Garden & Gun

The showdown between MSG Networks and Altice is leaving fans of the streaking Knicks out of luck and Jim Dolan running out of options. LightShed Partners’ Brandon Ross illuminates the issues and explains how an MSG Networks bankruptcy could play out, including a potential merger with YES.

Dolan, who is hardly a stranger to litigation and confrontation, is now leading MSG into an existential battle, all while his Knicks are enjoying their best season in a quarter-century. Photo: Rich Graessle/Getty Images

John Ourand

January 7, 2025

New York has always been an oversaturated market for regional sports networks—MSG, SNY, YES, etcetera—a consequence of the fact that most of its pro teams are owned individually. The Tsai family owns the Nets, Steve Cohen runs the Mets, the Steinbrenners control the Yankees, and Jon Ledecky has the Islanders. The one mammoth exception, of course, is Jim Dolan, who inherited the Knicks and Rangers, whose games populate his own MSG Network. Dolan, who is hardly a stranger to litigation and confrontation, is now leading MSG into an existential battle, all while his Knicks are enjoying their best season in a quarter-century.