President Trump Accused Of 'Tone-Deaf' Comment On Sports Tickets

U.S. President Donald Trump has been accused of making a "tone-deaf" comment on the state of sports tickets.

President Trump attended Game 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals. The President of the United States, who is from New York, attended Game 3 as a guest of James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks. Tickets to Game 3 were at one point $7,000 or more just to get in the door at Madison Square Garden.

The President of the United States was asked about that, and sports tickets in general becoming too expensive for the general public. He basically said, too bad, you can watch games at home if you want.

HBO's Bill Maher was among those to blast President Trump for his tone-deaf comment on sports tickets.

President Trump ripped for sports tickets comment

Maher didn't hold back.

"I never use props, by the way, but I felt like today we needed to. What a winner that was.

But the one seat went for a million. They sold a courtside seat for a million dollars. And by the way, I thought this was so interesting. Trump, only like two weeks ago, was talking about - he sounded almost exactly like what I've said about sports and the way it has migrated to streaming. You have to buy all the streaming channels. You have to hunt for the game. It costs you a lot of money. They work worse.

"He said - and he was, he said, 'There's something very sad when they take football away from many, many people. Very sad. I don't like it.' He said, 'They're making a lot of money. They could make a little bit less. You got people who live for Sunday, and then all of a sudden they're gonna have to pay a thousand dollars a game.' Exactly.

Then they asked him at the game the other day - the cheapest price, the reporter said, for the game going in is eight thousand dollars. 'Everyday Americans can't afford these sporting events.' I expected him to say this - what he had already said about sports. He said, 'Well, they can watch it on television. But that's the way life goes.'

"This is me talking to him, because he has no fixed beliefs other than wind is bad and tariffs are good. Not very principled. You might as well be the last person who has his ear, because you know he went from 'It's terrible' to 'Yeah, (expletive) you. Sucks to be you. That's the way life goes.'"

The rise of the cost of sports tickets is a growing problem for many - but not President Trump.

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