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06/07 22:39 CDT No watch party at Madison Square Garden with Trump attending
Game 3 of the NBA Finals
No watch party at Madison Square Garden with Trump attending Game 3 of the NBA
Finals
NEW YORK (AP) --- Police scuttled an NBA Finals watch party near Madison Square
Garden and the New York Knicks warned fans to get to Monday's matchup at least
two hours early as part of enhanced security measures with President Donald
Trump attending the game.
Trump is a longtime Knicks fan who confirmed Friday that he would attend the
first NBA Finals game in New York since 1999. He already has attended a number
of major sporting events in his second term, including the 2025 Super Bowl,
Daytona 500 and Ryder Cup.
Part of the fallout from Trump's visit was the cancellation of a Game 3 watch
party outside MSG. The New York Police Department said in a statement Sunday
the decision was made in coordination with the Secret Service.
"There will be no watch parties outside of Madison Square Garden for Game 3
only," the statement said. "This was done fully in coordination with the Secret
Service because of the presidential visit. We expect watch parties at Madison
Square Garden to resume for Game 4."
Such parties, where thousands of fans pack in to watch the game on a big
screen, have been a point of contention for the city's police department, even
without the complication of a presidential visit.
More than two-dozen people were arrested as Friday's watch party spilled into
the streets surrounding the Garden after the Knicks beat the Spurs in San
Antonio. One woman was accused of punching a police officer in the face, the
NYPD said.
Heading into the NBA Finals, the city had moved to cancel watch parties outside
the arena altogether because of rowdy behavior at unofficial gatherings but
later reversed itself and granted a permit for Game 1 last Wednesday.
Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service's New York
field office, said he understood that with the Knicks on a historic run there
would be some disappointment from fans.
"At the same time, our responsibility is to ensure the highest level of public
safety," he said. "After careful coordination and assessment, the Secret
Service and the NYPD jointly determined that outdoor watch parties could not be
accommodated in the immediate vicinity of Madison Square Garden due to the
security requirements associated with an event of this scale and the need to
maintain a secure environment for protective operations."
Team-sanctioned watch parties will go on at Wollman Rink in Central Park and
Brooklyn Bowl, the Knicks website said. Both events required advanced
registration and were already at capacity as of Sunday afternoon.
Strict rules were put in place for those attending the game. The Knicks warned
fans to bring as little as possible to Game 3 and encouraging them to arrive at
least two hours before tipoff as part of enhanced security measures.
The Knicks said Saturday that a strict no-bag policy would be in place and
there would be "TSA-style screening procedures" for fans when they enter
Madison Square Garden for the game that is scheduled to begin just after 8:40
p.m. EDT.
The Knicks said there would be no storage at MSG for prohibited items brought
to the arena. A list of them is available at
https://www.secretservice.gov/prohibiteditems.
___
Associated Press writers Michael Sisak and Jake Offenhartz in New York
contributed to this report.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
