Madison Sq. Backyard CEO James Dolan is understood for his fiery repute. He emailed an aged man that he was a “hateful mess” when he questioned his management of the Knicks and advised one other spectator he might “take pleasure in watching the video games on TV” after he yelled at him to promote the crew whereas he was leaving a recreation. Former Knicks participant Charles Oakley as soon as sued Dolan alleging he had him forcibly eliminated” from the stands throughout a recreation to publicly embarrass him (a cost Dolan denied). Up till now it’s all been dismissed as simply his gruff New York fashion.
However his choice to search out and kick out attorneys—and their whole regulation companies—from MSG utilizing facial recognition has incited an outcry that might presumably imply the Backyard going through disciplinary motion concerning its liquor license and has known as into query its particular allow to function and its particular property tax exemption of $43 million a 12 months.
Dolan’s use of the AI software program has now pitted him towards not simply the 90 regulation companies which have lively litigation towards the Madison Sq. Backyard firm but additionally towards the New York State Liquor Authority for presumably being in violation with the situations of the venue’s liquor license, the state’s legal professional normal demanding proof the facial-recognition coverage doesn’t violate civil rights discrimination legal guidelines, and members of the state legislature and the New York Metropolis Council who are actually questioning why the venue will get a particular tax break in any respect and why the venue nonetheless sits on prime of a dilapidated Penn Station.
Dolan, recognized extra for avoiding the press, went on a full offensive on Fox 5 New York’s morning present on January 26. He mentioned the banned legal professionals have been representing “ambulance chasers” and “ticket scalpers”; {accused} the politicians of leaping on the bandwagon as a result of they “just like the clicks”; and claimed the New York State Alcohol Authority CEO was “grandstanding.” He mentioned, as somebody who had been sober for 29 years, that alcohol wasn’t essential to him, and dared the board to remove his license. His firm additionally reportedly staffed up by hiring former Trump official Hope Hicks and retained 9 members of Greenberg Traurig agency to function lobbyists for his or her pursuits in Albany.
He mentioned he plans to adjust to the legal professional normal’s request to supply justification for his facial-recognition program with proof that it’s in compliance with all relevant discrimination legal guidelines by February 13, and was assured AG Letitia James would finally discover his use of facial recognition authorized. Dolan mentioned he has used facial recognition since 2018 to supply a protected and safe setting for our prospects and ourselves and can proceed to make use of it “as a instrument to maintain antagonistic attorneys out of our venues.”
“I don’t care in the event that they’re a lawyer or no matter you get to say who you serve,” Dolan mentioned. “If there’s somebody you don’t wish to serve, you get to say, ‘I don’t wish to serve you.’ And if it’s anyone who’s suing you and attempting to place you out of enterprise or take your cash from you, you have got a proper to be somewhat sad about it.”
The timing of Dolan’s outburst couldn’t be worse for him. MSG’s 10-year particular license to function a venue with greater than a 2,500 capability is ready to run out in June. NY Metropolis Council member Erik Bottcher, who represents the third district the place MSG sits, mentioned Dolan was advised town wished MSG to relocate as a result of Penn Station was sorely in want of renovation. In 2013, Dolan was granted a short-term license, as a substitute of the everlasting one petitioned for, for that very motive.
Bottcher is main the push to have MSG transfer to the final piece of the Hudson Yards rail line that has but to be developed and to construct a state-of the-art new area on the water, however Dolan has been adamant he’s staying put. “No, I’m not going to maneuver Madison Sq. Backyard,” Dolan mentioned on Fox 5 Good Day New York. “It’s straightforward for everyone to get to, proper, and you already know actually, we’ve invested billions of {dollars} within the constructing.”
The controversy over the usage of facial-recognition software program isn’t serving to Dolan’s trigger, Bottcher mentioned. “I undoubtedly don’t suppose James Dolan is doing himself any favors being so immovable on the [facial-recognition] challenge,” Bottcher mentioned. “The publicity surrounding it has been very dangerous for him at an inopportune time.”
Larry Hutcher, a season Knicks ticket holder, a founding companion at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron who introduced a lawsuit towards MSG representing 24 ticket resellers accusing it of violating New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Regulation (ACAL), mentioned he knew from the beginning that he might face some form of repercussion going towards Dolan. Fourteen days after submitting the criticism, the agency acquired a letter that every one of its attorneys could be banned from getting into all of the venues owned and operated by MSG (which incorporates Radio Metropolis Music Corridor and the Beacon Theatre.)
