Tweet of the Night goes to Darren Rovell, who pointed out a very disturbing fall in value of Madison Square Garden shares. I didn’t major in finance, but when you fall $93 million in value in less than a week, something probably went terribly, terribly wrong. Somewhere out there in Houston, Jeremy Lin – as nice as he is – is probably laughing at this outrageous drop in numbers. Suffice to say, the decision to let Lin walk is a financial mistake James Dolan may not soon forget, no matter how loaded he is. Here’s a little more information on how Lin helped bring the value of MSG up in the first place:
Just as Lin’s departure depressed MSG’s share price, his emergence from obscurity in carrying the nearly moribund Knicks on a seven-game winning streak in early February sent it soaring and helped MSG add US$71 million in market value over a six-month period. The stock rose from US$29.32 on Feb. 3, the day before Lin’s first game-changing performance, to US$33.43 on Feb. 21, when “Linsanity” was at its height. It continued its rise through the rest of the season and then peaked on July 3 at US$38.91, shortly after an arbitrator said Lin was eligible for an “Early Bird” exception, which most observers felt increased the chances he would stay with the team. At the same time, the Linsanity phenomenon also brought capacity crowds back to Madison Square Garden for Knicks games. It was also a key factor leading to the settlement of a long-lasting dispute on TV broadcasting rights between MSG and Time Warner Cable, which many believe will ultimately stand as Lin’s greatest fin
Stephen Curry’s Tweet of the Day
Im laughing at this. Awesome to see the James Dolan poison pill/tictac be far more expensive than anyone thought. But to be fair, wasn’t the garden selling out before Lin arrived?
Yeah Garden sells out and there’s about a 2 year wait for season tickets (at offensive prices). The only projected revenue decrease I can think of is from a decrease in viewers (e.g. from fringe fans) which would effect MSG Network ad sales.