If the New York Knicks want the ‘King of All Media’ at their court, there’s only one way to make it happen.
Howard Stern, the legendary shock jock radio host, this week revealed his big conditions to get him to a game at Madison Square Garden as the Knicks compete in the NBA playoffs.
He must be sitting in the front row and he’s waiting for the team to invite him.
Stern, who admittedly isn’t the biggest sports fan, has a soft spot for the Manhattan-based franchise. A well-known morning person, Stern even said that he stayed up until 8 p.m. on Monday to watch the first half of the team’s game against the Boston Celtics.
But the 71-year-old SiriusXM Radio host explained on his show this week, per Awful Announcing, that where you are seated at MSG is based on your status in the entertainment industry.
“You can tell your place in show business by where they place you at the Knicks game. The day they put me in the second row, I quit. Because I consider myself a first-row type of person,” Stern said. “I’m very aware of where they seat me and it’s very important to me. If they said to me, ‘Look, you’re not gonna be in the first row,’ I’d turn around and leave, it would be embarrassing to me.”
He did say that while he would be very interested in attending an NBA Finals game at MSG — should the team make it – he would only go if the team invited him.
“I have tremendous interest, but I wouldn’t go. I’m very self-conscious. I wait for them to invite me,” Stern said. “I don’t want to take advantage and I know everyone comes out of the woodwork for the Finals, I don’t want to be that guy. I prefer when the Knicks are dead last, then I don’t feel guilty taking the tickets because nobody wants to go.”
The Knicks are up 3-2 in their second-round series with the Boston Celtics going into Game 6 in New York on Friday night.
The winner of the series will face the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference final with a spot in the NBA Finals on the line.
Stern previously had made waves by commenting that Black players ignored him when he attended games.
“The Black players won’t come over and say hello to me, but they go over to Spike Lee,” Stern said on an episode of his show in 2023. “I grew up in a Black neighbourhood, you know what I mean? I mean they should know that. But I get ignored.”