MSG's Dolan "Done" With Hank Ratner Over Philosophical Differences

MSG Exec Chair JAMES DOLAN “benched” President & CEO HANK RATNER “because he wouldn’t get with a new program to ramp up deal-making,” according to Kosman & Atkinson of the N.Y. POST. Sources said that Dolan’s “desire to do bigger, showier deals to expand his sports and live-entertainment empire diverged from Ratner’s more conservative approach to building the business.” Ratner had been President & CEO since ’09 before stepping down from the post last month. Sources said that although Dolan and Ratner “played nice in public, Dolan was done with his deputy.” Sources said that Ratner, who had just overseen a $1B renovation of MSG, was “skittish about spending during the prolonged downturn and didn’t want to borrow money to do splashier deals.” Dolan has been “eyeing much bigger targets.” Sources said that he was “interested in AEG … before the sale was pulled last spring” (N.Y. POST, 4/7).