James Dolan Plans on Keeping Knicks, Rangers in the Family

Jim Dolan has no plans to ever sell the Knicks, Rangers, or Madison Square Garden. 

The polarizing owner rarely gives interviews, but he spoke recently on a one-hour, 45-minute episode of Roommates Show, the podcast hosted by Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.

Brunson asked his boss directly: Could he ever see himself “walking away” from some of the most valuable assets in sports?

“No,” Dolan said. “I could pass it on, right? But I could never walk away. We’re a control company. We’re controlled by my family—some of my offspring, my brothers, and sisters, and their kids. The Knicks, the Rangers, the Garden: These are one-of-a-kind assets. My hope is that my kids grow up and take my place, just like I did with my dad. So yeah, I don’t see that happening.” (Dolan inherited his empire from his father, Cablevision founder Charles Dolan.)

The 69-year-old has six sons. Quentin Dolan, 30, is among the ones already involved; his title is SVP of player performance and science leader at MSG Sports. The Knicks are currently the second-most valuable NBA franchise, according to Forbes, at $7.5 billion, trailing only the Golden State Warriors. 

Dolan has a long history of disdain for the media and rarely speaks with reporters. He predicted on the show that the podcast would be listened to most by the media. 

In recent weeks, Dolan has called for transparency on NBA finances, ripping the league office for its “swelling costs and headcount.” Part of Dolan’s frustrations stem from the NBA’s new media-rights deal, which he claims hurts his regional sports networks. Those networks may be headed to bankruptcy following a bruising carriage dispute. 

Over the course of the podcast, Dolan admitted to interfering with team decisions over the years, which he said he has since abstained from. The Knicks are currently 42–23; with Brunson and Tom Thibodeau, the team is in its best era since Patrick Ewing patrolled the Garden in the 1990s.

“There were times when I sort of reached for that shiny sparkly object,” Dolan said on the show. “Maybe this is what we need, especially when things were not going well. Let’s bring in this guy and maybe he’ll turn it all around for us. … And what I’ve learned over time is that doesn’t work. It really doesn’t.”

Asked whether he has a signing or trade he wishes he made, Dolan passed on answers such as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who spurned the franchise in 2019 to sign with the Brooklyn Nets. Instead, he chose another All-Star from New York’s crosstown team. Dolan said he wanted to trade for Vince Carter in 2004 after he asked out of Toronto, but his doctors advised against it. 

“We were gonna do the trade, and the medical team came back and told us that he had a 90% severed Achilles tendon and that it would never hold up and that once it ruptured he would never be the same player,” Dolan said. “And for that reason we didn’t do the trade. And Vince Carter went on to have five, six, seven [prime] seasons. I kept waiting for his Achilles to break and it never broke.”