Pepsi and the New York Knicks have launched a new sweepstakes offering 94 lucky winners tickets to games at Madison Square Garden this season, with the number chosen specifically to honor the team's 94-90 Game 5 victory that clinched the franchise's first NBA championship in 53 years. The giveaway is built around limited-edition 16 oz Pepsi x Knicks Championship cans and 20 oz Pepsi and Pepsi Zero Sugar x Knicks bottles stamped with QR codes, now rolling out across the New York City tri-state area.
The campaign, called Champions Deserve Pepsi, was detailed in a report from amNewYork, which first covered the sweepstakes rollout this week. Gustavo Reyna, Pepsi's VP of marketing, said fans themselves inspired the promotion, according to the outlet. The partnership builds on a multi-year deal between PepsiCo and the MSG Family of Companies that was renewed and expanded in March 2025, keeping Pepsi as the official non-alcoholic beverage and salty snack partner across Madison Square Garden, MSG Networks and MSG's sports franchises, per Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp.
A Championship That Ended a Half-Century Wait
The Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 on June 13, 2026, capturing the franchise's first title since 1973 and ending the longest active championship drought in the league, according to prior Hoodline coverage. Finals MVP Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in that deciding game to seal the win, the same report noted. New York City celebrated with a ticker-tape parade along the Canyon of Heroes on June 18, when Mayor Zohran Mamdani presented players with keys to the city along a route running from Battery Park to City Hall.
That title run also sent resale prices through the roof. Average resale tickets for Madison Square Garden home games during the 2026 Finals hit $7,768 per person, according to Forbes, a figure that topped the secondary-market cost of most modern Super Bowls. A separate October 2026 financial study found that a group of four fans will now spend an average of $1,930.55 to attend a single Knicks home game this season once tickets, food, drinks and parking are factored in, per ClutchPoints. Given costs like that, a free ticket sweepstakes carries real weight for tri-state fans still riding the high of a championship season.
Former Knicks Guard Surprises Fans With Early Look
Former Knicks shooting guard John Starks, who played eight seasons with the team from 1990 to 1998 and earned NBA All-Star honors in 1994 and Sixth Man of the Year in 1997, surprised select fans with an early look at the new cans and upcoming billboards, per amNewYork's report. Starks, famous for his 1993 playoff dunk against the Chicago Bulls, said New York fans deserve to celebrate the team at the Garden, according to the same account. Madison Square Garden itself seats 19,812 for basketball games and remains the oldest active arena in the NBA still operating in its original city, having opened at its current Midtown Manhattan site in 1968, per Wikipedia.
The Champions Deserve Pepsi campaign will later expand with digital billboards featuring real fan imagery from the playoffs, set to appear closer to the season's start, amNewYork reported. Pepsi's standing as the Garden's official soft drink dates back to September 2018, when the company replaced Coca-Cola after a century-long run as the arena's sole beverage sponsor, according to Marketing Dive.
Who Can Enter, and When It Ends
The sweepstakes runs through December 31, 2026, and requires entrants to be at least 18 years old. Eligibility is limited to residents of New York, Connecticut or New Jersey who live within 150 miles of Madison Square Garden, a standard geographic perimeter that Madison Square Garden Entertainment applies to its regional sports contests covering major portions of all three states.
The sweepstakes arrives as the Knicks continue riding a wave of national attention following their title, from a players-hosted block party on Randall's Island to a turn hosting the SNL season premiere. Coach Mike Brown has said the team still hasn't settled plans for a possible White House visit tied to the championship, a decision that remains open as the new season approaches.
