James Dolan Open to New York Knicks Sale

New York Knicks owner James Dolan refused to rule out selling the franchise, if a “bona fide” offer came along.

James Dolan is chairman of Madison Square Garden and also owns the New York Rangers. He told ESPN on Monday that some “feelers” have been put out, but never pursued.

According to James Dolan, the ‘feelers’ have been offers of upwards of $5 billion. He insists that it was never taken any further, but didn’t rule out selling the Knicks in the future. In fact, in his quotes below, he seems more than open to selling.

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“You hear numbers all the time,” Dolan said.

“… I think people have sent feelers out, but never any that were pursued. Yeah, [the feelers are] around that number [$5 billion], but those things, it’s like a stock price. It’s only important if you’re going to buy or sell.

“You have a responsibility as the guy who runs the place to deliver on that for them, that’s being open and transparent. And so in that position, I could never say that I wouldn’t consider selling the Knicks. Now, my family is not in that position, and they are the majority shareholders. They hold the majority of the vote. … As a majority owner, I don’t want to sell, either. As the head of the public company, you can’t say you can’t sell, because then you’re telling your shareholders that your own personal feelings about your assets are more important than their money. And they won’t invest with you if you do that.”

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Dolan, 63, has been the Knicks owner since 1999. In his first season, they made the NBA finals but it’s been a tough 18 years since. The Knicks have had seven presidents and 12 head coaches in that time.

Of all those head coaches, only Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Woodson have had winning records.