The New York Knicks delivered fans their long-awaited NBA title in June, ending a 53-year drought. As control owner James Dolan reveled in the Knicks lovefest, he had another lucrative stint as the head of three publicly traded companies, earning $42.1 million combined in their most recent fiscal years.
Dolan serves as CEO and executive chair of MSG Knickerbockers (MSGK) and Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSGE), which both filed their proxies over the last week that detailed executive compensation for the fiscal year ending June 30.
MSGK was just renamed from Madison Square Garden Sports after MSGS completed the spinoff of the New York Rangers into a separate company, MSG Rangers. Dolan will also serve as CEO and chair of MSGR, whose shares started trading Tuesday.
At MSGK, Dolan and all of the listed executives earned 100% of their incentive awards. Dolan’s package was worth $3.2 million on top of his $1.6 million base salary. He also received an additional $7.7 million stock award and $542,054 in other compensation for a total of $13.04 million, down a tick from last year’s $13.15 million.
Dolan’s payout would have slotted in at sixth on the Knicks’ 2025-26 payroll, just ahead of Mitchell Robinson’s $13 million; Karl-Anthony Towns was first at $53.1 million. Goalie Igor Shesterkin ($15.8 million) was the lone Rangers player who earned more than Dolan.
Dolan’s compensation at MSGE, which owns the MSG venue, Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre, rose to $14.79 million, up from $14.15 million. His base salary was $1.5 million, and he collected an $8.69 million stock award.
Sphere Entertainment, which owns MSG Networks and the $2.3 billion Las Vegas Sphere, is the other company Dolan oversees, and the family controls the voting stock. The company changed its fiscal year-end to December from June in 2025.
Its April proxy statement had Dolan’s total annual compensation at $14.28 million. His base salary at Sphere is only $230,000, with the bulk of his pay from option awards worth $13.03 million. In 2024, Dolan signed three-year contract extensions with MSG Sports, MSG Entertainment and Sphere.
In addition to the Knicks title, shareholders of Dolan’s companies have recently scored. Shares of the former MSG Sports have doubled from their September 2025 lows, driven by the spinoff plan, the NBA title and two Los Angeles Lakers sales, first for $10 billion in 2025 and then a year later for $12.5 billion. Sportico valued the Knicks at $12.8 billion, behind only the Golden State Warriors in our NBA team valuations. MSGE shares also surged 67% over the past year on momentum for concerts and other live events.
Sphere shares are up 64% during the past 12 months, as the company has consistently topped earnings estimates with its reimagined Wizard of Oz show, and the Las Vegas Sphere ranked first on both Billboard’s and Pollstar’s lists of the top-grossing venues worldwide in 2025.