It’s a slam dunk for business.
The New York Knicks’ Cinderella story isn’t just a rags-to-riches story for the team, as postseason home games could generate up to $832 million for city businesses, the mayor’s office announced Thursday.
The postseason run has already generated about $195 million in the city so far between tickets, concessions, merch, transit and lodging, the mayor added – and some businesses near Madison Square Garden are already feeling the payout.
Blue-and-orange-clad sports bar Stout near MSG has seen its regular crowd triple — and sometimes quadruple — during the Knicks playoff season, floor manager Cynthia Gil told The Post.
“We hit capacity an hour before the game starts,” Gil said, estimating roughly a thousand fans came into the bar over the course of Wednesday night, when the team suffered a heartbreaking 138-135 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
“Even in the rain, people are standing outside just to get in here,” Gil said.
While an average night will see about 100 to 200 patrons at Stout, Knicks fans have come in droves with between 500 to 600 people on average passing through on game nights, Stout hostess Dana added.
Mustang Harry’s, a 30-year-old Midtown sports bar, reports the Knickerbockers’ streak in the playoffs has helped it reach “the largest influx of customers that we’ve seen so far.”
The bar’s patronage during the postseason is easily “double a regular Knicks home game,” and fills up more than two hours before a game starts, a spokesperson for the bar said.
“Pre-COVID, we had a very good lunch business, which is slowly rebuilding,” the rep added. “A Knicks run like this is helping to alleviate some of the pressure attached to it, especially as we head into the summer months.”
“Them making it to the playoffs has definitely led to a boost in our sales,” said Adriana Juarez, an events coordinator for sports bar and restaurant Penn 6. “We’re sold out completely … we don’t really get that much [traffic] for the regular season, but for the playoffs, it’s nuts.”
Even after the loss in overtime Wednesday, the watering hole “got slammed heavily because people were upset,” Penn 6 bartender Skyeler Paparteys chimed in, “so we’re busy either way.”
Each home game in the Conference Finals is expected to generate an estimated $91 million for the city, the mayor’s office said, adding the wealth is expected to spread well beyond Midtown and across the five boroughs.
Bartender Ryan at The Gin Mill on the Upper West Side told The Post his bar has been “packed” for each postseason Knicks game – whether it’s a Friday night or the middle of the week.
“Even for an early-week game, it’s standing room at the bar,” Ryan said. “It’s definitely not normal … I’m Canadian, so I get it with hockey, but New York is a different breed when it comes to sports fans.”
Ryan admitted he and his coworkers have been watching the Knicks “intently” due to the whopping amount of cash it brings to the uptown taproom.
“We watch very intently as bartenders,” he said. “In general, it makes more money in our pockets – and it makes for a more exciting vibe at the bar, for sure.”
Knicks fans are repping New York through and through by buying Coney Island Brewing Co.’s Merman IPA and Brooklyn-based Sixpoint Brewery’s crisp pilsner in droves, the bartender added.
But it’s not just New Yorkers generating more green for Big Apple business.
“The game has a big impact: We’re almost sold out for next Saturday, I’m pretty sure all rooms [for next week] will be booked by Sunday,” said Michael, a worker at Holiday Inn Express in Chelsea. “It’s doubled the [number of] guests coming here.
“Normally when we ask our guests why they’re in the area, it’s about the game,” the employee said, adding he’s spoken with guests from all over the nation – and even some die-hard Knicks fans from England.
Even tattoo shops are banking on the Knicks, with Brooklyn-based artist Steven Avalos telling The Post he’s booked multiple appointments in recent weeks and has definitely “seen an influx of Knicks requests.”
Gil, the Stout manager, reports she’s already ordered 100 cases of High Noon hard seltzers ahead of Friday’s game — after fans blew through 50 cases on that day last week.
“It’s hard work, but when they’re in here, it’s a good vibe,” she said. It’s great for New York City: You see the camaraderie, tons of people just giving each other hugs.”
Gil believes the profitability will continue well into next season — regardless of how the Knicks fare in the playoffs.
“They increased a lot of business, but it also helps us build new base of regulars,” Gil said. “Then [fans] continue coming back throughout the year: Repeat business is the best business.”