New York Knicks: James Dolan setting up for potential sale of franchise

It may soon be time for New York Knicks fans to rejoice. James Dolan is setting up the company to where he could sell the team easily.

Who is sick of James Dolan? I know that New York Knicks fans are. How could fans feel any other way? Since 1999 when he took over as owner from his father, the team has been very bad and they have not gotten any better. Dolan has taken quite a few missteps in his “attempts” to make the team better.

In short, he has been bad and Knicks fans hate him. Maybe he is a nice guy but he has not been good at owning a basketball team. Well there may be good news coming on that front. Not immediately, but the groundwork may be forming for Dolan to separate himself from the Knicks and the Rangers.

According to Crains, Dolan is looking at the idea of separating the Knicks and the Rangers from the rest of Madison Square Garden holdings. Initially he would still be in charge, but if the two teams are part of a separate company, he could get rid of his stock much easier. According to the article, he wants to get away from sports and focus more on music.

If the two teams were outside of the Garden’s control it would be historic:

More from Empire Writes Back

"If Dolan does in fact spin off the Knicks and the Rangers, it would mark the first time the teams haven’t been owned by Madison Square Garden. The Garden has controlled the Rangers since the team was founded in 1926, while the Knicks were launched by an MSG president in 1946. Whenever the Garden changed hands over the years to corporate owners including Gulf & Western, ITT and Cablevision, the teams came along in a bundled deal."

It seems hard to fathom, doesn’t it? How could Madison Square Garden not own the Knicks and the Rangers? They are supposed to be one and the same. If this split were to occur, it would certainly take a lot of getting used to. Culture shock would certainly set in.

However, fans would get over it rather quickly. It would probably be over in record time. Why? Because the fans hate this man to epic proportions. It’s not as bad with the Rangers fans because he has been hands off there. It’s easy to tell because the Rangers have actually had success during this era. The same can’t be said for the Knicks.

We don’t have to rehash it here. The era when the Knicks were annual playoff attendees seems like an entire lifetime ago. Who knew how bad they would be after Jeff Van Gundy left? Since his time ended, the Knicks won 50 games once, and 40 games one other time. Under Dolan’s regime, the team has been worse than many of us imagined they could be.

Even bringing in the legendary coach Phil Jackson to run the team didn’t even help.

Next: Who is Mitchell Robinson?

Incidentally, the news of Dolan’s potential exit caused the MSG stock to jump 14%. I guess shareholders want him out too. Don’t uncork the champagne just yet fans. It’s not over yet. But there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Home/New York Knicks