Madison Square Garden Sports

Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (also known as MSG Sports) is an American sports holding company based in New York City.

MSG Sports manages professional sports teams. These include the National Basketball Association's New York Knicks and their NBA G League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks, and the National Hockey League's New York Rangers and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.

The original company was established in 2010 when Cablevision spun off the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Madison Square Garden, MSG Network and other entertainment assets as an independent, publicly traded company.

In 2015, the original company spun off the sports and entertainment division into a separate company and the original company was renamed to MSG Networks, Inc.; the new company took the name "the Madison Square Garden Company".

In 2020, the Madison Square Garden Company rebranded as Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. and subsequently spun off its entertainment division as Madison Square Garden Entertainment.

On May 31, 1923, Tex Rickard incorporated the New Madison Square Garden Corporation for the purpose of building and operating the third Madison Square Garden. On January 15, 1925, shortly after the Garden opened, the corporation's name was changed to the Madison Square Garden Corporation.

Following the success of the National Hockey League's New York Americans, the Madison Square Garden Corporation established the New York Rangers, which began play in 1926. In 1946, at the behest of Ned Irish, the Madison Square Garden Corporation became a charter member of the National Basketball Association with the New York Knicks.

By the mid-1950s, James D. Norris and Arthur Wirtz, who already owned the Detroit Olympia and Chicago Stadium as well as interests in numerous National Hockey League teams, owned some 60% of the stock in the Madison Square Garden Corporation. Both men served on the corporation's board, as did Irish (who was executive vice president) and John Reed Kilpatrick (who became chairman of the board), among others. In 1957, however, U.S. Federal Judge Sylvester J. Ryan ruled that the International Boxing Club of New York (IBC), run by Norris and Wirtz, was monopolizing the promotion of boxing matches in violation of U.S. antitrust law. Ryan ordered the two men to divest their stock in the Madison Square Garden Corporation within five years and resign as officers and directors of the company. Though Norris and Wirtz appealed, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld Ryan's decision two years later.