Madison Square Garden CEO James Dolan is known for his fiery reputation. He emailed an elderly man that he was a “hateful mess” when he questioned his leadership of the Knicks and told another spectator he could “enjoy watching the games on TV” after he yelled at him to sell the team while he was leaving a game. Former Knicks player Charles Oakley once sued Dolan alleging he had him forcibly removed” from the stands during a game to publicly embarrass him (a charge Dolan denied). Up until now it’s all been dismissed as just his gruff New York style.
But his decision to hunt down and kick out attorneys—and their entire law firms—from MSG using facial recognition has incited an outcry that could possibly mean the Garden facing disciplinary action regarding its liquor license and has called into question its special permit to operate and its special property tax exemption of $43 million a year.
Dolan’s use of the AI software has now pitted him against not just the 90 law firms that have active litigation against the Madison Square Garden company but also against the New York State Liquor Authority for possibly being in violation with the conditions of the venue’s liquor license, the state’s attorney general demanding proof the facial-recognition policy doesn’t violate civil rights discrimination laws, and members of the state legislature and the New York City Council who are now questioning why the venue gets a special tax break at all and why the venue still sits on top of a dilapidated Penn Station.
Dolan, known more for avoiding the press, went on a full offensive on Fox 5 New York’s morning show on January 26. He said the banned lawyers were representing “ambulance chasers” and “ticket scalpers”; accused the politicians of jumping on the bandwagon because they “like the clicks”; and claimed the New York State Alcohol Authority CEO was “grandstanding.” He said, as someone who had been sober for 29 years, that alcohol wasn’t important to him, and dared the board to take away his license. His company also reportedly staffed up by hiring former Trump official Hope Hicks and retained nine members of Greenberg Traurig firm to serve as lobbyists for their interests in Albany.
He said he plans to comply with the attorney general’s request to provide justification for his facial-recognition program with proof that it is in compliance with all applicable discrimination laws by February 13, and was confident AG Letitia James would ultimately find his use of facial recognition legal. Dolan said he has used facial recognition since 2018 to provide a safe and secure environment for our customers and ourselves and will continue to use it “as a tool to keep adverse attorneys out of our venues.”
“I don’t care if they’re a lawyer or whatever you get to say who you serve,” Dolan said. “If there is someone you don’t want to serve, you get to say, ‘I don’t want to serve you.’ And if it’s somebody who is suing you and trying to put you out of business or take your money from you, you have a right to be a little unhappy about it.”
The timing of Dolan’s outburst couldn’t be worse for him. MSG’s 10-year special license to operate a venue with more than a 2,500 capacity is set to expire in June. NY City Council member Erik Bottcher, who represents the 3rd district where MSG sits, said Dolan was told the city wanted MSG to relocate because Penn Station was sorely in need of renovation. In 2013, Dolan was granted a short-term license, instead of the permanent one petitioned for, for that very reason.
Bottcher is leading the push to have MSG move to the last piece of the Hudson Yards rail line that has yet to be developed and to build a state-of the-art new arena on the water, but Dolan has been adamant he is staying put. “No, I’m not going to move Madison Square Garden,” Dolan said on Fox 5 Good Day New York. “It’s easy for everybody to get to, right, and you know honestly, we’ve invested billions of dollars in the building.”
The controversy over the use of facial-recognition software isn’t helping Dolan’s cause, Bottcher said. “I definitely don’t think James Dolan is doing himself any favors being so immovable on the [facial-recognition] issue,” Bottcher said. “The publicity surrounding it has been very bad for him at an inopportune time.”
Larry Hutcher, a season Knicks ticket holder, a founding partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron who brought a lawsuit against MSG representing 24 ticket resellers accusing it of violating New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law (ACAL), said he knew from the start that he could face some kind of repercussion going against Dolan. Fourteen days after filing the complaint, the firm received a letter that all of its attorneys would be banned from entering all the venues owned and operated by MSG (which includes Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre.)
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