Saturday, May 31, 2014

Madison Square Garden Stock Jumps As Los Angeles Clippers Fetch $2 Billion

The Dolan family, the controlling owners of publicly traded Madison Square Garden, are big winners in the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers for an NBA record price of $2 billion.

Yes, the New York Rangers are in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 20 years, and the $2 million plus the hockey team nets on average from each  home playoff game will boost MSG's bottom line. But the main reason for MSG's surging stock is the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers by Donald and Rochelle Sterling to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for MSG's surging stock.

As this chart shows, shares of MSG, the company that owns the hockey team, the NBA's New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden, underperformed the overall stock market as the Rangers advanced through the first three rounds of the playoffs. But the stock price for MSG is up 3% in the two days since I wrote that the Clippers would fetch close to $2 billion.

This is a sign that at least for now investors believe the $2 billion price tag for the Clippers will rub off on the rest of sports. Or at least other big market basketball teams.

 

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