OT: WNBA-NY Liberty up for Sale

[YellwJcket999]

Swipe:
The Madison Square Garden Co. MSGN -2.08% is looking to sell its Women’s National Basketball Association franchise, the New York Liberty.

The New York Liberty, established in 1996, is one of the original eight teams in the women’s professional basketball league. The company said Tuesday it is actively seeking a buyer to take over immediate operations of the franchise.

MSG, which also owns Madison Square Garden—home of the Liberty—and the National Basketball Association’s New York Knicks, was the team’s first owner.
“This was a difficult decision for us, which we made after carefully assessing the needs of our business,” Chief Executive James Dolan said in prepared remarks.

The announcement about seeking a buyer of the team comes one day after the company said David O’Connor would step down from his roles as CEO and president. The company named Mr. Dolan as his interim successor.

Shares in the company fell 1% to $222.71 in Tuesday trading.

 

[Magy Cannon]

Sorry this is happening. Wonder if anyone will want a WNBA team?

 

[eebmg]

Sorry this is happening. Wonder if anyone will want a WNBA team?

Based on this link,

NYCdata: Women's Basketball - New York Liberty Attendance Records

NY Liberty attendance has been going up steadily for the lasy years since 2013 and even though they do not have the 2016/2017 numbers, I imagine they are even better since the liberty were much better the lastt 2 years. Over a season, if we assume 35 dollars an average ticket, they seem to be pulling down > 4 million / yr and since they do not pay their players anything, I am not sure I see how they are losing money. I am sure the money from TV and sponsors is pretty low but still? I guess I am naive and maybe someone at the BY can explain how big a deficit , the NY liberty runs but under any circumstances, Dolan is a creep.

 

[j66kicker]

Based on this link,

NYCdata: Women's Basketball - New York Liberty Attendance Records

NY Liberty attendance has been going up steadily for the lasy years since 2013 ...... Over a season, if we assume 35 dollars an average ticket, they seem to be pulling down > 4 million / yr and since they do not pay their players anything, I am not sure I see how they are losing money. I am sure the money from TV and sponsors is pretty low but still? I guess I am naive and maybe someone at the BY can explain how big a deficit , the NY liberty runs but under any circumstances, Dolan is a creep.

$4 million isn’t much to cover player salaries & housing allowances, coaches, office staff, equipment, travel, marketing and whatever else. Plus MSG rents for $150-200K per night for events, so whoever buys them will have an even tougher time making money if they continue to play there. I think $4 million is about half of UConn’s WBB budget and we have no player salaries (although the full cost of a scholarship is probably more than the average WNBA salary).