A watch party planned for Monday outside Madison Square Garden has been canceled as fans brace for heightened security at the first home game of the Knicks’ extraordinary N.B.A. championship run, with both President Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani expected to attend.
A rowdy viewing party held there Friday during Game 2 resulted in more than a dozen arrests. Other recent watch parties have been similarly raucous, exposing an apparent tension between Mr. Mamdani and his police commissioner, Jessica S. Tisch, who has warned that a glut of high-profile sporting events have placed exceptional demands on the Police Department.
In addition to the elation that has accompanied the Knicks’ 13-game win streak, FIFA World Cup soccer games are set to start next week just across the Hudson River at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Thousands of fans from around the world are expected to make New York City their home base during the World Cup matches that culminate at MetLife on July 19.
For Monday’s game, the Knicks have told ticket holders to arrive two hours early, without bags, as the world’s most famous arena prepares to greet a mayor and a president with polar politics and keep them, and a full-house of fans, safe.
A son of Queens, Mr. Trump made his name, and fortune, in New York City. But he has avoided the city since being elected president for the second time, preferring instead to head to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., when he is in the region.
A message posted on the N.B.A. website on Sunday revealed that the Monday night watch party outside the Garden had been canceled. The same site suggested that celebrations at other New York City locations, including Wollman Rink and Brooklyn Bowl, would continue as planned.
A Police Department spokeswoman said the decision to cancel Monday’s watch party was made in coordination with the Secret Service, which will provide security for Mr. Trump during his visit.
A City Hall spokeswoman referred a reporter to the police statement and declined additional comment.
On Friday, when the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs by one point in a nail-biter, a party held outside the Garden devolved into chaos.
Seventeen people were arrested, and nine others were issued summonses for disorderly conduct. A police union leader said that one reveler, who was charged with punching a 23-year-old female officer, also bit a second officer.
“A victory celebration shouldn’t end with blood pouring down an officer’s face,” Patrick Hendry, president of the union, the Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement.
A vocal fan of the city’s sports culture, the mayor has allowed two watch parties to go forward outside the arena and even posted a video of himself celebrating there ahead of the tipoff last week. In a statement after the Friday night fracas, Mr. Mamdani called the assault unacceptable. But he also said that “we want fans to celebrate this moment together.”
On Sunday, Ms. Tisch refused to answer any questions at all about the Knicks as she marched in the Queens Pride Parade with Police Department officers.
She has said that more than 1,000 officers were deployed Friday in and outside the Garden, where fans could be seen climbing lampposts and food carts.
Starting in July, New York’s police officers will be asked to work 12-hour shifts to help manage the throngs of soccer fans and celebrations timed to mark the country’s 250th anniversary, in addition to the traditional drumbeat of seasonal parades and festivities.
“Any one of those events on its own will be a major operation in New York City,” Ms. Tisch told the City Council during a recent hearing. “Taken together they place extraordinary demands on the New York City Police Department.”
“Perhaps we won’t be able to facilitate everything,” she added, “but there will be a lot of celebrating in New York City.”
Ashley Ahn contributed reporting.
