Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-07-29)

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Bloomberg Businessweek July29, 2019

It dates to the paper’s harsh coverage during

one of the team’s biggest off-court debacles,a

lawsuit filed in 2006 by a former MSG executive

Anucha Browne Sanders, who alleged thatteam

dent Isiah Thomas had created a hostile worke

ment. She sued him, MSG, and Dolan personall

was ugly and embarrassing for the companyand

A jury ruled against MSG, which settled for $11.6 m

punitive damages could be assigned. Whenas

case reflected on the Knicks, then-NBA CommissionerDavid

Stern wasn’t subtle: “It demonstrates that they’renota model

of intelligent management.”

Ever since the suit, Isola says, it’s been “an all-out offen-

sive.” (Isola worked at the Daily News for 12 years; since last

year he’s written for the Athletic website.) At one point, Dolan

threatened to buy the paper and fold it.

Bondy’s son Stefan now covers the Knicks for the Daily

News. Toward the end of a disappointing 2017-18 season, he

approached the team’s then-public-relations rep, Jonathan

Supranowitz, to propose a story about player development.

“His response was, ‘If anybody does an interview with the

Daily News, they’re gonna get fired,’ ” Bondy recalls. NBA rules

forbid the Knicks from restricting access to games or to the

locker room, but the league can’t force Dolan to invite specific

reporters or newspapers to MSG press conferences or media

calls. He does, however, push the boundaries. In June, the

NBA fined the Knicks $50,000 for keeping the Daily News from

a post-draft press conference.

“I don’t worry about how I look,” Dolan said last year. “I

don’t make my decisions by PR. I make them based on what

I think is right and wrong and what’s best for the organiza-

tion.” He was tired, he said, of “years and years of these guys

unding”onhisteam.Thesereporterswantto“cause

ouble and be antagonistic.” They “hate the team,” he

aid.“By the way, the team doesn’t really love them,

ither. Why do they come?”

cover a team that is the worst in the NBA, and

y’vebeen the worst team for the last 18 years,” Stefan

dysays. “The coverage reflects that. He seemed to

atethat we have an ax to grind, but that’s certainly

owI feel. I grew up a Knicks fan. I would love for

themtodowell. It would be good for business. It would be

goodformycareer. But they just can’t seem to get out of

theirownway.”

The logical reaction to feeling unfairly treated by the media

is to try to correct that injury. Talk more often, more freely.

Dolan, a notorious bearer of grudges, won’t do it. He seems

to want to control the message without ever explaining it.

In 2007, Sports Illustrated assigned S.L. Price to profile

Dolan. Price was granted generous access, including a long sit-

down in Dolan’s office. The resulting story was fair, but harsh.

Shortly after publication, John Huey, then Time Inc.’s edi-

tor in chief, got a call from Time Warner’s CEO at the time,

Richard Parsons, asking if Huey and then-Sports Illustrated

editor Terry McDonnell would meet with Dolan and his PR

rep. The Dolans had a seat on the Time Warner board, but as

Huey recalls, Parsons asked for no favors other than a meet-

ing. “Just listen to him,” Huey was told.

Dolan and his rep met the two editors in a small confer-

ence room in Time’s midtown tower. Dolan came with a stack

of materials, plus a marked-up copy of the piece. “He starts

reading from the article, which is never a good sign,” Huey

recalls. “I’m thinking this will be 15 minutes of ranting, but it

goes on and on and on.” Dolan wasn’t questioning particular

DATA:

NBA,

BASKETBALL-REFERENCE.COM,

PATRICIA

BENDER:

WWW.ESKIMO.COM/~PBENDER/,

BLOOMBERG

REPORTING.

PAYROLL RANKING FOR 30 NBA TEAMS, 29 PRE-2004

g

a

,

mpresi-

environ-

y.The trial

dtheleague.

million before

kedhowthe

i id

po

tr

sa

ei

“I

they

Bon

indica

notho

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JOAKIM

NOAH

Signed $72 million four-year deal, played 53 games over two years.

SPENDINGMORETOGETLESS

Winning

percentage

Performance and payroll for all NBA teams over the past 20 seasons. For each season, teams

are positioned left to right by payroll rank. The optimal combination is a small payroll and high win

percentage;theKnicksareunmatchedatachievingtheopposite.

Knicks Other teams

’17-’18 ’18-’19

’10-’11

’15-’16 ’16-’17 ’09-’10 ’07-’08

’00-’01

’03-’04

’02-’03 and ’13-’14

’04-’05 and ’06-’07

’08-’09

’01-’02

’05-’06

’14-’15

’11-’12 ’12-’13

’04-’05 Spurs

(Won title)

’16-’17 Warriors

(Won title)

’15-’16 Cavs

(Won title)

 Lowest payroll of the season Highest payroll

1.000

0

.500

’99-’00 (Dolan’s first year)