{"id":678994,"date":"2026-05-18T17:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678994\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:01:09","slug":"knicks-rangers-split-advances-with-sec-filing-by-msg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678994\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks, Rangers Split Advances With SEC Filing by MSG"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMadison Square Garden Sports (NYSE: MSGS) has filed a Form 10 Registration Statement with the SEC for the proposed spin-off of its New York Rangers<\/a> business from the New York Knicks<\/a>, which currently both sit under the MSGS banner. In February, the MSGS board approved a plan to explore a split<\/a> to unlock shareholder value.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe confidential filing does not ensure the split is completed. \u201cCompletion of the transaction would be subject to various conditions, including effectiveness of the Form 10 Registration Statement, any required league approval, receipt of a tax opinion from counsel and Company board approval,\u201d MSGS said in its release.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe spin-off is expected to be structured as tax-free for shareholders, but there are other tax consequences to this deal.<\/p>\n

\n\tA new federal tax law<\/a> expands a 2017 tax provision that limited the compensation public companies could deduct for tax purposes.\u00a0The 2017 provision capped the deduction at $1 million each for the CEO, CFO and the next three highest-paid officers. The new law expands the number of employees to also include the next five highest-compensated ones starting with the 2027 tax year.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn independently traded Knicks team would pay its top five executives and top five players $195 million\u2014nearly 90% of that is to players\u2014triggering $55.4 million in taxes<\/a>, per Seaport Analyst Research Partners analyst David Joyce, after excluding the $1 million per employee in maximum compensation. The Rangers would incur a post-spinoff incremental tax of $19.8 million on $76 million in salaries.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe spin enhances the possibility of raising capital, and [it] makes minority stake sales easier, as there are two distinct teams\u2019 business models, which makes for a clearer investment vehicle,\u201d he wrote in an April research note.<\/p>\n

\n\tSportico recently spoke with multiple investors who think MSGS owner James Dolan<\/a> could move beyond just an LP stake deal and sell one of the teams outright. Someone familiar with the spinoff details pushed back on the premise of a control sale of either team. Sportico most recently valued the Knicks at $9.85 billion<\/a> and the Rangers at $3.65 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tA spokesperson for MSGS declined to comment on the possibility of a control sale of one of the teams.<\/p>\n

\n\tMSG Sports\u2019 plan to potentially split the teams sent shares up 16% the day it was announced in February. MSGS shares are up 79% during the past year. The stock still trades at a 29% discount to Sportico\u2019s $13.5 billion combined valuation for the Knicks and Rangers.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Tuesday, the Knicks kick off their Eastern Conference finals series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. A series win would likely push the Knicks\u2019 playoff revenue<\/a> to at least $140 million. The Knicks last won the NBA title in 1973, while the Rangers\u2019 last Stanley Cup win was 1994. The Rangers missed the playoffs this season for the second straight year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madison Square Garden Sports (NYSE: MSGS) has filed a Form 10 Registration Statement with the SEC for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,247008,590,1666,3617,85],"class_list":["post-678994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-james-dolan","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}