Former NYPD lead weighs in on Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift security at MSG
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s reported wedding festivities on Thursday and Friday in New York City are set to be high-profile events. Around 1,000 attendees are expected to descend on Madison Square Garden over the next two days to celebrate the union of the music superstar and Super Bowl champion.
The events, located in the heart of the country's largest city at the start of the Fourth of July weekend, are expected to be highly secure affairs, with road closures, tents and canopies to keep the nuptials private and safe.
Kelce and Swift have not commented on any reports related to the Madison Square Garden events this weekend.
According to sources familiar with the plans, the festivities begin on Thursday night for a gathering of an expected 100 guests at 6 p.m., before a bigger event on Friday, which kicks off with a cocktail hour at 4 p.m and is expected to last into the early hours of July 4.
New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch briefly mentioned the event during a security briefing on the upcoming weekend, which includes Fourth of July celebrations set for New York City.
"I would be remiss not to mention an event that we are tracking at Madison Square Garden on Friday night. The NYPD will, of course, have a detail in place, but I am not going to go into more specifics on that at this time," Tisch said.
ABC News contributor and former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told ABC News this week that the city is well-prepared to handle the high-profile event, considering the list of massive events the police force has already handled.
"You're in the media capital of the, capital of the world, and right in the center of it is Madison Square Garden," Boyce said. "We do New Year's Eve, we do all these high-profile events. We just did the Knicks championship."
Boyce also discussed why a star like Swift may want to celebrate their wedding at a place like Madison Square Garden.
"This is an international venue here that people around the world know when you say Madison Square Garden. It's probably the most famous arena in the country, if not the world. So here she's having this, she wants high profile, she's not going to a deserted island someplace," he said.
He also added the security benefit that a place like Madison Square Garden allows for.
"It's an inside venue, so guess what, no drones, no threat in that respect either," he said. "We're safe getting people in there safe and keeping them safe while they're in there."
Sources told ABC News both events will have a strict no-phone policy for everyone inside the venue, including guests, vendors and security personnel.
The event company has also obtained permits to close portions of West 31st Street and West 33rd Street for the duration of the events, according to the sources, who said the streets will be closed to both vehicles and pedestrians.
NYPD on Thursday announced additional street closures impacting pedestrian and vehicular traffic around Madison Square Garden during the two days of events, as well as limited access to Moynihan Train Hall and Penn Station, where commuters access Amtrak and other transit.
Additionally, tents and canopies will be set up to prevent the public from catching glimpses of arrivals and departures, the sources explained.
While hosting the event in Madison Square Garden offers privacy, the NYPD will be charged with keeping the arena and surrounding streets safe.
"The NYPD and the city know what to do," Boyce continued.
He added, "They know how to create frozen zones; they know how to handle large crowds."
NYPD will have more than just a high-profile wedding on their hands.
Officers began working 12-hour shifts starting Wednesday to secure the city's 4th of July celebrations, including a fireworks show, Sail4th 250, "the largest-ever flotilla of tall ships from around the world," and continued FIFA World Cup operations on top of regular security duties.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani struck a mum tone in a recent interview with ABC News' Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.
"Is someone getting married at Madison Square Garden on July 3?" Karl asked.
"Are you hearing that?" Mamdani laughed with Karl. "I think they're calling me out," Mamdani said while walking off camera.
