Madison Square Garden · Oct 20 · Championship banner night

See the Knicks raise the banner from the lower bowl.

Give $40 to help an injured kid play again, and you’re in the draw for lower-bowl seats at Madison Square Garden on October 20, the night New York raises its first banner in 53 years. Ten tickets, five winners. The tickets were donated, so every dollar goes to a child’s care.

Enter the draw See the seats Entries close Sunday, October 18 at 5:30 PM ET · Five winners drawn right after. You don’t need to be there to win

How it works

Three steps. One night at The Garden.

There’s no ticket to buy and no raffle book to find. You give to a child’s recovery; the draw is our way of saying thank you.

1

Give $40 or more

Every gift goes toward getting injured kids the care they need, without the wait. Leave your email with your donation. That’s how we reach you if you win, and where the tickets are sent. Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay, in under a minute.

2

Every $40 is one entry

Every full $40 is one entry: $40 is one, $200 is five, $400 is ten. The more you give, the more chances you have, and the more kids you help. Entries close October 18 at 5:30 PM ET.

3

Five winners drawn Oct 18

Sunday, October 18, right after entries close at 5:30 PM ET, on camera. Follow the updates on this page. You don’t need to be there: the five winners are emailed the same evening (and called, if they left a number), and the tickets are transferred digitally, in time for opening night on October 20.

The prizes

Ten seats. Five winners. Opening night.

Five winners each take a pair of lower-bowl seats at Madison Square Garden for the Knicks’ 2026-27 home opener, the night they raise the championship banner: Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 7:00 PM ET, against the Philadelphia 76ers. Ten tickets in all. Every $40 is one entry, so the more you give, the better your chances.

$40 enters you

The draw: five pairs of lower-bowl seats

Event
Knicks home opener vs Philadelphia 76ers · championship-banner night
Date
Tuesday, October 20, 2026 · 7:00 PM ET
Venue
Madison Square Garden, New York
Prizes
10 tickets · 5 winners, each a pair seated together in the lower bowl (100 level)
Entries
One entry per full $40 given, no limit. Five winners drawn at random.

The lower bowl is the celebrity room of the NBA: the famous faces you see on the broadcast sit courtside, a few rows in front of you, and you’re close enough to the team benches to hear the huddle. All ten tickets were donated to our organization and are delivered by official mobile transfer, in time for opening night. Not a dollar you give is spent on prizes.

Where the money goes

Every dollar goes to a child’s recovery.

We’re a children’s sports organization, not a gala machine. We pay for the care directly so injured kids don’t wait. No salaries out of your gift, no overhead beyond card fees.

Who this is for. Kids from low-income families who got hurt playing sports and need care now, not whenever the money is found. What matters to us is that they get back on the court and grow into the players they dream of becoming; an injury at fourteen shouldn’t decide that. The care is scheduled; the funding is what’s missing.

How it works. Every dollar is paid directly to cover the cost of a child’s care. After each case, with the family’s consent, we publish the story and what it cost, so you can see exactly where your gift went.

What we don’t do. We don’t keep a percentage and we don’t hold funds against a target. As gifts come in, we pay for the next child waiting on care. There is, unfortunately, always a next child.

Straight to a child’s care and recovery97%
Card processing fees (approx.)3%
Kept by us as overhead$0

Second Serve on the ground

This is what a second chance looks like.

Second Serve puts new and gently used rackets, shoes and balls in the hands of kids across the country who could not afford their own. And when an injured kid’s family can’t cover surgery or rehab, we do.

Two Second Serve volunteers beside a banner at a public tennis court, with donated rackets and shoes lined up on the grass
A high-school girls’ tennis team choosing shoes from boxes of donated equipment on the court
A teenage player standing next to a Second Serve collection box in a tennis club lobby
Ten girls on a tennis court at sunset holding the rackets they received from Second Serve

The seats

Lower bowl, close to the floor.

The seats are in the 100 level, Madison Square Garden’s lower bowl, the ring just above the courtside seats. It’s the celebrity room of the NBA: the famous faces you see on the broadcast sit courtside, a few rows in front of you, and you’re close enough to the team benches to hear the huddle and the coach call the play. Sneakers squeaking, the ball off the rim, the whole building on its feet. On opening night the Knicks raise their championship banner before tip-off, and you’re in the room for it.

LOWER BOWL COURTSIDE · LOWER (100s) · CLUB · UPPER MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
Schematic, not to scale. Exact section, row and seat numbers are confirmed with the winners after the draw.

Updates

News from the campaign.

Everything about the draw is posted here first: the draw itself, the winners, and how the funds are used. Check back, or follow the email you receive after donating.

  1. New draw: 10 seats to the Knicks home opener, 5 winners

    We’re raising funds to help injured kids from low-income families get back in the game. Five winners each take a pair of lower-bowl seats to the Knicks’ championship-banner home opener at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, October 20, vs the 76ers. Every $40 is one entry, so the more you give, the more chances you have. Entries close Sunday, October 18 at 5:30 PM ET, and the five winners are drawn right after.

Rules & questions

The fine print, in plain words.

Full official rules are linked in the footer. These are the parts people actually ask about.

When are the tickets for?

The Knicks’ 2026-27 home opener: Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 7:00 PM ET, Madison Square Garden, New York, vs the Philadelphia 76ers, the night the team raises its championship banner. Ten tickets in all, given as five pairs; each winner’s two seats are together in the lower bowl (100 level).

When and where is the draw?

Entries close Sunday, October 18, 2026 at 5:30 PM ET. The five winners are drawn right after, on camera, and the result is posted in the Updates section on this page. You do not need to attend to win.

Do I have to attend the draw to win?

No. The five winners are contacted by email the same evening, and by phone if they left a number. Because the game is two days later, if we can’t reach you within 24 hours the prize passes to the next entry drawn, so please double-check your email address.

How are entries counted?

One entry for every full $40 in a single gift: $40 is one entry, $80 is two, $200 is five. Multiple gifts from the same person are each counted separately. There is no cap on entries. The more you give, the more chances you have.

How many winners are there?

Five. Each winner receives two tickets (ten in total), seated together in the lower bowl. If a winner can’t be reached in time to transfer the tickets, the next entry drawn takes their place.

Who can enter?

Anyone 18 or older. The draw is open to donors in the United States; donors outside the US are welcome to give and to enter, but travel is not included and it is your responsibility to be able to attend the game. Void where prohibited by law. No donation is necessary to enter: see the official rules for the free entry method by mail.

When do I get the tickets?

The tickets are transferred to you by official mobile transfer right after the draw on October 18, in time for opening night on October 20.

Can I get cash instead of the tickets?

No. Prizes are non-transferable and have no cash alternative. If a winner can’t attend, the prize goes to the next entry drawn.

Is my gift tax-deductible?

Please treat your gift as non-deductible. You’ll receive a receipt by email, and we publish a public accounting after each case. (If our tax status changes, we’ll say so here.)

Where do the tickets come from?

They were donated to our organization by a private supporter, and we’re passing them on as a thank-you to the people who help these kids. Not a single dollar you give is spent on prizes. Every dollar goes to the kids’ care.

Is this connected to the Knicks or the NBA?

No. The New York Knicks, the NBA and Madison Square Garden do not sponsor, endorse or administer this draw. The tickets were donated by a private supporter.