How many people are at Trump rally? The number is hard to know

 One of the world's most famous New Yorkers is at the World's Most Famous Arena in New York today.

Former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is hosting a rally in Madison Square Garden at 5 p.m. The Garden is home to the New York Knicks and Rangers with a variety of shows and concerts in between.

It can hold more than 20,000 people for boxing events and typically welcomes more than 19,000 for NHL and NBA games.

How many people are at Trump MSG rally?

Trump is at Madison Square Garden today looking to energize Republican voters. The event starts at 5 p.m., but doors opened to attendees at noon.

Tickets to Trump rallies are commonly first-come, first-served with no assigned seats. So, the number of tickets issued doesn’t always equal the number of attendees.

A study by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation estimates Trump’s rally crowds have averaged about 5,600 people this year.

While a venue bearing the name Madison Square Garden has been around for nearly a century, the current arena has been open since 1968.

Madison Square Garden hasn't held a political event in a long time. New York City and the surrounding area is a Democratic stronghold in recent presidential elections.

But, New York City did throw its hat in the ring to host this year's Democratic National Convention. The DNC was in MSG in 1924, 1976, 1980 and 1992. The arena hosted the Republican National Convention in 2004.

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Former presidents John F. Kennedy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Richard Nixon held events in MSG. FDR and Nixon's events were campaign rallies.

Other global figures have been to the Garden in past decades, some with better legacies than others. Pope Francis held a mass in MSG in front of a capacity crowd in 2015. Pope St. John Paul II also held a youth rally in the arena in 1979.

In February 1939, the arena was host to a rally held by the German American Bund, a Nazi-supporting American-based group that gained popularity during World War II. The arena was at capacity for that event.