, allowing thousands to gather on the plaza outside the Garden for that game and the one to follow. But both of those parties grew rowdy, resulting in more than two dozen arrests over two nights.
The watch party for Game 3 was canceled on Sunday, the day before the Knicks were set to play their first home game, which both Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Trump planned to attend. The Police Department said that the decision had been made in coordination with the Secret Service because of the president’s attendance.
After the Police Department announced a security plan on Tuesday with multiple street closures, the Garden bristled. The Police Department said in a statement that day that Ms. Tisch had made clear in public remarks on Monday that the perimeter would return for Game 4.
City and police officials said that they had expected the party for Game 4 to go ahead on Wednesday before Mr. Dolan’s statements.
The last-minute cancellation of the watch party had sown confusion and rancor among fans.
Brandon Caceres, 23, and Reynier Mendoza, 24, drove eight hours from Montreal to watch the game outside the Garden. They secured their tickets on the car ride this morning.
“Ahhh no way. So where do we go?” said Mr. Caceres, when told by a police officer that the event was canceled. “Dude, we did like eight hours of driving mixed with energy drinks to get to this. We’ve been driving since this morning.”
Wesley Parnell contributed reporting.
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