New York Knicks

Madison Square Garden is the oldest current arena in the NBA and it does not have to prove itself to anyone. The building sits above Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan, which makes it the most accessible arena in the country by transit and simultaneously the center of the most expensive real estate in North America. The sightlines from the upper bowl are perfectly fine; the lower sections near the court have the kind of premium pricing that reflects what it means to sit there in New York. It all costs more than it should and nobody stops going.

Knicks fans are their own category of NBA supporter. The expectation level is always high, the disappointment when it does not happen is immediate and loud, and the celebration when it does is the loudest thing in professional basketball. Recent years have given them a team worth caring about and the building has responded with the kind of noise that makes MSG feel the way it does in the national consciousness - like it matters more than anywhere else.

The Penn Station area around the arena has improved with the Moynihan Train Hall development, and K-Town on 32nd Street is the pre-game dinner corridor you want - Korean BBQ on 32nd Street handles any party size and it is close enough to walk. The bars around Penn Station serve the post-game crowd efficiently. Getting in and out by subway is the only rational approach; driving to an MSG event in Midtown is a choice only made once.

The "Knicks tax" is real - you will pay more here for the same seat than in any other market - but a sold-out Garden night with the crowd in it is a basketball experience with no real equivalent in the league.

Browse New York Knicks tickets on Evil Tickets - pay the Knicks tax at least once, because MSG on a playoff night is the thing everybody is talking about for a reason.