Jim Dolan Is King of All Media
By Will Leitch
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So, you ask, what is Jim Dolan up to these days? His Knicks don't have a long-term general manager (or, for that matter, a roster), and, as far as we know, he and Isiah Thomas did not, in fact, get married in Manhattan yesterday. (Perhaps they are waiting for a more scenic environment.) You can only host so many July 4 parties. Dolan must be a little bored. So: Let's take over more media organizations! As long as it doesn't require talking to media organizations, sure, let's do it.
Late last week, buried in an SEC filing, Live Nation — the company that owns Ticketmaster — announced that it was adding a new member to its board: Jim Dolan. Some might consider that a conflict of interest. Or, uh, several. From Deadline's amusing summary of Dolan's holdings:
He's a power in live entertainment in his role as executive chairman of Madison Square Garden -- a major owner of concert venues (Radio City Music Hall, The Beacon Theater, The Chicago Theater), sports teams (New York's Knicks and Rangers) and media outlets (MSG network and music channel Fuse). Dolan's also CEO of Cablevision Systems, a director of AMC Networks, and a Live Nation client in his role as lead singer and guitarist for blues band JD and the Straight Shot.
"Lead singer and guitarst for blues band JD and the Straight Shot." Bwahahahaahaha! Of all the indignities of working public relations for MSG, the worst absolutely has to be calling reporters working on Dolan stories and desperately trying to sneak in a JD and the Straight Shot plug. "Yes, yes, in addition to the holdings from his father, don't forget 'Double My Order!' That's off their most recent album, 'Nothing To Hide.' Why, JD and the Straight Shot really put slow-burning blues jams together with ballads and tight rockers on 'Nothing To Hide!'" [Drinks ricin.]
Anyway, some have speculated that Dolan joining the Live Nation board is a shot across the bow of Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov. Not only does it potentially give Dolan control over Ticketmaster events that might play at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, it also puts Dolan on the board of the company that kinda owns all of Jay-Z's music. Yeah, how ya feel about that billboard outside MSG now, Nets?
That's probably an exaggeration, though: Dolan is merely on the board, not a CEO. If Live Nation has money to be made from the Barclay's Center, they'll happily take it. Perhaps the most amusing aspect of this is that, because of all of Dolan's conflicts — and let us repeat, there are tons of conflicts, even if you don't include JD and the Straight Shot! — Live Nation had to change the rules for its board members. Dolan, unlike the rest of the board, does not have to go to Live Nation with "corporate opportunities," and he can openly compete with Live Nation whenever he likes. Good deal! At this point, we're full expecting JD and the Straight Shot to win every Grammy from now on. The man's power is unimaginable. We just hope he doesn't sue us for this blog post or anything.
