FOR SUCH A sports-obsessed city – you’d be hard-pressed to find a New York bar without a game of some sort playing in the background – the city’s beloved sports teams are a notoriously poor bet when it comes to winning titles.

The Knicks hadn’t won a championship since Nixon was in the White House. The New York Mets last won the baseball World Series in 1986. And their three NFL teams haven’t fared much better; between them the Giants, the Jets and the Buffalo Bills have won five Super Bowls in six decades. The Buffalo Bills’ contribution to that tally is zero.

Despite or because of their extensive droughts between victories, New Yorkers stick with their teams through thick and thin. And since sporting success has been pretty thin on the ground over the past half century, they’re no slouches when it comes to celebrating their hard-fought victories.

“Remember when Ireland got to the (World Cup) quarter-finals in 1990? Now imagine if they’d won the whole damn championship,” a Manhattan friend counselled when trying to describe the off-the-charts celebrations that followed the Knicks spectacular victory.

New York City, USA. 09th June, 2026. People clebrate on 42nd street outside of Bryant Park during a watch party. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Weeks of anticipation and celebrations culminated in the mother of all parties on Saturday night as the previous weeks’ watch parties and block parties morphed into one giant party that enveloped the entire city in a boozy, joyous gathering hosted by their ebullient new Mayor. The morning after the night the Knicks won the NBA Championship received a further boost from the World Cup fever that has gripped the city.

The revelry that has left the rest of the world suffering a bad case of FOMO is a reminder of the enduring power of sports. The Knicks gave New Yorkers a yearned-for chance to rediscover the bonds that still connect them in the thrilling weeks that led to Saturday night’s epic victory.

Neighbourhood bars rediscovered their pre-Covid, pre-smartphone mojo, stuffed to the gills with raucous crowds that spilt out onto the streets. Manhattan organised massive watch parties in parks and around Madison Square Gardens.

In the Bronx and Queens, fans gathered at local block parties where the games were projected onto walls, jerry-rigged rooftop screens and the sides of bus shelters. Millions of New Yorkers, from newly arrived transplants to families who set up shop generations ago, celebrated a shared sense of belonging.

8th June, 2026. Ahead of........

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