No other NBA team except the Lakers "celebrates the presence of big-name fans at its games as aggressively and as unabashedly" as the Knicks do, as there are six, prime courtside seats at Madison Square Garden that are "reserved for the three most prominent celebrities (plus guests)" at any given game, according to a front-page piece by Sarah Lyall of the N.Y. TIMES. MSG "has developed a well-oiled system of cultivating and cosseting" celebrities. MSG Exec VP/Communications & Administration Barry Watkins said, "If you’re an A-level person and we know the fans are going to go bananas when your picture goes up on the scoreboard, then there’s a value having you there. We think it’s a big part of the brand. Win or lose, it’s one of the reasons people come to the games." MSG "has an ad-hoc celebrity-handling team whose members determine who in fact counts as a celebrity and to what degree; pursue relationships with those people; and deflect demands from lower-level personalities who wish they were celebrities but in fact are not."
HOW IT ALL WORKS: At the Jan. 9 Heat-Knicks game, MSG's "VIP Locations" spreadsheet "mapped out exactly who would sit where -- John McEnroe in the third row, the boxer Miguel Cotto in the fifth row, a gaggle" of NHL Rangers in the 17th row -- and it "reflected various unspoken rules of VIP placement." Lyall: "Make sure they all have decent seats. Make sure that some, but not all, end up sitting with other celebrities. Make sure to put the most important people in Celebrity Row ... while not hurting the feelings of the people whose level hovers down at the sad end of the alphabet." Celebrities who "become 'friends of the Garden,' as they are called, get plenty of perks." Among them "are a special side entrance into the Garden; a special elevator ... [and] a special VIP clubhouse known as Suite 200 that is free of charge and that has an open bar." One of the "most prominent celebrity Knicks fans, Woody Allen, is no longer welcome in Suite 200." He "pays for season tickets and used to be a Suite 200 regular ... but was asked to stop coming after, the Garden said, he refused on three occasions to do small favors for them" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/22).
