James Dolan’s Championship Drought Continues as New York Rangers Lose in Playoffs

New York Rangers owner James Dolan has riches aplenty—his family has a 10-figure net worth—but he doesn’t yet have Stanley Cup silver. His NHL team hasn’t won a championship since 1994, before the Dolan family acquired the team, and the team’s quest for hockey glory this season ended on June 11 with a loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the playoffs. Meanwhile, his New York Knicks basketball team hasn’t won an NBA championship since 1973.

Amid this long drought, Dolan has clashed with fans on more than one occasion. In 2015, for example, he responded to a critical email sent by a Knicks fan by calling the sender a “sad person” and an “alcoholic maybe,” reports ESPN. And in 2019, after a fan shouted at him at a Knicks game to demand Dolan sell the team, Dolan said he banned that fan from Knicks games for life, according to Sports Illustrated. So, who is this divisive fellow? Read on for more about Dolan’s career so far.

Dolan is the executive chairman of Madison Square Garden Sports (MSG Sports), which owns the Knicks and the Rangers, and the executive chairman and CEO of Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSG Entertainment), which owns the Madison Square Garden arena. In 2020, Dolan became chairman of AMC Networks—the company that owns the AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel and BBC America TV channels —after his father, Charles Dolan, stepped down, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

James was formerly the CEO of Cablevision, the cable-television company founded by Charles in 1973 and acquired by Altice in 2016. Forbes reported that Charles and his family had a real-time net worth of $5.1 billion as of June 14, making them the 495th wealthiest family or individual in the world. Celebrity Net Worth, meanwhile, reports James has a fortune of $2 billion.

Dolan signed new contracts to keep his roles at MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment in Dec. 2021, according to The Athletic, with a base salary of at least $1.25 million for his position at the former and at least $2 million for his position at the latter. With his base salaries and equity grants, Dolan would receive a minimum payment of $26.5 million annually, reports The Athletic.

In May 2021, Simply Wall St reported that the Dolan Family Trust was the largest shareholder of Madison Square Garden Sports (NYSE: MSGS), holding 8 percent of the company, and that James Dolan was the third-largest shareholder with 6.9 percent of the stock. Madison Square Garden Sports has a market capitalization of $3.641 billion, according to Yahoo! Finance, with a 52-week range of $149.98 to $203.37 as of June 14.