Knicks’ James Dolan Rips Media Deal

The NBA reached an agreement on a new media rights deal set to begin in the 2025-26 season, but New York Knicks executive chairman James Dolan isn’t a fan.

Dolan believes that the new media deal penalizes franchises that achieve higher revenue, like the Knicks, and rewards lesser teams to give more equity around the league.

“Due to revenue pooling, you are guaranteed to be neither a success nor a failure….Of course, to get there, the league must take down the successful franchises and redistribute to the less successful. This new media deal goes a long way to accomplishing that goal,” Dolan said via ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski. “The NBA has made the move to an NFL model…We are well on our way to becoming a one size fits all, characterless organization. Just remember we did this on the backs of owners like Jerry Buss,”

In the new media rights deal, platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Peacock and NBC will have the opportunity to air games along with ESPN and ABC. There will be available games on a streaming service or a local channel seven days a week, which could be seen as a good thing. However, this also means that fewer games will air on the regional sports networks, or RSN’s. This means that MSG, which airs majority of Knicks games during the season, will have fewer eyeballs and won’t make as much money during the season.

Ultimately, there are a lot of benefits to this new media rights deal for the league as a whole. The exposure to a broader audience is what the NBA is hoping for, and this can achieve that. However, Dolan points out some drawbacks and is the first governor of a team to openly criticize the idea.

Make sure you bookmark All Knicks for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!