New York City’s Madison Square Garden is one of the most iconic venues in the history of American performing arts. As the reputation of the venue is so high, artists often treat a sold-out show at MSG as a massive career milestone. While being able to play to that many fans at all is, of course, an indication of great success, selling out MSG is actually easier than many fans and even artists realize.
MSG is primarily a sports arena for the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers. Large-scale arenas, home to one or both hockey or basketball teams, exist in most cities around the nation. For entertainers, these are the basis of an arena tour, which is one of the most frequent choices for A-list pop stars when taking music on the road.
A lot of these arenas have a similar capacity. For example, in Ohio, the Cleveland Rocket Arena seats 20,000, the Columbus Nationwide Arena seats 20,000 and the Cincinnati Heritage Bank Center holds roughly 17,000 fans. Despite being more famous than all of these, MSG sits at a comfortable 19,500 fans, very similar to what we have here in the Midwest.
With a population of roughly 7.9 million people, New York City is by far the largest city in America. The majority of fans head to the nearest venue for a show, making it a lot clearer why MSG is a higher seller than other arenas. The city has a greater population than Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati combined by fourfold. Therefore, the larger New York City population has to fit in an area that doesn't scale properly to its population size. With this in mind, it’s no wonder bands can sell out MSG but can’t anywhere else.
This insane demand can be seen when comparing MSG shows to other stops on the same artists' tours. For example, on Ticketmaster, the lowest price for one ticket for Tate McRae’s Miss Possessive Tour at MSG is $431, before fees. Compare that to McRae’s same show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where her cheapest tickets are $248. There’s less than a 1,000-person difference in seating capacity between the PPG Paints Arena and MSG; meanwhile, New York City’s population is 26 times the size of Pittsburgh’s.
This is true for most of the big tours coming to MGS this fall. Two tickets for Sabrina Carpenter at MSG are $363, while the same two people can see Carpenter in Pittsburgh for $221. Cardi B’s tickets are $116 a piece, a price that’s nearly halved if you opt to see her in Cincinnati.
If you’re an Ohioan, just imagine for every one Carpenter fan you know, there are dozens in New York. The constant MSG sell outs are just a simple case of supply and demand. That’s not to say selling out any area is easy by any means. However, I hope artists start posting their sold-out shows in Cleveland, as they’re much more impressive than The Big Apple.
Nicholas is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Nicholas about his column? Email him at nk696121@ohio.edu.
