New York Knickerbockers
Who owns them?
It's not who in this case but what company. Madison Square Garden, Inc. an entertainment promotion company owns the Knicks. The Chairman of MSG, Inc. is James Dolan who represents the team in owners' meetings. The President of MSG, Inc. is Hank Ratner who is the alternate. MSG used to be part of Cablevision but recently it has become its own separate entity.
Does Ownership own other teams and facilities?
Ohhhhhhhhhh yeah.
MSG owns three teams in addition to the Knicks. They own the NHL's New York Rangers, the WNBA's New York Liberty, and the AHL's Connecticut Whale based in Hartford and they are the affiliate to the Rangers.
MSG owns the Knicks' practice facility in Tarrytown, NY; MSG also runs operations at the Beacon Theatre in Upper Broadway, and Radio City Music Hall in Midtown Manhattan. No surprise MSG owns their arena, which is Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. In addition to being the home for the Knicks, Liberty, and Rangers, the Garden also hosts the St. John's University men's basketball team and the Big East Conference men's basketball tournament.
To top it all off, MSG also operates television channels in the New York City area, which include the MSG sports network, and the Fuse music television channels.
Do I think that Ownership is doing a good job?
The Knicks ownership is a corporate entity rather than a private one that tends to be more of a personal ownership, so they're not going to dabble into every little problem that comes up and let the sports guys do what they need to do. As long as the team is making money and performing well over the long haul, they're fine. MSG isn't going to be personally motivated to see the Knicks win the NBA Finals, the Ranger win the Stanley Cup, or the Liberty to win the WNBA Finals. They only care if they make money so shareholders will keep their stock. If a championship gets them money, great. If not, hopefully they still make money. I don't think the Knicks ownership is doing a good job because of their recent past but it's a lot better than the last few years since Walsh came into town.
The Knicks have been ridiculed over the last few years with the Isiah Thomas debacle where he brought in some expensive players who didn't perform well, like Curry, Marbury, and Stevie Franchise, in addition to off the court crap. Stuff like this requires intervention from the man or woman upstairs, and from here in DC, I didn't perceive that MSG did much. At least they brought in Donnie Walsh who has cleaned up the team quite a bit, but they still have work to do. And why couldn't they get David Lee to stay???!
At the box office, the Knicks have practically sold out most of their games through thick and thin and I don't expect that to change, even if their tix are among the priciest in the league with a mediocre team if not worse (I know they're off to a great start this year). But how long will Knicks fans besides Spike Lee stay committed if the team continues to be mediocre, even after the Amare signing?
To me Knicks fans are the Redskins fans of the NBA. They are very loyal and passionate about their team. Both Skins and Knicks fans seem to think that they've turned a corner every year, but in reality they're still not even close to contending. Both the Skins and Knicks are historically very storied teams and have won multiple championships too, which is why the fans still believe. However, the Skins owner will meddle with management if he has a reason to, but the Knicks ownership tries to stay mum even when it's needed. Lastly, both the Knicks and Redskins are laughing stocks in their leagues over the last several years. The Knicks fans believe they're about to relive the Earl and Walt days every year and they think they'll get the best free agent every year, and they failed this year even with Amare. The Redskins fans are just as delusional, if not more, and they always trade away valuable draft picks for old players who never pan out.
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