The Madison Square Garden Co. said its board of directors has approved a plan to separate the company into two distinct entities -- one focused on entertainment, the other on sports -- setting an April 17 deadline for the transaction.

Madison Square Garden first announced its plans to separate into MSG Entertainment (which would include iconic venues like Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theater) and MSG Sports (including its professional sports teams the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers) in 2018. 

According to MSG, the spin-off is a tax free distribution to shareholders. On April 17, MSG shareholders of record as of April 13 will receive one share of MSG Entertainment Class A or Class B common stock for every share of MSG Class A or Class B common stock they own, respectively. 

The decision to go ahead with the spin-off comes as companies and sports leagues are grappling with the COVID-19 virus, which has hit entertainment venues and sports arenas hard as Americans are urged to stay at home to prevent the spread of the virus. MSG, while noting the unprecedented times, said it was confident the transaction will be completed successfully.

Related:MSG Networks and Knicks Chief James Dolan Tests Positive for COVID-19 

“While our industry is currently going through a difficult period, we are confident in the enduring strength and value of our businesses,” Madison Square Garden executive chairman and CEO James Dolan said in a press release. “Today’s approved spin-off is the result of many months of preparation, and we believe it will set the stage for long-term success for both MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment.”

After the spin-off is complete Dolan will serve as executive chairman of MSG Sports and as executive chairman and CEO of MSG Entertainment. Andrew Lustgarten is expected to serve as president and CEO of MSG Sports and as president of MSG Entertainment.

MSG also offered an update on the ongoing construction of its MSG Sphere complex in Las Vegas. Construction on the venue has been temporarily suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“The company remains committed to building a state-of-the-art venue in Las Vegas and looks forward to quickly and efficiently resuming construction as soon as practicable,” MSG said in a press release. “As a result of this delay, the company does not expect to achieve its goal of opening the venue in calendar year 2021.” 

Madison Square Garden Co. said it is moving forward with the planned spin-off of its sports and entertainment companies, filing a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that names current MSG president Andrew Lustgarten as CEO of its pure-play sports entity, Madison Square Garden Sports.

Madison Square Garden first proposed the spin-off in 2018. Madison Square Garden Entertainment will house Madison Square Garden arena, Radio City Music Hall, The Beacon Theater, and several other entertainment venues. Madison Square Garden Sports will be the home of its professional sports teams the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Westchester Knicks, Hartford Wolf Pack, Counter Logic Gaming and Knicks Gaming. MSG’s executive chairman and CEO James Dolan will continue to oversee team operations for the Knicks and Rangers.

The deal is still subject to final league and MSG Board approval.

“We look forward to the pending separation of our sports and entertainment businesses, which will better enable the two companies to pursue their own unique strategies, while providing our shareholders with the ability to more clearly assess the value of each company,” Dolan said in a press release. “Over the last six years, Andy has helped guide MSG through an unprecedented period of change. I am confident that his considerable experience in developing strategic relationships and new opportunities will quickly help position the new sports company as one of the world’s leading sports organizations.”

Following the completion of the spin-off, Dolan is expected to serve as executive chairman of the sports company and as executive chairman and CEO of the entertainment company. Lustgarten will also serve as president of the entertainment company.

“MSG Sports will be made up of some of the most celebrated and iconic brands in all of sports, and I look forward to working with the entire organization to ensure we continue to deliver excellence across our operations,” Lustgarten said in the press release. “As a standalone entity, the sports company will be well-positioned to maintain its strong and steady financial performance, driven by our Knicks and Rangers franchises, and to deliver exceptional value for our shareholders.”

The Madison Square Garden Co. filed its Form 10 Registration Statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday, the latest step in its plans to spin off its entertainment business into a separate publicly traded entity next year.

MSG has said the proposed separation of the sports and entertainment business would be structured as a tax-free spin-off to all MSG shareholders. After the deal is closed, holders of MSG common stock would maintain their current economic interest in both the sports and entertainment businesses.

Related: Madison Square Garden Updates Potential Spin-off Plans 

MSG announced the intention to split last year and the separation is expected to unlock value for shareholders by creating a steady, stable pure-play sports company and an entertainment company that would capitalize on growth opportunities, mainly through venue expansion. The Dolan family would maintain majority voting control of both the sports and entertainment companies through their ownership of Class B shares.

