Knick Courtside Tickets Are Now Just $1,000 Each

The New York Knicks, who under Coach Pat Riley became the city's hottest ticket, now reportedly have the most expensive tickets in team sports.

The price of Madison Square Garden's courtside seats, owned by among others director Spike Lee, has been doubled from $500 to $1,000 per seat per game, according to a report in today's New York Daily News.

It's the highest known price for a team sporting event in the country, the Daily News said.

Ticket prices for all of next season's Knicks games have increased, but at a far lower percentage than the exclusive courtside seats.

"I guess at these prices, the Knicks are going to win the championship," Lee told the News.

OLYMPICS

Invitations to the 1996 Olympics were issued to 197 nations today at ceremony at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The '96 Games start one year from today in Atlanta.

HOCKEY

Florida Panthers owners H. Wayne Huizenga, complaining about million-dollar losses, says he may move the team out of Fort Lauderdale.

He said negotiations to build an arena in Broward County have collapsed. A decision to relocate would come in three months unless someone comes forward to build a South Florida arena.

JURISPRUDENCE

The parents of a slain Glendale, Ariz., woman have accused former Phoenix Suns forward Jerrod Mustaf and his cousin of plotting their daughter's death.

The lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix contends that Althea Hayes was killed because she was carrying Mustaf's child and was rejecting his pressure for an abortion.

Mustaf's cousin, LeVonnie Wooten, 27, of Landover, Md., is being held without bail pending trial on a charge of first-degree murder in her death. Mustaf, 25, hasn't been charged.

BASKETBALL

Greece beat the United States 98-78 in Athens to clinch a semifinal berth in the Junior World Championship.

BOXING

George Foreman extended his retirement deadline past this year, leaving open a possible return fight with Michael Moorer in February and perhaps a bout Foreman has been pursuing with Mike Tyson.

Foreman, at a press conference, continued to bait Tyson, saying that Tyson was afraid to fight him.

"If he called me today, I would fight him tomorrow," Foreman said of the former champion. "But of course, he is afraid right now."

COLLEGES

Maryland quarterback Scott Milanovich's NCAA suspension for gambling reduced to four games.

In the most severe penalty handed to a Division I athlete for gambling, the NCAA on July 10 suspended Milanovich for eight games. After hearing his appeal, the NCAA halved the punishment.

-- Ann Hauser, a former trainer for the Kentucky basketball team, filed a sex discrimination suit alleging Coach Rick Pitino does not want any more women involved in the men's basketball program.