Key takeaways:
- The Knicks parade starts at 10 a.m. near Battery Park and travels up Broadway to City Hall, where the team will receive keys to the city.
- The NYPD said all viewing pens were full by 7:24 a.m. and deployed 10,000 officers for the event.
- Several subway lines are skipping Lower Manhattan stops, and city officials are urging fans to use mass transit.
New York City is honoring the Knicks on Thursday with a ticker-tape parade up Broadway, celebrating an NBA championship that ended a 53-year drought and drew fans to Lower Manhattan before dawn.
The parade is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. near Battery Park and travel north along Broadway through the “Canyon of Heroes” before ending at City Hall. There, the team is expected to receive keys to the city during a ceremony.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has predicted the celebration could be one of the biggest in the city’s history. “There will be performances, there will be New Yorkers, there will be the team and there will be history,” Mamdani said Monday.
The city is going all out for a Knicks title in a way it did not during the franchise’s previous championships in the 1970s. Although the team won twice that decade, New York did not stage ticker-tape parades for either title. Then-Mayor John Lindsay had scaled back such events for financial and other reasons, instead honoring the team at a 1970 reception at the mayoral mansion and a crowded 1973 ceremony outside City Hall.
This year’s parade is free, but access is limited and first come, first served. The NYPD said all viewing pens along the route were full as of 7:24 a.m., and no one else would be allowed in along the parade route. “As a reminder, if you leave the viewing pens, you will not be allowed reentry,” the department said in a social media post.
Fans began lining up near access points before 5 a.m., with spectators wearing Knicks gear, cheering and clapping. One fan was seen walking down the street waving a Knicks flag.
Police plan to deploy 10,000 officers, the largest number ever assigned to a planned event in New York City history, according to CBS News. The security plan includes heavy weapons teams, explosive detection K9s, transit, transportation, highway and aviation officers, and an anti-drone squad. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday, “We want people to enjoy this moment, but public safety comes first.”
City officials are urging people to use mass transit because of extensive street closures. The MTA said several subway lines would skip stops during the parade. E trains are not running between W 4 St-Wash Sq and World Trade Center. The 4 and 5 trains are skipping Wall Street, the 2 and 3 are skipping Park Place, the A and C are skipping Chambers Street, and the R and W are skipping City Hall. The Staten Island Ferry is running every 15 minutes, and the MTA may add extra trains on the A, J and 1 lines after the parade if needed.
Officials have prohibited a long list of items, including large bags and backpacks, outside alcohol, umbrellas, folding chairs, glass or metal water bottles, bats or batons, bicycles, scooters, coolers, drones, pets, strollers and weapons. Paradegoers were also advised to bring a poncho because of possible rain.
The city’s historic lead car, a Chrysler Imperial Phaeton used in every parade since 1952, was being prepared Wednesday. Knicks legends Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Patrick Ewing are expected to participate, according to NPR, which cited a person familiar with the plans. The person also said MSG Network play-by-play announcer Mike Breen was set to emcee the City Hall ceremony.
Alicia Keys has been tapped to perform. “How could I not?” she said Wednesday in a social media video that showed her on the phone with Knicks forward OG Anunoby.
About 650 sanitation workers have been assigned to clean up after the event. The parade will be New York’s 210th ticker-tape parade, following the city’s 2024 celebration for the WNBA’s New York Liberty.
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