Bar and restaurant owners near Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Madison Square Garden wedding warn of thinner shifts and lost tips this weekend
Small business owners near Madison Square Garden in New York City are warning that street closures tied to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding this week could force them to cut shifts during what should be one of the busiest stretches of the summer.
The New York Police Department began closing streets around Madison Square Garden on Friday ahead of the multi-day wedding celebration for the pop star and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. The closures fall during a Fourth of July weekend that also includes a World Cup match between Argentina and Cabo Verde, a combination that business owners say makes the timing especially costly.
Michael O'Brien, owner of O'Brien's pub across from Madison Square Garden, told amNewYork that foot traffic drives a large share of his business on game days, and that his hourly staff depend on the volume for both wages and tips.
“If people can't get to us, then obviously the business isn't making money, the staff's not making money,” O'Brien said. “They rely on tips; they rely on wages. If nobody can get here, I'll be sending staff home.”
Helen Woods, who handles marketing and business development for Tír na Nóg Irish Bar and Grill near Madison Square Garden, told amNewYork that her restaurant had already committed money toward Friday's watch party before learning street access remained uncertain. Not every operator shared that concern. Fiach Mchugh-Hill, managing partner at The Rutherford, a sports bar north of the arena, said police had told him the closures would affect traffic but not pedestrian access.
A pattern beyond one event
The dispute echoes a scheduling challenge HR teams in hospitality and retail face whenever a major event reshapes foot traffic on short notice. Employers weighing how to staff around unpredictable demand have increasingly turned to the same tools cities have written into predictive scheduling laws for hourly workers, giving staff earlier notice of shift changes so last-minute cuts don't fall entirely on frontline employees.
The stakes are higher in a labor market that already shows strain in leisure and hospitality. The sector shed 61,000 jobs in June, a decline labor economists have tied to how directly the industry's staffing responds to swings in consumer confidence and spending. Businesses near Madison Square Garden this week are effectively experiencing a compressed version of that same volatility, driven by a single high-profile event rather than a broader economic shift.
Some employers facing similarly unpredictable event-driven demand have leaned on flexible or contractor-based staffing to fill gaps without committing to full shifts that might get scrapped, an approach that has drawn fresh attention as regulators revisit federal rules for classifying gig and contract workers. Whether that model fits a small, fixed-location restaurant is a separate question from whether it fits a national chain, but the underlying tension for HR is the same. Workers scheduled around an external event they can't control need some form of income protection when that event disrupts business.
O'Brien said he isn't opposed to the wedding itself and wishes the couple well. His ask, he said, is simpler.
“If you're forcing the small businesses out of business, then please compensate us,” O'Brien said.
