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Comment by criddell | Hacker News Reader

I thought it was interesting that the law firm complained to the NY liquor licensing board that their employee was banned from entry to MSG. I thought that was pretty clever. The liquor license says that have to serve all members of the public unless there’s safety concern. The licensing board agreed:

> In November, after a complaint about the ban from a law firm, the New York State Liquor Authority sent the Garden a letter advising it that such a policy could violate liquor laws.

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I conjecture the connection to the liquor license is not accidental.

The various articles and discussions about this issue have carefully avoided mentioning what precisely the "personal injury" lawsuits have been about that started the whole issue.

The law firm in question won a $20 million judgment because a club in NYC owned by MSG served alcohol to a person who later drove drunk. Here is their own advertisement of this case: https://www.dsslaw.com/case-results/20400000-million-drunk-d...

In general, they often sue restaurants and bars for serving alcohol (to impaired individuals): https://www.dsslaw.com/car-accident-attorney/drunk-driving-a...

Clever as it may be it doesn't address the actual problem. They might win the battle but lose the war.

You can still ban people to venues that don't have a liquor license. You can probably also find some creative ways around it. Like: Move the bar before the checkpoint, move the face check after the bar but before the main entrance, etc.

Crowd control is pretty demanding; I don't think you could throw a bar into the process without trashing your throughput.

Honestly, I think they could just move the facial recognition check. It's something that happens in a computer using video feeds. There would be no physical difference in the setup, the security would just come for you after you get your beer. That's what makes this so insidious in my opinion.

Great point, any way to know if MSG makes more in beer sales than they do in ticket sales? And it must really threaten Dolan if lawyers can show the venue is overselling to already drunk and rowdy attendees.

Ticket prices at MSG are notoriously high.

For comparison, average ticket price for a regular-season NHL game for NYC-area teams during the 2021-2022 season:

- New York Rangers (MSG): $273

- New York Islanders: $213[1]

- New Jersey Devils: $104[2]

[1]: The Islanders played in a brand-new arena last year, so ticket prices were higher than expected.

[2]: The Devils were one of the worst teams in the league last year, so ticket prices were lower than expected.

And the area NBA teams for that same time period:

- New York Knicks (MSG): $394

- Brooklyn Nets: $339

These numbers, as far as I can tell, do not include luxury boxes, which average an eye-watering $16,000 for a regular season NBA or NHL game.

That's a lot of money to see those teams lose. At that price every game better be an exciting game rather than be a blow out.

Nicks were 37-45 that year. Insanity.

I don’t think those are season ticket prices…

Great info, but how much is beer?

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