New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) signed an executive order on Monday that temporarily suspends bedtime enforcement for children across the five boroughs, allowing young fans to stay up late and watch the New York Knicks compete in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
“Today, I signed an Executive Order temporarily repealing bedtimes in the City of New York so that kids of all ages can watch our team in the NBA Finals,” Mamdani wrote on X. “As Mayor, you’re forced to make many difficult decisions. This was not one of them. Go Knicks.”
The Knicks are set to face the San Antonio Spurs in a best-of-seven series that tips off Wednesday night. New York last reached the Finals in 1999, when they lost in five games to the Spurs—the beginning of a five-title run for San Antonio over 15 years. The Knicks haven’t won an NBA championship since 1973, when they beat the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.
Mamdani, who attended the Knicks’ Eastern Conference Finals clincher against the Cleveland Cavaliers, shared a video of himself signing the order surrounded by children. Before putting pen to paper, he jokingly asked the kids, “Who here was alive in 1999?” Seven children added their handprints to the first page of the directive.
According to a photo posted by the mayor, the order takes effect “immediately” and “shall not expire until the Knicks complete — and hopefully win — this historic Championship run.” All games are scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC, meaning young fans will need to stay up well past their usual bedtimes to catch the action.
Games 1 and 2 will be played in San Antonio on Wednesday and Friday. The series then shifts to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4 on June 8 and 10—the first Finals games at the Garden since the turn of the century. If necessary, Game 5 would be in San Antonio on June 13, Game 6 in New York on June 16, and a winner-take-all Game 7 back in Texas on June 18.
President Trump, a native New Yorker, said last week that Knicks owner James Dolan has invited him to attend a Finals game at the Garden. The White House has not confirmed whether Trump will accept, but the invitation underscores the political crosscurrents surrounding the team’s deep playoff run.
Parents may find some relief in the schedule: Games 2, 5, and 7 are set for non-school nights. Still, the mayor’s lighthearted executive order has drawn both praise and criticism on social media, with some questioning whether a city leader should be encouraging children to skip sleep for a basketball game.
Mamdani’s move echoes a broader trend of politicians using symbolic executive orders to connect with constituents—much like Trump’s recent order endorsing a slimmed-down childhood vaccine schedule, which sparked its own policy debate. For now, the Knicks’ playoff run has given New Yorkers a rare moment of unity, even if it means bending the rules on bedtime.
