The Knicks just won their first title in more than 50 years. Fans paid thousands to watch the Finals at Madison Square Garden. Now some are paying hundreds more just to stand on a sidewalk. Well, to have someone else stand for them.
The parade starts Thursday at 10 a.m. in Lower Manhattan. It runs up the Canyon of Heroes and ends at City Hall, where a ceremony begins at noon.
The city expects more than 1 million people. That crowd is why the entry gates open early, at 6 a.m.
A good view means showing up before dawn. Many fans don't want to wait that long, so they're paying other people to wait for them.
As of Wednesday morning, Airtasker had dozens of listings for spot-holding. One fan offered $800 for someone to camp out from midnight to 8 a.m.
Another paid $750 to hold three spots. Plenty more are hoping $100 gets the job done.
The gig economy keeps finding new things to sell, and we cover the firms cashing in over at Market Briefs every weekday morning, with a free investing masterclass when you join.
This is the gig economy doing what it does best. It puts a price on convenience.
Airtasker is an app where people post small jobs and others bid to take them on. Standing in line is one of the oldest jobs on it.
It works like an airport fast-track lane. You pay to skip the wait, except here the wait is a curb and the prize is a parade float.
The Knicks beat the Spurs in five games to win it all. That run was the biggest comeback in Finals history.
They had not even reached the Finals in 25 years. So the city is fired up, and missing this parade over lost sleep feels like a bad trade.
Finals tickets were not cheap. The lowest seats cost about as much as a month of rent.
After spending like that, a few hundred dollars for a good view feels small. The parade is free to watch, but a front-row curb is hard to grab.
That gap is the whole business. A good spot and a few hours of free time both have a price now.
Apps like Airtasker turn that idea into a real market. People post a task, name a price, and someone says yes.
For investors, it's a small window into a bigger trend. The convenience economy keeps growing as people trade cash for time.
The Canyon of Heroes has hosted ticker-tape parades for over a century. Champions, war heroes, and astronauts have all marched it.
Now the Knicks get their turn. And a fresh crowd of paid spot-holders gets one, too.
The people taking these jobs earn more per hour than a lot of office work pays. A clear spot on a Manhattan curb now has a market price, and right now it tops out around $800.
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