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MSG Sports Open To Selling Minority Share In Knicks And Rangers

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Madison Square Garden Sports (MSG Sports) has reported US$353.7 million in revenue for the quarter ended December 2022, where they also said they’re open to the sale of minority stakes in the Rangers and Knicks.

MSG Sports president David Hopkins has stated that he will not sell a controlling share of the teams, however, after the NBA changed its rules to allow private equity investments, the company said they’re open to selling a minor share of both.

Commenting on a potential sale, Hopkins, said: “I have no plans whatsoever to sell at this point. I’m not retiring anytime soon. It’s a family-controlled asset, so someone in the family will eventually own it,”

“We have no plans to sell either team … but we would certainly not rule out the possibility of selling a minority stake in the Knicks or the Rangers,” he said.

Dolan’s tenure has been difficult with the Knicks reaching the playoffs seven times since 1999, which has led fans requesting him to sell the teams.

MSG Sports also saw their operating income increase to US$76.6 million, up 38% from the US$21 million a year ago.

The increase in revenue was primarily due to higher pre- and regular season ticket-related revenue, suite license fee revenue, sponsorship and signage revenue, food and beverage, merchandise sales, local media-rights and league distribution revenue.

As a result, the Knicks and Rangers, which is owned by publicly traded MSG Entertainment have lease agreements that designate the percentage of revenue that goes to them, where the Knicks will keep 35% of suite and club seat revenue while the Rangers get 32.5%.

According to Forbes, the Knicks are currently valued at US$6.1 billion, a 5% increase from last year, while the Rangers’ value increased 10% to US$2.2 billion.

The news comes after MSG CEO, James Dolan, backed the use of facial recognition technology.

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