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DAZN will become the exclusive digital home of the MSG and YES networks this fall, in a breakthrough announcement Wednesday that is a likely precursor to deals with seven more NBA teams in the coming days and weeks. While paying undisclosed rights fees and sharing advertising revenue, DAZN will stream all non-national game broadcasts for MSG’s Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils and Sabres and YES Network’s Yankees and Nets -- effectively a takeover of the entire Gotham Sports direct to consumer app.
DAZN will become the exclusive digital home of the MSG and YES networks this fall, in a breakthrough announcement Wednesday that is a likely precursor to deals with seven more NBA teams in the coming days and weeks. While paying undisclosed rights fees and sharing advertising revenue, DAZN will stream all non-national game broadcasts for MSG’s Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils and Sabres and YES Network’s Yankees and Nets -- effectively a takeover of the entire Gotham Sports direct to consumer app. In addition, multiple NBA sources told SBJ that DAZN is close to acquiring full exclusive local broadcast rights next season for the T’Wolves, Cavaliers, Pacers, Spurs and Grizzlies, as well as DTC-only arrangements with the Magic and possibly the Hornets.
Within Dolan’s organization, however, some have a different view of Fat Joe. An internal Madison Square Garden database of VIPs labels Joe a “medium risk,” one of roughly 400 celebrities given a risk score. Many of those celebs are courtside fixtures at Knicks games: Edie Falco, Mark Ronson, John Turturro, and Tracy Morgan, to name a few. That makes the 400-ish entries unusual. The vast majority of the 39,539 entries in the so-called “talent” database—which tracks boldfaced names in business, technology, politics, media, and sports, along with their guests—are not marked with a risk score at all.
The database is part of a much larger trove of documents published last month by ShinyHunters, a criminal hacker collective. 404 Media was the first to report on the hack and the release of the VIP roll. But the extent to which Madison Square Garden labeled many of the Knicks’ most visible, loyal fans with a risk score hasn’t been previously revealed, nor has the rationale MSG used to do so. The database doesn’t provide an explicit explanation for Fat Joe’s “medium risk” designation. But as WIRED has previously documented, MSG security keeps close tabs on what is said online about Dolan and the Garden’s management. Some fans have been targeted by MSG for criticizing the mogul; MSG security even asked local law enforcement to visit a teenager in Colorado after one tweet. “They scared the crap 💩 out of some 14 year old kid in Colorado,” an MSG security staffer texted in a message reviewed by WIRED.
A source with knowledge of the matter tells WIRED that Garden security has performed social media sweeps for prominent people looking for complimentary tickets to games. If you’re a celebrity and you’re marked with a risk score—even as a low risk—it means “you’ve done something in the publicity world, the social media world, that has caught the attention of the wrong people,” the source continues. The talent database, which has entries dating back to December 2020 and includes updates as recent as early June of this year, makes repeated reference to “SM concerns.” Physical security threats—potential harms to people or property—are documented in a separate database, the source says. (The source adds that these sorts of databases are common at arenas.)
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According to the source, Fat Joe was flagged because of his connection to another legend of New York City rap, Jadakiss, who had been critical of Dolan in the past. (“It seems like he’s always more happier when the team sucks,” Jadakiss said in 2020.) Jadakiss is designated as a “medium risk.” The other members of his hip-hop trio, the Lox, are also in the database but don’t have a risk score. “It’s a really, really paranoid, terrible system,” the source says.
Pablo Torre Finds Out: NEW: MSG's V.I.P. database assigned "risk" scores to Knicks super-fans (and Taylor Swift wedding guests), including celebs who posted about owner James Dolan, according to @Wired. We got a first look at why "shocking" names made the list.
A new era has arrived for Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. — and it begins with the Rangers. MSG executive chairman and CEO James Dolan is handing over the day-to-day ownership responsibilities for the Blueshirts to his son Quentin, The Post has learned. This begins the process of passing the torch to his children, which Dolan has said he’s always hoped to execute. Indeed, for the first time since assuming control of both the Knicks and the Rangers 27 years ago, Jim Dolan is scaling back his involvement with one of his teams.
A source said Quentin Dolan’s promotion with the Rangers does not change anything for the Knicks. All is status quo for MSG’s NBA championship team, with Jim Dolan remaining in his executive chairman role.
Now that the Knicks are the NBA champions, Ben Stiller can confirm it — he is, in fact, making a documentary about the team. The Hollywood actor, producer and director ended all the speculation during an appearance on Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart’s “Roommates Show” on Wednesday. Stiller, an avid Knicks fan, said the “dream project” will be made with A24 for HBO and has the “full cooperation” of the NBA and MSG.
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Madison Square Garden has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit alleging hackers accessed sensitive visitor data from up to 26 million people collected through controversial surveillance and facial-recognition systems used at the Knicks home arena. The suit against Madison Square Garden Entertainment was filed Tuesday in New York federal court, one day after cybercrime group ShinyHunters claimed to have hacked the company’s internal systems to obtain everything from biometric facial recognition data and background check information to credit scores and Social Security numbers. The suit comes three days after the Knicks defeated the Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio to take home the 2025-26 championship.
The suit says MSG Entertainment has a “tempestuous history with respect to data privacy,” and notes that “despite a slew of lawsuits regarding this conduct, as well as consternation from privacy advocates and legislators in New York, the Arena—at the direction of its owner James Dolan—continues to collect biometric information from each visitor.” The plaintiff, Carlos Avalo, claims his personal identifying information was collected when he attended a concert at MSG in September 2025. He “reasonably believes” his information was included in the new data breach and is “gravely concerned” about what was exposed.
The young Democratic socialist mayor claimed he paid “roughly $1,000” for his nosebleeds standing-room spot for Monday night’s Game 3 between the Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, though sources with knowledge of the matter said the ticket actually cost him $750. Regular plebs had to shell out an average of around $7,500 for a ticket to the high-profile event. But Mamdani’s team reached out to MSG ahead of the game and told reps the mayor wanted a half-dozen tickets to attend the NBA Finals ahead of the games this week, and asked for the cheapest seats, according to sources briefed on the conversations.
Out of control fans fans smashed up a cop car outside Madison Square Garden, according to shocking video. Two maniacs were seen jumping on top of the car and smashing up its front window in a video posted by Freedomnews.TV.