Madison Square Garden holds about 20,000 people, depending on the event and layout.

Quick Scoop

For the current (fourth) Madison Square Garden in Manhattan:

  • Maximum arena capacity (upper end often quoted): about 20,000–20,800 people for large events.
  • Basketball (New York Knicks) games: roughly 19,700–19,800 seats.
  • Hockey (New York Rangers) games: around 18,000 seats.
  • Concerts: usually in the 19,500–20,000 range, depending on stage position and production.

So when people ask “how many people fit in Madison Square Garden?” , the practical, rounded answer most fans, forums, and news sites use is “about twenty thousand people.”

At the bottom of it all, remember:

The exact number shifts a bit with each configuration, but MSG is designed to pack in roughly twenty thousand cheering, singing, or screaming bodies for a big night.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.