http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/recap?gameId=2005030618

The board of directors of Cablevision, the Knicks' corporate owner, is expected to meet Monday, and there has been some speculation that the Knicks might be put up for sale. James Dolan, chairman of Madison Square Garden and CEO of Cablevision, is engaged in a power struggle with his father, Charles Dolan, who appointed four new members to Cablevision's board of directors last week.

I'll believe it when I see it, those two have been going at if for the last couple season.

I want a Knicks fan to own the Knicks or at least a basketball fan.

Can Jordan by the Knicks or at least co-own it?

A more reputable source...

http://newyorkbusiness.com/article.cms?article_id=22583&arc=n


Jets, others eye bids for MSG and teams

Cablevision board meets today

By Anne Michaud & Aaron Elstein
Published on March 07, 2005


With the sale of Cablevision Systems Corp. increasingly likely, wealthy New Yorkers, including New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, are considering bids for the company's sports assets--Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.

These assets are the crown jewels of a family-run business that is unraveling in full public view. At a meeting this afternoon, the Cablevision board is expected to decide the fate of the cable and entertainment company and its chief executive, James Dolan, who is locked in a bitter feud with his father, Cablevision founder Charles Dolan. The board could decide to put the company up for sale, many analysts believe.


Cablevision has never been the model of a happy family. In addition to its internecine battles, the Dolan-dominated company has aggravated shareholders for years with its poorly performing stock and quixotic decisions.

Last week, Charles Dolan sacked three board members and brought in four of his friends as part of his effort to keep alive a satellite broadcasting venture that has cost the company millions. Cablevision is also spending millions of dollars to fight Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed football stadium on the West Side.

If Cablevision breaks apart, the younger Mr. Dolan is said to want to retain control of the two sports teams and the rest of the Garden's assets, including Radio City Music Hall. But analysts are speculating that the son could be forced out entirely. Also, it seems likely that the board would come under enormous pressure to maximize shareholder return by seeking bids to top any offer from Mr. Dolan.

The Jets' Mr. Johnson is looking at making an offer for the teams, say several sources close to the football organization. One sports industry executive notes that the teams could play in an arena inside the new stadium.

The Jets owner, who is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, also has a strong interest in forcing James Dolan out of the New York sports scene. Mr. Dolan is the prime mover behind Cablevision's multimillion-dollar effort to thwart the West Side stadium, which would be built primarily by the Jets and could be used for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.


Worth at least $2 billion


Telecommunications honcho Leo Hindery also says he would be interested in bidding for Cablevision's teams. He is managing partner of a new private investment firm called InterMedia Partners. He believes there would be many other contenders as well.

"Anyone who has an interest in content, which we do, is going to take a look at these assets," says the former chief executive of the YES Network.

The price would be steep. Cablevision and a partner bought the sports assets and the MSG cable network from Viacom in 1995 for $1 billion. Forbes magazine estimates that the Knicks are worth $494 million, second in the NBA behind the Lakers, which it says are worth $510 million. The Rangers are worth $282 million, the most valuable franchise in the NHL. However, teams are routinely sold for more than Forbes' estimates.

Robert Tilliss, chief executive of investment banking firm Inner Circle Sports, estimates that the MSG assets are now worth $2 billion. Still, he doubts that Cablevision would be interested in parting with the teams. "They are Jimmy Dolan's pet assets," Mr. Tilliss says.


Cable, satellite clash


Mr. Hindery believes a company sale is also inevitable, as the elder Mr. Dolan seeks to keep alive his plan for a satellite television business. The satellite plan is simply incompatible with a cable TV company, Mr. Hindery says.

The father-son blowup, which on one afternoon resulted in dueling press releases, is Shakespearean in nature, he says. "It's an absolutely fascinating meltdown of a family and its supervotes," Mr. Hindery says, referring to the Dolans' 75% controlling interest.

One longtime investor says he would expect Cablevision's 3 million-subscriber-strong cable TV business to be sold in two parts. He reckons that Time Warner would covet Cablevision's Long Island and Westchester territories, while Philadelphia-based Comcast would set its sights on the New Jersey unit.