According to MSG, the pure-play sports company would include:

• The New York Knicks professional NBA franchise and its development team, the Westchester Knicks;

• The New York Rangers professional NHL franchise and its development team, the Hartford Wolf Pack;

• Knicks Gaming, the official NBA 2K esports franchise of the New York Knicks, and a majority interest in Counter Logic Gaming, a leading North American esports organization;

• MSG’s professional sports team Training Center in Greenburgh, NY.

The entertainment company would include the Madison Square Garden arena, Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and Beacon Theatre in New York; the Forum in Inglewood, California; and The Chicago Theatre.

The company is also currently building a new venue -- MSG Sphere -- in Las Vegas, expected to open in 2021. A second MSG Sphere is slated for London.

The entertainment company would also include MSG’s bookings business; productions, which includes the Radio City Rockettes and the Christmas Spectacular; majority interests in Tao Group Hospitality and Boston Calling Events; and about $1 billion in cash.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and PJT Partners LP continue to serve as financial advisors and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP continues to serve as legal advisor.

New York-based Madison Square Garden Networks recently celebrated its 50th anniversary as the first regional sports network ever launched on cable television. 

From its coverage of marquee New York sports events to the launch of high definition technology, MSG Networks senior vice president of marketing and content strategy Kevin Marotta talks about the network's half century history of televising major sports moments and technical innovations in a recent MCN Original Videos segment. 

Madison Square Garden Co. said its board of directors have unanimously approved an earlier proposal to separate the company into two separate sports and entertainment businesses.

Madison Square Garden announced last year a plan to separate its sports and entertainment businesses. On Thursday the company said it has revised the structure of the split, adding that now the entertainment company would not retain an equity interest in the sports company. The proposed separation is still expected to be completed in Q1 2020.

The company had previously been exploring a plan to spin-off about two-thirds of its economic interest in its sport businesses to shareholders, with the entertainment company retaining an approximate one-third interest in the sports company.

MSG said it has made “significant” progress on plans to create state-of-the-art venues -- called MSG Sphere -- with the first expected to open in Las Vegas in 2021. A second MSG Sphere planned for London is moving through the planning process, now expected to run into 2020 and MSG said it is “focused on incorporating learnings from its Las Vegas project in London.”

With the timeline for the London project extended, MSG said it believes the entertainment unit has the “financial flexibility to pursue its venue expansion plans without the need for the retained equity interest in the sports company.”

“The spin-off would create two distinct companies for MSG shareholders, each with a defined business focus and clear investment characteristics,” MSG executive chairman James Dolan said in a press release. “One company would be a leader in live entertainment that would take advantage of significant opportunities to grow rapidly within the changing entertainment landscape. The other entity would be a sports company with marquee assets that would enjoy steady growth and strong free cash flow."

The pure-play sports company would include:

• The New York Knicks NBA franchise and its development team, the Westchester Knicks;
• The New York Rangers NHL franchise and its development team, the Hartford Wolf Pack;
• Knicks Gaming, the NBA 2K esports franchise of the New York Knicks, and a majority interest in Counter Logic Gaming; and
• The Training Center in Greenburgh, NY.

In addition to its planned MSG Sphere venues, the entertainment company would include:

• New York’s Madison Square Garden, Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and Beacon Theatre; the Forum in Inglewood, Calif; and The Chicago Theatre;
• MSG Bookings, which books live sporting events like college basketball and professional boxing;
• MSG Productions, which includes the Radio City Rockettes and the Christmas Spectacular;
• Majority interests in hospitality group TAO Group and Boston Calling Events, producer of New England’sBoston Calling Music Festival; and
• Approximately $1 billion in cash on hand.

Completion of the transaction would be subject to various conditions, including league and final MSG Board approval. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and PJT Partners LP serve as financial advisers and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP serves as legal adviser.

Azoff Music Management said it has agreed to purchase Madison Square Garden’s 50% interest in joint venture Azoff MSG Entertainment for $125 million, a deal that comes as the group of iconic entertainment venues readies a split of its sports and entertainment assets.

