A championship ceremony for the New York Knicks at City Hall has political insiders and VIPs scrambling to score an invite to what has become the hottest ticket in town.

The official event will follow Thursday morning’s ticker-tape parade in Lower Manhattan and is limited to just under 4,000 people. New Yorkers are still glowing from the Knicks’ magical championship run — and sources said top officials in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration and their staff are eager to attend. The event is expected to feature a who’s who of celebrity fans, as well as former Knicks players. Alicia Keys is reportedly set to sing “Empire State of Mind” to close the ceremony.

Sources in City Hall described a frantic effort to secure a spot at the event. Phones were ringing, group chats were buzzing and favors were being called in.

As of Wednesday morning, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said he still had not heard whether he was invited.

“There's only one time that I wish that I was mayor, and that's going to be tomorrow,” said Williams, a die-hard fan who walked into City Hall wearing a Knicks T-shirt. “And there's another time that I'm glad I'm not the mayor, and that's today.”

“Because there's a very, very difficult decision to make,” he continued. “Nobody is going to be happy.”

All elected officials at the local, state and federal level are invited, as well as family and friends of the Knicks players and “local community leaders,” according to a City Hall spokesperson. Another 600 seats will be doled out to the general public through a lottery. A batch of remaining tickets will be distributed by the mayor’s office and the Knicks organization, making the event at City Hall’s plaza more exclusive than a championship game at the 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden.

Most commissioners in the mayor’s office were informed they would not make the cut, according to three sources who weren’t authorized to speak to the press about planning for the event.

The decision has angered some government workers, who had expected to be part of the celebration.

One Mamdani administration official jokingly described the tickets as “more desirable than world peace.” Another senior administration official — who was not invited — credited Mamdani for not just doling out tickets to administration members and allies, but including regular citizens. Both officials asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the press.

“I'm sure they're getting deluged with calls,” said Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor who previously served under Mayor Eric Adams. “I'm getting calls even though I'm not at City Hall anymore.”

Mastro, who won’t be at Thursday’s event, was part of the Giuliani administration when the Rangers won a Stanley Cup in 1994. He said a certain number of seats are typically dispensed by the team, with the remaining left for City Hall. Deciding which dignitary or high-profile New Yorker gets to come is always a difficult task, he said.

“There will be some people who will be overjoyed because they got in, and some people who will be sad,” Mastro said. “But everybody should be celebrating the Knicks, whether they got to sit at a City Hall ceremony or not.”

Fabien Levy, a former spokesperson for Adams, offered a potential solution. On Tuesday, he wrote on X that the city should extend the 1-mile parade route, which traditionally runs up the Canyon of Heroes on Broadway from Battery Place to City Hall.

Levy suggested that the city could have extended the parade to MSG on 34th Street. Rather than City Hall, the ceremony could instead be held at the Knicks home court, which could accommodate the thousands of fans — including government workers — who want to come.

The parade is expected to be the biggest in the city’s history.

Levy acknowledged that the move would stray from tradition, but noted that Mamdani is known for “thinking outside the box.”