[[link removed]]

EVERYONE LOVES THE KNICKS. EVERYONE HATES JAMES DOLAN.  
[[link removed]]


 

Abdul Malik
June 9, 2026
Jacobin
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ The awful billionaire James Dolan’s stranglehold on one of
sports’ greatest franchises is holding the New York Knicks back. The
solution? Yes, that’s right: public ownership of the Knicks. _

Jalen Brunson, Image credit: Posting and Toasting / Vox Media

 

For the first time in twenty-seven years, the New York Knicks are in
the NBA Finals, and the vibes are immaculate. They have one of the
most likable rosters in the league. Knicks supporters — some of the
most passionate in all of sports — have electrified the NBA’s
content economy with on-the-street antics and unforgettable
catchphrases
[[link removed]]
(“My mayor Muslim / My bagels Jewish / My Christian Dior / Knicks in
four”). Even their matchup, the San Antonio Spurs, largely fits the
ideal of “ethical
[[link removed]]”
basketball. It’s a great time to watch the league. It’s the
greatest time to be a Knicks fan, with one major caveat: the man at
the top.

The New York Knicks are majority-owned by Madison Square Garden Sports
Corp (MSGS), under the day-to-day control of billionaire CEO and
Executive Chairman James Dolan, who inherited the franchise from his
father in 1999. The Dolan-era Knicks — a team whose valuation has
only grown year over year to become one of the ten most valuable
[[link removed]]
sports franchises — have been middling at best and catastrophically
bad
[[link removed]]
at worst. This current finals berth is an outlier. Chants of “Sell
the team” have been ubiquitous for decades.

Dolan himself is far from just an incompetent
[[link removed]]
executive. He’s alleged to have covered up
[[link removed]]
sexual misconduct within his organization and faced allegations
[[link removed]]
of sexual misconduct himself. His surveillance apparatus has stalked
[[link removed]]
fans and political enemies alike. A long-standing friendship
[[link removed]]
with Donald Trump has single-handedly harshed the vibe
[[link removed]]
for home games, especially in game three
[[link removed]] at MSG last night, to say
nothing of how he’s squeezed fans. The Knicks are the league’s
most expensive
[[link removed]]
ticket, and, at the time of writing, nosebleed seats for the finals
start in the $7,000 range
[[link removed]].

There’s no reason that the Knicks, one of sports’ most storied
franchises and a major driver of the city’s identity and economics
[[link removed]],
should be owned by anything but the public itself.

Not Without Precedent

Germany’s Bundesliga, renowned as one of Europe’s most stable
leagues, has long operated under a unique 50+1 rule. Under this
arrangement, club members — with certain exemptions — must
maintain majority voting rights, giving them a controlling interest in
decision-making.

Membership fees in this model range from €30 to €132 annually. At
the high end, it’s less than an annual Netflix Premium subscription
and affords members a direct say in their team’s direction. 

The results are visible at every level of the sport. The Bundesliga
maintains the highest average attendance across all major European
soccer leagues, alongside the lowest overall
[[link removed]]
ticket prices, all while generating a healthy profit
[[link removed]]
and paying billions into federal taxes. Bayern Munich — the
Bundesliga’s most successful
[[link removed]] team — also sports
the highest share of member ownership
[[link removed]].

The league has grown year over year, and a welcome feature of this
system is that it, by its very nature, insulates the league from
corporate capture. Despite numerous campaigns for reform, Bundesliga
clubs have, as democratically directed by the fans, voted
overwhelmingly
[[link removed]]
to keep the 50+1 rule in place. The degree of engagement is clear and
has led to other spillover effects that reflect not just a municipal
identity, but a political one. In 2023, membership anger led Bayern
Munich to terminate a Qatar Airways sponsorship. Club matches are
increasingly visible front lines in fighting Germany’s far-right
[[link removed]]
Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) surge. For better or worse
[[link removed]],
German football is an extension of members’ political values.

Germany is the clearest example of this, but similar systems persist
elsewhere. The Green Bay Packers are famously fan-owned
[[link removed]], though
the rule allowing this model to repeat itself was changed
[[link removed]]
in 1980. Four clubs in Spain operate under the “socio
[[link removed]]”
model of member control, including Real Madrid
[[link removed]],
the most successful team in all of European football.

