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Key Takeaways
- There aren’t many ways to directly own a share of your favorite pro sports team. The organization that owns the Knicks and Rangers may change that for New York fans.
- Shares of that company, Madison Square Garden Sports, have been hot lately, adding some three-quarters of their value over the past five years.
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If you’ve always wanted to own a piece of a pro basketball team, this deal might be a slam dunk. (If you prefer ice hockey, insert your favorite metaphor here.)
Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS), which owns the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers, said its board would explore a spinoff that would create publicly traded companies for each team. (The stadium itself is owned by Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSGE), which was created by the 2020 separation of the teams from the facility.)
“We believe this proposed transaction would provide each company with enhanced strategic flexibility, its own defined business focus, and clear characteristics for investors,” MSGS CEO Jim Dolan said.
Why This Matters to Investors
There aren’t many opportunities for investors to straightforwardly buy shares of their favorite sports team—though there are a few. The deal proposed today would do just that, at least for fans of Manhattan’s home teams.
The company’s statement said no timetable had been set for a deal, and that it was not certain one would happen. League approval would be required, the company said.
The deal would offer investors an opportunity to do something comparatively rare: put their money where their rooting mouths are.
Most sports teams are privately owned, and none of the organizations in the top U.S. leagues—the NBA and NHL, but also the NFL, Major League Baseball and MLS—are traded as single stocks. Some teams are owned by larger conglomerates; the Green Bay Packers do offer public ownership, though through a somewhat unconventional arrangement.
The Knicks are faring better than the Rangers so far in their respective seasons, but Madison Square Garden Sports stock is hot. The shares are up substantially today on the news, bringing their rise to roughly 30% this year—and they’ve added almost three-quarters of their value over the past five years.
In 2025, the Knicks were ranked among the top 10 most valuable sports franchises worldwide at some $9.5 billion, according to Forbes.
Citi analysts on Wednesday said they value the stock at $337, about 15% above yesterday’s close; the Knicks, they said, accounted for $226 of that. “We like the proposed spin-off and see it as a viable step to potentially unlock value,” they wrote.
