Madison Square Garden Sports has moved to split the New York Knicks and New York Rangers into two separate, publicly traded companies — a move analysts say could finally unlock billions in trapped franchise value tied up under James Dolan’s sprawling sports empire.
MSG Sports said it confidentially filed an initial Form 10 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday as it advances a proposed tax-free spin-off that would separate the Knicks business from the Rangers business.
The Knicks entity would include the NBA franchise and the Westchester Knicks G League affiliate, while the Rangers company would house the NHL club and the Hartford Wolf Pack.
“This move has been a long time in coming,” Derek Reisfield, co-founder of MarketWatch and a former CBS executive who worked on NFL rights negotiations, told The Post.
“There has been a persistent gap in the stock value of MSG Sports to the private market value,” Reisfield said.
Forbes valued the Knicks at $9.75 billion last year, while CNBC recently pegged the franchise above the $10 billion mark amid soaring NBA media-rights expectations.
The Rangers, meanwhile, were valued by Forbes at $4 billion — making them the NHL’s second-most valuable franchise behind only the Toronto Maple Leafs.
MSG Sports, however, currently carries a public market valuation of roughly $8.5 billion — far below the combined estimated private-market value of the Knicks and Rangers.
Investors have long argued that Dolan’s complicated corporate structure obscured the true value of the teams.
MSG Sports said the transaction, if completed, would create two separate publicly traded companies. The company cautioned there is no guarantee the separation will be completed.
Still, the filing immediately fueled speculation over whether Dolan could ultimately cash out of one or both franchises after decades of insisting the teams were not for sale.
“Will one of the teams get sold, that’s not clear,” Reisfield said. “But having separate entities will either allow partial sales of individual teams to raise money, or the entire sale of one of the teams.”
Sports franchise valuations have exploded in recent years as billionaires and private equity firms pour money into scarce marquee assets. Reisfield noted that the teams’ ties to MSG remain a complicating factor because the arena’s operating permit expires in 2028.
“The arena is a huge component of a sports franchise’s value and cash driver,” he said. “Many of the sports teams are really two businesses now, a sports team and a real estate development company.”
The Garden is owned separately through Sphere Entertainment — a structure that has long raised questions among investors over lease agreements, shared expenses and how cash flows between Dolan-controlled entities.
MSG Sports touted the split as a way for investors to “more clearly evaluate each company’s assets and growth prospects” while providing “enhanced strategic and financial flexibility.”
Shares of MSG Sports were trading at around 0.75% higher as of 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday. Sphere Entertainment’s stock price was down nearly 2%.
An MSG spokesperson declined to comment further beyond the company’s statement.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
