Public | |
Traded as | NYSE: MSGS (Class A) Russell 1000 Component |
Industry | Sports and entertainment |
Founded | 2010; 2015 (spin-off Madison Square Network) [1] |
Founder | James L. Dolan |
Headquarters | New York City, New York, U.S. |
Key people | James L. Dolan (Executive Chairman & CEO) Andrew Lustgarten (President) |
Revenue | |
Total assets | |
Owner | Dolan family (71.1% voting, 21.6% economic) [2] Silver Lake Partners (≈10%) [3] |
Subsidiaries | |
Website | Official website |
The Madison Square Garden Company (also known as The MSG Company) is an American sports and entertainment holding company based in New York City.
The original company was established in 2010 when Cablevision spun off the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Madison Square Garden, MSG Network and other entertainment assets as an independent, publicly traded company.
In 2015, the original company spun off the sports and entertainment division into a separate company and the original company was renamed to MSG Networks, Inc.; the new company took the name “The Madison Square Garden Company”.
On May 31, 1923, Tex Rickard incorporated the New Madison Square Garden Corporation for the purpose of building and operating the third Madison Square Garden. On January 15, 1925, shortly after the Garden opened, the corporation's name was changed to the Madison Square Garden Corporation. [4]
Following the success of the New York Americans, the Madison Square Garden Corporation established the New York Rangers, which began play in 1926. [5] In 1946, at the behest of Knicks president Ned Irish, the Madison Square Garden Corporation became a charter member of the National Basketball Association with the New York Knicks. [6]
On April 7, 1960, the Madison Square Garden Corporation merged with its majority shareholder Graham-Paige. [7] On March 9, 1962, Graham-Paige changed its name to the Madison Square Garden Corporation to reflect their largest asset. [8]
On August 20, 1977, Gulf and Western Industries, which owned 81% of MSG's stock, purchased complete control of the corporation and turned it into a wholly owned subsidiary. At the time of G&W's acquisition, the Madison Square Garden Corporation owned the arena, Knicks, Rangers, three horse tracks (Roosevelt Raceway, Arlington Park, and Washington Park Race Track), Holiday on Ice, and real estate holdings in Long Island, Manhattan, and Chicago. [8] In 1989 Gulf and Western shed its non-media and entertainment assets to become Paramount Communications, reflecting its ownership of Paramount Pictures.
In 1994, Viacom purchased majority ownership of Paramount Communications, but quickly sold MSG to Cablevision and ITT Corporation. [9] In 1997, ITT sold its half to Cablevision for $650 million. [10]
In February 2010, Cablevision spun off the MSG properties, including the sports franchises, into The Madison Square Garden Company. [11]
On September 30, 2015, the MSG Networks division (including MSG Network) and the main MSG operation were both split as two separate companies. [12] [13] The MSG Network division ended up being the former Madison Square Garden Company and the main MSG operation became the spin off company. The original Madison Square Garden Company was renamed to MSG Networks, Inc. and the new company took the name “The Madison Square Garden Company”. [14]
In September 2018, Madison Square Garden began work on a spherical music venue in Las Vegas, called MSG Sphere Las Vegas, planned to open in 2021. [15] Earlier in the year, MSG announced plans to build MSG Sphere London, near the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. [16] Both venues are designed by Populous architects and are supposed to incorporate highly advanced audio and visual technologies. [17]
On August 17, 2016, MSG acquired a 12% stake in digital media, broadcasting, and events company Townsquare Media from GE Capital. [18]
In January 2017 MSG paid $181 million for a majority stake in nightlife group Tao Group [19]
On July 31, 2017, MSG acquired a controlling stake in professional video gaming team Counter Logic Gaming. [20]
In addition to owning the Madison Square Garden arena in Manhattan, New York City, The Madison Square Garden Company is divided into two entities.
The company formerly owned the New York Liberty of the WNBA, until the team was sold in 2018. The company also formerly operated the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and Rentschler Field in East Hartford under contract with the state of Connecticut until the 2007 season when it was replaced by Northland/Anschutz Entertainment Group. [22] [23]
On several occasion, the Madison Square Garden Company has generated controversy in regard to how it approaches its competition. On two separate occasions they made attempts to block the construction of competing venues in the New York and Los Angeles markets.
Before the Madison Square Garden Company was formed, its businesses were part of Cablevision. In 2005, it was proposed that a new West Side Stadium be built for the New York Jets. The stadium would have directly competed with the then-Cablevision owned Madison Square Garden. Cablevision ran TV ads rallying against the proposed stadium which ultimately resulted in the state of New York rejecting the proposal. The rejection of the proposal meant that Madison Square Garden would not have a nearby venue competing for concert revenue. The rejection of the venue also had a negative impact on New York's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which was ultimately defeated by London. [24]
In 2018, the Madison Square Garden Company was behind a lawsuit against the city of Inglewood in an attempt to stop the construction of a new basketball arena for the Los Angeles Clippers. The new arena would compete directly with The Forum which is owned by The Madison Square Garden Company. [25] Another lawsuit from a local community group was filed to block the construction of the venue in June 2018. Inglewood mayor James Butts suggested that the lawsuit was brought about by "business interests from out-of-state", suggesting that the Madison Square Garden Company were using this group to not have a competing arena near by. [26] James Dolan is said to be trying to avoid being deposed in the case. [27] In December 2018, the Los Angeles Clippers countersued the Madison Square Garden Company alleging that they are trying to prevent competition from a new arena by trying to stop its construction. [28]
In March 2019, leaked emails revealed that Irving Azoff attempted to lure the Los Angeles Lakers back to The Forum after their lease at the Staples Center was up. Despite nothing coming of the proposal, Azoff's proposal to re-purpose The Forum was seen as a way of preventing the LA Clippers from building their own arena in Inglewood and ensuring that the Madison Square Garden Company got an unfair advantage over rival AEG, which already owns part of the Lakers. [29] In the summer of 2019 it was reported that the company had spent large amounts of money trying to influence Inglewood's mayoral election in the hopes of preventing the construction of the competing arena. In addition, the company also financially supported community groups and lawsuits seeking to prevent the construction of the new arena. [30] The lawsuit became moot in March 2020, when Clippers owner Steve Ballmer announced that he would purchase The Forum for $400 million. The Forum will be repurposed as a dedicated concert venue. [31]
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or in initials as MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. Located in Midtown Manhattan between 7th and 8th Avenues from 31st to 33rd Streets, it is situated atop Pennsylvania Station. It is the fourth venue to bear the name "Madison Square Garden"; the first two were located on Madison Square, on East 26th Street and Madison Avenue, with the third Madison Square Garden (1925) further uptown at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street.
