MSG Sport to spin New York Knicks and Rangers into NYSE-listed firms
Directors at Madison Square Garden Sports Corp have approved plans to spin off the organisation’s New York Rangers and New York Knicks franchises into separate public firms.
The move will make the NBA-winning New York Knicks the first publicly traded basketball team in nearly a quarter of a century.
The New York Knicks NBA spin-off would include the affiliate Westchester Knicks team while the New York Rangers NHL firm would be wrapped in with the affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack, with the move expected to be completed by the end of the month.
The New York Kicks, who were worth around $10bn in Sportico’s most recent estimations, albeit before the $12bn LA Lakers sale earlier this year, will now trade on the New York Stock Exchange as MSG Knickerbockers Corp under MGSK while the New York Rangers ice hockey team will trade as MSG Rangers Corp under MSGR.
New York Knicks on the market
“With our board’s approval we are now one step closer to our goal of separating our Knicks and Rangers businesses into two distinct public companies,” said chief executive officer of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp James Dolan said. “Both teams have storied histories and large and passionate fan bases, and we believe each company will be well-positioned to generate long-term value for shareholders.”
Dolan will now become executive chairman and chief of MSG Rangers Corp while remaining as executive chairman and chief of MSG Knickerbockers Corp.
The move may see the Madison Square Garden group cash in on the surge of interest across sport.
Valuations of US franchises are soaring year-on-year while football clubs across Europe are holding or increasing valuations, albeit often at a lower level than North American teams.
A significant minority stake in Liverpool was sold to a consortium which includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos over the summer in a deal that valued the Premier League club at $6bn.