During our recent trip to NY we decided to take our kids see some sports games. Sports take up a big place in American culture and they make a whole show out of every game.
I had myself been to the Madison Square Garden to see a NY Rangers game when I was younger, and I had good memories of that, so for me it was for sure that I wanted to take my kids there as well to soak up the atmosphere during a game. This time, it would be basketball in the Garden, and Ice hockey at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
NY Islanders game at Barclays Center in Brooklyn:
The Barclays Center is a very well organized beautiful stadium. There are restaurants everywhere and before the game, you can choose whether you would like to eat hotdogs, hamburgers, tacos and so on. We took not so expensive tickets to see an NHL ice hockey game. We paid 20 dollars per ticket, and were seated quite high up, but still with a very good view of the playing field! If you have small children with sensitive ears, remember to bring them plugs as the music and sound of the commercial breaks and animation are quite loud. Our children had never seen an ice-hockey game before and they liked it! For us, it was the game of the NY Islanders against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and one thing we noticed is that the Islander fans and the Maple Leafs fans are just seated next to each other and encourage their favorite team without anyone arguing. In Europe during soccer games for instance the fans are often in separated sections to avoid problems. Here, this did not seem necessary at all and there was a nice atmosphere during the whole game!
Once you get back out there is a taxi stand right across the street if you wanted to go home by cab.
NY Knicks game at Madison Square Garden:
Madison Square Garden is centrally located in Manhattan. We took relatively expensive tickets to be sure the kids would be able to see, but in the end, I realized we could have taken a bit less expensive, because we felt like we had VIP seats. The kids were all happy about that of course 😊. We were seated quite high up, but right in front so the view was really good. The website of Ticketmaster allows you to look at the view you will have of the game beforehand which is quite convenient if you don’t know the stadium that well. I just didn’t realize we would have sort of VIP seats with screens and everything 😉. Once you are there, remember not to wait too long to buy your food if you want to eat there, since it can sell out quickly.
We saw the Knicks vs Orlando, and it was a good game! However, I guess we didn’t bring luck for the NY sports teams when we were there as both the Islanders, and the Knicks lost. Better luck next time I hope!