The Forum is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located between West Manchester Boulevard, across Pincay Drive and Kareem Court, it is north of SoFi Stadium and the Hollywood Park Casino. It is about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Opening on December 30, 1967, the Forum was an unusual and groundbreaking structure. Architect Charles Luckman's vision was brought to life by engineers Carl Johnson and Svend Nielsen, who were able to engineer the structure so that it had no major support pillars. This had previously been unheard of in an indoor arena the size of the Forum.
James Lawrence Dolan is an American businessman who serves as executive chairman and CEO of The Madison Square Garden Company and executive chairman of MSG Networks. As the companies' chairman, Dolan oversees all operations within the company and also supervises day-to-day operations of its professional sports teams, the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, and New York Liberty, as well as their regional sports networks, which include MSG Network and MSG Plus. Dolan previously served as CEO of Cablevision until its sale in June 2016.
The West Side Stadium was a proposed football and Olympic stadium to be built on a platform over the rail yards on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City.
The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Networks, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation.
Yankee Global Enterprises, LLC, formerly YankeeNets, LLC, is an American company which owns the New York Yankees baseball team, along with a majority stake in YES Network and a 20% stake in New York City FC soccer team. It was formed in 1999 and is controlled by the family of George Steinbrenner. Other investors including Lester Crown, Donald Marron and Jerry Speyer own minority stakes.
SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC.
Anucha Browne Sanders is an American former women's basketball player and a former executive for the New York Knicks team of the NBA. She is also known for winning a sexual harassment lawsuit that she filed against former New York Knicks general manager Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden.
Irving Azoff is an American entertainment executive and chairman of Full Stop Management, which represents recording artists.
MSG Plus is an American regional sports network owned by MSG Networks; it operates as a sister channel to MSG Network. The network serves the New York City metropolitan area, whose reach expands to cover the entire state of New York, Northern New Jersey, Southwestern Connecticut and Northeastern Pennsylvania; MSG Plus carries sports events from several of the New York area's professional sports franchises, as well as college sports events.
NHL on USA is the de facto title of a television show that broadcasts National Hockey League games on the USA Network. The network last broadcast regular-season games in 1985, but as part of current parent company NBCUniversal's contract to cover the NHL, the network resumed broadcasting a handful of games in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, by serving as an overflow channel for NHL playoff games that cannot air on sister networks NBC or NBCSN through 2021.
The NBA on USA is the de facto name for the USA Network's National Basketball Association television coverage. The program ran from the 1979–80 season through the 1983–84 season.
The 1993–94 NBA season was the 48th season for the Knicks in the National Basketball Association in New York City. This marked the last season in which the Knicks were owned by Paramount Communications, which was sold near the end of the season to Viacom, which in turn sold them to ITT Corporation and Cablevision. A couple of years later, ITT would sell their share to Cablevision. The Knicks' current owner, The Madison Square Garden Company, is a spin-off of Cablevision.
Madison Square Garden was an indoor arena in New York City, the third bearing that name. It was built in 1925 and closed in 1968, and was located on the west side of Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan, on the site of the city's trolley-car barns. It was the first Garden that was not located near Madison Square. MSG III was the home of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League and the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association, and also hosted numerous boxing matches, the Millrose Games, concerts, and other events.
JD & The Straight Shot is the country blues and roots rock vanity project of its frontman and guitarist, Cablevision Systems Corporation CEO and Madison Square Garden Company Executive Chairman James L. Dolan.
Hank J. Ratner is an American media, sports, entertainment and telecommunications executive. He was previously a Vice Chairman of Cablevision Systems Corporation, President and CEO of The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG), Chief Operating Officer of AMC Networks and President and CEO of Independent Sports and Entertainment (ISE).
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its existence and in its final years, Cablevision served customers residing in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and a small part of Pennsylvania. However, at one time it did provide service in as many as 19 states. Cablevision also offered high-speed Internet connections, digital cable, and VoIP phone service through its Optimum brand name. Cablevision also offered a WiFi-only mobile phone service dubbed Freewheel.
The Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center is a proposed 18,000 seat arena to be located in Inglewood, California for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association. The arena would be located just south of SoFi Stadium, the home of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, and the Hollywood Park development.
John H. Krumpe was an American sports executive who served as CEO of the Madison Square Garden Corporation, New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, and Javits Center and president of the New York Racing Association, New York Rangers, New York Knicks, and New York Islanders.
Richard H. Evans is an American sports and entertainment executive.