As for the Madison Square Garden part of the business, which generated 16% of Cablevision's revenues last year, the investor says: "It would certainly be better for the fans, not to mention investors, if Cablevision sold the teams. Lord knows, the Rangers and Knicks haven't had many good seasons on Cablevision's watch."

Amen to that



[Edited by - kwazimodal on 03/07/2005 07:09:18]

Becareful what you wish for!

While Dolan is an idiot, he is ok with spending. Dumb spending is worse than no spending, but smart spending is what needs to happen. Those wheels with Isiah is what we are hoping for!

A new owner might want to right the ship by blowing it up for how ever long it takes. That might be the right thing to do, but if that owner gets into cash flow problems, then we could be in for a long long cold spell!

Im sorry but I have to disagree.Dolan has been a fing disaster.Id rather take my chances with a new owner especially if Dolan is thinking of buying the team from Cablevision.We can do better than the head of a sports empire that admits he knows nothing about sports..



If Dolan falls, Garden may bloom again

March 8, 2005


The Dolan family power struggle that has enveloped Cablevision could have a positive ripple effect on sports fans who have been increasingly frustrated by the way Madison Square Garden's teams and its cable networks have been managed.

The influence of Garden chairman James Dolan, under whose stewardship the Knicks and Rangers have collapsed and MSG Network and Fox Sports New York have lost their key assets -- Yankees and Mets rights -- appears to have been greatly diminished.

Not only could James Dolan emerge with far less control of the Garden and its entities, sports business and media experts suggest, but the time also may be fast approaching that Dolan's father, company founder Charles Dolan, and a revamped board of directors will carve up the company and put the cable system, arena and the teams on the auction block.

That could be fabulous news for discouraged fans and viewers who have watched the Knicks' payroll rise to a league-high $103 million without a chance to contend seriously for years. It could be equally good news for Rangers fans, who have watched a team mired in a seven-year playoff drought. The Rangers' payroll crept past $76 million last season to the second highest in the NHL before it was pared in a late-season player purge.

Last Thursday, Charles Dolan replaced four members of the Cablevision board in an effort to keep his Voom satellite company alive, and apparently to consolidate his power base. It certainly seemed that James Dolan had a sense of foreboding when he told curious Knicks beat writers last month that he knew of no shift in his role at the Garden but acknowledged that the company "is clearly going through changes." He also indicated he would fight to maintain his status.

Although the revamped Cablevision board met yesterday and made no announcement afterward, observers were reading the tea leaves. After all, two of the new board members are former executives whose conglomerates controlled the Garden: ITT's Rand Araskog and Viacom's Frank Biondi.

"In the best interest of stockholders and fans, the best thing you would hope is that the Garden could be sold and put into better hands," said Bob Gutkowski, CEO of Criterion Sports and Entertainment Inc. and a former Garden president. "Short of that, maybe it would be a better fit if [Araskog and Biondi] kept an eye on Jimmy."

Another sports business executive, who asked not to be identified, agreed, saying, "Rand and Frank are around to rein in Jimmy."

That, however, seems to some to be an interim step. Cablevision appears to be preparing to cleave itself into three parts: the satellite business, the cable systems and the Garden.

Cablevision took 100 percent control of the Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Knicks, Rangers, Liberty and the two sports channels last month in a deal with News Corp., which held a 40 percent stake.

The Garden was sold for slightly more than $1 billion in 1994, but the teams have lost some value because of their consistent losing and the NHL lockout, and the networks have as well. According to industry estimates, 75 percent of the value of a regional sports network is derived from baseball rights.

"Nobody in their right mind would buy the teams without the media component, but the mainstays, the Yankees and Mets, are gone, and it's tough to have a regional sports network with only winter teams," said Leo Hindery, a former chairman of YES who has formed InterMedia Advisors, a private media investment firm.

Still, it is the Garden, and if the "For Sale" sign were out, numerous bidders would surface. The one hitch in this dream scenario: the possibility that sports-loving James Dolan himself would try to buy the place for his own.