James L. Dolan

James Lawrence Dolan (born May 11, 1955) is an American businessman, and the executive chairman and chief executive officer of Madison Square Garden Sports and Madison Square Garden Entertainment, and executive chairman of MSG Networks.

As the companies' chairman, Dolan oversees all operations within the company and supervises day-to-day operations of its professional sports teams, the New York Knicks and New York Rangers as well as their regional sports networks, which include MSG Network and MSG Plus.

In 1993, he went to drug rehabilitation at the Hazelden clinic in Center City, Minnesota.

Dolan opposed his father's proposed Voom satellite service, which became a polarizing controversy among Cablevision's board of directors.

While supporters argued Voom could propel Cablevision into the future emerging satellite market and a wider customer base, opponents of the plan, including James Dolan, argued it was too expensive with no expense relief for the foreseeable future.

In the end, the younger Dolan prevailed and Voom was shut down.

This was an instrumental event in Dolan emerging from his father's shadow, albeit reluctantly, as a viable businessman.

His business career has included multiple failures, which include purchasing the failing Wiz electronics and entertainment chain, which ended up posting losses of $250 million before being liquidated, and the Clearview Cinemas chain which failed to generate any significant revenue.

Dolan fostered Cablevision's philanthropic partnership with The Lustgarten Foundation, a private supporter of pancreatic cancer research.

Together with Charles Dolan and former Cablevision Vice Chairman and Madison Square Garden Chairman Marc Lustgarten.

In 1994, Paramount Communications, the owner of Madison Square Garden, was acquired by Viacom, who in turn sold the MSG properties to Cablevision and ITT Corporation, which had 50% ownership each.

ITT sold its share to Cablevision three years later.

In 1995, he was made CEO of Cablevision.

Throughout his early adult life, Dolan battled drug and alcohol problems and was reportedly known for having a volatile temper.

Dolan established the Foundation in 1998.

In 1999, Dolan was given an increased role in managing Cablevision's sports properties and is now the primary manager of these assets.

The teams under his domain include most notably the National Basketball Association's New York Knicks, the National Hockey League's New York Rangers, the Women's National Basketball Association's New York Liberty, and the American Hockey League's Hartford Wolf Pack.

Of these teams, the only one to win a championship is the Wolf Pack, who won the Calder Cup in the 1999–2000 AHL season.

As Chairman of Madison Square Garden, he supervises day-to-day operations of its professional sports teams and regional sports networks, which include MSG Network and MSG Plus.

He is a governor of the Knicks and Rangers to their respective leagues.

Although the Knicks made the NBA Finals in 1999, they did not post another winning season until the 2012–13 season.

Like the Rangers, the Knicks performed abysmally in the early 2000s.

Unlike the Rangers, they have yet to fully recover, which fans mostly blame on Dolan's management missteps.

One widely criticized decision was to give shooting guard Allan Houston a 6-year, $100 million maximum contract in 2001, when no other team had offered Houston more than $75 million.

Houston retired due to injury after just four seasons and with over $40 million remaining on his contract.

Furthermore, the Knicks did not make the playoffs at any point between the 2003–04 and 2010–11 seasons, which both ended in the first round with four-game sweeps of the Knicks.

In 2003, Dolan hired Isiah Thomas as team president of basketball operations and general manager to replace embattled executive Scott Layden.

Thomas made aggressive moves to re-tool and upgrade the Knicks' roster through trades, the NBA Draft, and free agency.

Despite the talent Thomas imported, the team did not perform up to expectations and Thomas was often the target of the frustration of Knicks fans; Dolan was also on the receiving end of the ire of Knicks fans for his commitment to Thomas in spite of Thomas' sometimes questionable decisions.

After the 2004–05 season, the Knicks signed head coach Larry Brown to a 5-year, $50 million contract.

In 2007, NBA Commissioner David Stern criticized Dolan's management of the Knicks, saying "they're not a model of intelligent management."

In 2008, Cablevision made a multi-year commitment to underwrite the Foundation's costs, ensuring that 100 percent of every donation goes to researching this disease.

With Dolan's backing, Cablevision used its assets to advance the curePC campaign, aimed at increasing public awareness of pancreatic cancer and is responsible for organizing the Holiday Rock & Roll Bash, the Foundation's annual fundraiser.

Dolan played a role in organizing the recent "12-12-12" benefit concert, which raised an initial $50 million for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, with additional money still coming in.

Other benefit concerts included "The Concert For New York City," which generated more than $35 million in aid for 9/11 victims and heroes, and "From The Big Apple to The Big Easy," which raised nearly $9 million for Hurricane Katrina relief.

Dolan supports MSG's ongoing commitment to the community, particularly through the Garden of Dreams Foundation, the non-profit charity that partners with MSG to help children facing obstacles throughout the New York metropolitan area.

Dolan was previously CEO of Cablevision, founded by his father, until its sale in June 2016 to European telecom conglomerate Altice.

Dolan is one of six children of Cablevision founder Charles Dolan and his wife, Helen Ann Dolan.

He is of Irish descent.

After originally pursuing a career in music, Dolan eventually switched to a major in communications at SUNY New Paltz and began working for Cablevision in various capacities including sales before eventually being dispatched to Cleveland by his father to manage the launching of a sports radio station.