Suite life: Madison Square Garden partners to offer $400K package

A new suite at Madison Square Garden, in partnership with the owners of some Manhattan restaurants, is set to include among the costliest seats in all of sports.

MSG, together with the Tao Group -- a restaurant and nightlife company -- began offering the new Suite Sixteen to fans on Friday morning. Prices aren't listed on the suite website, but a source told ESPN that the price for the most expensive package is $400,000.

The Diamond package guarantees two front-row seats in the suite for 180 events at Madison Square Garden, including every Knicks and Rangers game as well as concerts including Billy Joel and Shakira. The package also includes a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne for every event and wristbands that give access to four guests who already have tickets inside the arena.

In February, when Madison Square Garden purchased a 62.5 percent stake for $181 million in the Tao Group, whose portfolio includes Tao, the highest-grossing restaurant in New York City, executives with both companies began considering collaboration.

"We try to push the envelope every year by creating super-stylish, highly curated spaces," said Tao Group co-founder Noah Tepperberg. "So we thought, Why not take over one of MSG's spaces? And it became apparent that we should do it at the greatest arena in the world."

It's not the first time a sports arena has had a members-only club. Drake's The Sher Club opened inside Toronto's Air Canada Centre in 2015, but Tepperberg said Suite Sixteen will be more like a country club than a nightclub.

"The people that will be in this room will be a collection of people that you won't be able to find anywhere else on a consistent basis," Tepperberg said. "Moguls, celebrities, models."

The most well-heeled members will have a liquor locker so they can save bottles of liquor purchased there for the next event. Chefs from the company's restaurants in New York City will be on hand for every event.

Access to the suite, which includes free food but not alcohol, can be purchased by fans with Knicks or Rangers season tickets. That price has not yet been determined.

Tepperberg said money alone won't get fans in. They will have to apply.

As for how hard it will be to sell the $400,000 packages?

"The way my phone is ringing, we'll be sold out by Monday,"Tepperberg said.

Suite Sixteen will open Oct. 30 for a Knicks game against the Denver Nuggets.