Contrast this with the Knicks, whose ownership is highly at odds with
its fans, both in its historical decision-making and the political
position of the city it exists in. It becomes easy to see why a
member-directed model would not only deliver the kind of long-term
stewardship that has been largely absent under James Dolan, but also
further entrench the Knicks as New York’s team — not just in
legacy, but in how it embodies the ever-evolving values of the city
itself.

Municipal Ownership

There is an argument for viewing sports teams as public utilities
rather than mere entertainment. Teams like the Knicks are economic
juggernauts that build and reshape city landscapes through policy,
economic decision-making, and municipal negotiations — often for
the worse
[[link removed]].

Madison Square Garden exists directly above Penn Station, one of the
busiest transit hubs in North America and an enormous economic anchor
for Dolan’s empire. Despite this relationship, none of Dolan’s
businesses are contributing money to Penn’s $8 billion rebuild.
Conversations about relocating MSG were quickly shut down and put
entirely in the hands
[[link removed]]
of the federal government, shutting locals out of the transparency
process and effectively relieving Dolan of any financial risk for the
megaproject.

According to its own financials
[[link removed]],
MSGS — independently of Dolan’s other MSG corporations —
operates at a relative breakeven after factoring in executive salaries
and corporate bloat. It, like so many other billionaire-owned sports
teams, is a vanity project that pays for itself — and continues to
increase in value. This doesn’t factor in current playoff success
either. Estimates put the Knicks’ profit margin
[[link removed]]
for this finals run at 55 percent, to say nothing of knock-on effects
for the local economy.

There’s no reason that the Knicks should be owned by anything but
the public itself.

Even discounting higher-than-average base prices jacked up
[[link removed]]
in magnitudes by resellers, it’s worth considering that ticket sales
account for a minority
[[link removed]]
of team revenue. The league itself operates under a revenue-sharing
agreement
[[link removed]]
between teams that one could easily describe as “socialism for
billionaires.” There’s significant financial incentive and little
financial risk in bringing sports teams under public ownership —
particularly in a city as attractive as New York.

The idea of public ownership — and the immense costs associated
with it — make it far less common than fan ownership of teams, but
examples do still prove its worth. While private equity has pillaged
almost half
[[link removed]]
of minor league baseball teams, the Columbus Clippers remain an
outlier. Owned by Franklin County
[[link removed]],
the team is both a local treasure and boasts an outsize record of
success. Instead of being extracted by owners, profits are reinvested
into the team, helping to keep costs low, establishing the team as a
vital civic institution.

There is a stark difference between a minor league baseball team and a
major NBA franchise, yes, but when billions in public funds are
already allocated to sweetheart stadium deals
[[link removed]]
with little to no promise of return, the arguments against public
ownership begin to break down. Particularly when the team in question
is the New York Knicks.

The Knicks Belong to New Yorkers

For the time being, any public ownership of the Knicks — or any
major American sports team not from Green Bay, Wisconsin — remains
something of a pipe dream. It’s highly unlikely the NBA Board of
Governors would ever go for such a thing. Attempts to replicate the
Green Bay model have historically been shut down.

But billionaires are fickle. Even the biggest fans-cum-owners
[[link removed]]
sell their teams. Nothing is permanent. Capital changes hands freely
in elite circles, and ultimately, the communities these teams serve
would be better off having a piece of the pie. One day, James Dolan or
any of his progeny will sell the Knicks. And the team shouldn’t just
go to another mercurial billionaire.

The fans and the city, not James Dolan, built the Knicks into the
cultural and financial juggernaut it is today. Many feel an emotional
stake in the team’s success and know who to (justifiably) blame for
its many failures, even as the culprit pockets millions while giving
nothing back to the people whose loyalty enriched him.

It’s time for New York to start looking at how to reclaim a stake in
the team it built. In any important sense, the Knicks already belong
to the city. Generations of New Yorkers have, by now, stuck by the
franchise through far more lean years than triumphant ones. In a New
York where the Knicks could actually win a championship — something
thought impossible just a few years ago — it might just be time to
make the reality official.

_[ABDUL MALIK is a screenwriter based in Canada, working across both
film and television both domestically and abroad.]_

_Our summer issue is out soon. __Get a discounted subscription to our
print magazine today._ [[link removed]]

* sports
[[link removed]]
* basketball
[[link removed]]
* NBA
[[link removed]]
* New York Knicks
[[link removed]]
* New York City
[[link removed]]
* public ownership
[[link removed]]
* Rich people
[[link removed]]
* Billionaires
[[link removed]]
* tax the rich
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]