New York Knicks for sale? Depends on the offer, says owner James Dolan

Dolan said “people have sent feelers out, but never any that were pursued” and those feelers have fetched numbers upward of $5 billion for the Knicks, but no “bonafide offers.”

Published : Dec 17, 2018 19:50 IST

James Dolan owned New York Knicks is valued by Forbes at $3.6 billion.
James Dolan owned New York Knicks is valued by Forbes at $3.6 billion.
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James Dolan owned New York Knicks is valued by Forbes at $3.6 billion.

James Dolan recently put the New York Liberty up for sale and told ESPN he wouldn’t rule out doing the same with the New York Knicks.

"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,” Dolan said.

“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."

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"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."

Dolan, 63, said “people have sent feelers out, but never any that were pursued” and those feelers have fetched numbers upward of $5 billion for the Knicks, but no “bonafide offers.”

Forbes has valued the Knicks at $3.6 billion — more than any other team in the NBA.

"The teams are very valuable assets, and they get more valuable every year," said Dolan, who also owns the New York Rangers.

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"I love the Knicks and Rangers, right, but you still have a responsibility to your shareholders. They're not there because they're fans. You don't invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a stock because you're a fan."

The Rockets are the most recent NBA franchise to go through an ownership change, selling for $2.2 billion to Tilman Fertitta in 2017.

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