The New York Knicks are the biggest story in sports right now.
Despite being the second most popular NBA franchise (next to the Lakers), with a huge fanbase, in arguably the most famous city in the world, the Knicks have largely been an irrelevant basketball team for the past quarter-century. From 2001 to 2023, the Knicks only managed one playoff series win over those 22 years.
However, riding a miraculous 11-game win streak in the playoffs, the Knicks are set to play in the NBA Finals on Wednesday for the first time since 1999.
On the last episode of one of my favorite finance podcasts, Animal Spirits, co-hosts Ben Carlson and Michael Batnick were discussing the surging Knicks. As a diehard fan and season ticket holder, Michael shared some of his feelings:
“I’m almost crying just thinking about the Knicks. It’s been so long. My dad started taking me to games when I was around seven or eight.
Sports are constant misery, punctuated if you’re lucky, by a little bit of happiness.
But the bonds that it builds between parents and children, between friends, it’s like, I was about to say it’s all I have, but that’s what my dad and I talk about.”
As a sports fan myself, I get the sentiment. Unfortunately, my beloved Utah Jazz haven’t been to the NBA Finals since 1998.
To tie this into personal finance, Ben then asked Michael:
“As a season ticket holder, how much money would someone have to pay you for you to give up your Finals tickets?”
If you’re interested in going to see the Knicks play live in Madison Square Garden, it’ll cost you a small fortune. Right now the cheapest ticket all the way up in the rafters for Game 3 of the Finals is $4,000. If you want to sit in the lower bowl, you might be able to get a ticket for $6,500. There are even tickets closer to the court going for $40,000, $50,000, and $90,000.
One of the benefits of being a season ticket holder is that you get playoff tickets at base prices. For example, Michael was able to get first-round tickets for $350, second-round tickets for $580, conference finals tickets for $750, and now Finals tickets for $1,250.
With two tickets, he could easily sell them for over $10,000 profit. But will he?
“No. I’m not selling. I’m not missing any games of the Finals. I’ll even be travelling to Game 5 on the road.”
Now, I’m sure there are a lot of people reading this who think Michael is crazy. Consider all the stuff you could buy with $10,000 rather than attend a dumb basketball game. And there’s guaranteed to be at least one more game, so he could sell his tickets to that game for even more money.
But I wanted to share this because I think it’s important to periodically remind ourselves of the things we value more than money.
And in today’s society, that list seems to be shrinking day by day.
A survey from Family Studies showed that in 1976, 36% of girls and 55% of boys said having “lots of money” was important in life.
In 2024? Those numbers are up to 75% of girls and 74% of boys:
Derek Thompson has also written about how the only remaining global virtue in the world appears to be money.
A 2023 Wall Street Journal poll found that a shrinking share of Americans agree that patriotism, marriage, or family were “very important.” But the one value that everyone agreed on was money:
Source: Wall Street Journal
“You see across several studies that young people care much less than their parents or grandparents about getting married or having children. What they do say they care about is finding a job and getting rich. Jobs are important, and money is nice to have. But I think there’s much more to be said about the idea that every non-market value is plummeting in relevance among young people.
In his book After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre argued that the modern world had lost the sort of shared moral language that was once provided by virtue systems, such as religion. I think that’s half-right. We have lost something with the erosion of religion, perhaps, but we’re still bound by an ethical system, love it or hate it. It’s the market. What binds the modern world is our collective reverence for money.”
All I’ll say is, in our pursuit of wealth, it’s important to remember that money itself isn’t the goal—it’s simply a means to an end. It allows you to pursue whatever you care about.
The Knicks haven’t made the Finals in nearly 30 years. They may not make it back for another 30 years. So having the opportunity to watch the Knicks play in the Finals at Madison Square Garden is pretty cool. It might even be an experience more valuable than money.
Thanks for reading!
Jake Elm, CFP® is a financial advisor at Dentist Advisors. Jake a graduate of Utah Valley University’s nationally ranked Personal Financial Planning program. As a financial advisor at Dentist Advisors, he provides dentists with fiduciary guidance related to investments, debt, savings, taxes, and insurance. Learn more about Jake.