MSG's James Dolan Says NHL "Mischaracterized" Rangers' Lawsuit

By Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

James Dolan Claims NHL "Mischaracterized"  Rangers' Lawsuit Against The League

MSG Chair James Dolan struck back at the NHL Thursday, faxing a letter to league owners saying that the NHL "mischaracterized" the Rangers' lawsuit against the league at a June BOG meeting. He describes the lawsuit as a "last resort" filed because the league wants to turn fans of individual teams into fans of the league. Dolan: "The league has it backwards: Rangers fans should be Rangers fans, and the same is true for all our teams. ... Growth of the NHL starts with the fans' passion for their team, not the other way around." The letter was faxed on the same day that MSG filed a motion to dismiss the NHL's counterclaim to discipline the Rangers internally, which could result in suspension or termination of team ownership. The motion asserts that the "no-suit agreement" the Rangers signed as part of the NHL constitution is illegal and cannot be enforced in antitrust suits. "If such agreements were valid, cartels would obviously use them as 'one of the devices for shoring up [the] cartel,' id., as the NHL is attempting to do here," the filing reads in part. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an e-mail, "As the matter continues to be the subject of pending litigation, we don't intend to respond specifically to the content of Mr. Dolan's letter. Suffice to say, we do take extreme exception to the factual inaccuracy of many of the assertions contained in the letter."

MIXED REACTION: Owner reaction to the letter was mixed. Ken Munoz, a member of the Blues' principal ownership group and former MSG general counsel, said, "They brought an action relating to new rules and on new media but they lost. I admire their tenacity but to expand their legal action and include all TV rules of the NHL is an unsound legal theory."