After the deal is complete, Azoff MSG Entertainment will be renamed the Azoff Company. Both Azoff Company and MSG have simultaneously entered into multi-year consultancy agreements where Azoff will continue to advise MSG, including on the Forum and MSG Sphere initiative, which includes announced plans to build state-of-the-art venues in Las Vegas and London.

MSG and Azoff formed Azoff MSG Entertainment joint venture in 2013.

Madison Square Garden announced plans to split its professional sports teams The New York Knicks, The New York Rangers and others from its iconic entertainment venues like Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theater in June. The company filed documents with the Securities & Exchange Commission regarding the split earlier this month and expects to complete that transaction in the first half of 2019.

“I am extremely proud that my partner, Jim Dolan, and I built an innovative company which always put the artists’ and songwriters’ interests first,” Azoff, chairman and chief executive officer, The Azoff Company, said in a statement. “The Azoff Company will build on this foundation of positive disruption and artist advocacy: we will continue to challenge antiquated parts of the entertainment business on behalf of artists and fans. The Azoff Company is proud to renew our commitment to the Forum and MSG’s transformative vision for the best possible, live entertainment experience.”

MSG announced its plans for MSG Sphere in February. The first MSG Sphere venue in Las Vegas, MSG Sphere at The Venetian, is expected to open during fiscal 2021, followed by a second MSG Sphere venue, to open approximately one year later in London.

“Irving has been a valued business partner and we know that he will continue to enjoy incredible success in his company and in his continued role with us. This evolution of our relationship comes at a time when we are working to align all areas of our business to support our goal -- the creation of next-generation venues that will transform the live experience,” said Madison Square Garden Co. executive chairman and CEO Jim Dolan in a statement. “We will continue to rely on Irving’s relationships and expertise to help bring that vision to reality.”

J.P. Morgan served as financial advisor to MSG and Centerview Partners served as financial advisor to Azoff Music Management. 

Madison Square Garden Co. filed documents with the Securities & Exchange Commission Thursday, moving forward with its plan to separate its sports businesses from its concert and entertainment venues.

Madison Square Garden said in June that it was considering a split of its professional sports teams from its concert venues.

The company said the split would “enable investors to more clearly evaluate each company’s assets and future potential, while providing both companies with increased strategic flexibility to pursue their own distinctive business plan and capital allocation policy.”

Madison Square Garden, headed by former Cablevision Systems CEO James Dolan, has been down this road before. In 2010, MSG, including the teams, were spun-off from Cablevision Systems. In 2015, the assets were split again, into Madison Square Garden -- which included the sports teams and venues -- and MSG Networks, which houses its regional sports channels MSG and MSG-Plus.

The Dolan family sold Cablevision to Altice in 2016.

The company said the separation would be structured as a tax-free spin-off to all MSG shareholders. Upon completion of the deal, those shareholders would receive a pro-rata distribution equal to a two-thirds economic interest in a pure-play sports company. The remaining common stock would be retained by the live entertainment company and is expected to be used to raise capital and/or exchange for the common stock of the entertainment company.

The Dolan family would maintain majority voting control of both companies through their ownership of Class B shares. The spin-off is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019.

According to MSG, the pure-play sports company would include:

• The New York Knicks professional NBA franchise and its development team, the Westchester Knicks;

• The New York Rangers professional NHL franchise and its development team, the Hartford Wolf Pack;

• The New York Liberty professional WNBA franchise, for which the Company is exploring a sale;

• Knicks Gaming, the official NBA 2K esports franchise of the New York Knicks, and a majority interest in Counter Logic Gaming, a leading North American esports organization; and

• A professional sports team Training Center in Greenburgh, NY.

The live entertainment company would include:

• Madison Square Garden, The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and Beacon Theatre; the Forum in Inglewood, CA; The Chicago Theatre; and the Wang Theatre in Boston;

• Its bookings business, including the bookings of live sporting events such as college basketball and professional boxing, the results of which are currently reported as part of the Company’s MSG Sports segment;

• Productions, which includes the Radio City Rockettes and the Christmas Spectacular, the nation’s number one live family holiday show;

• Majority interests in TAO Group, a world-class hospitality group, and Boston Calling Events, producer of New England’s preeminent Boston Calling Music Festival;

• Strategic entertainment joint ventures -- Azoff-MSG Entertainment and Tribeca Enterprises;

• An approximately one-third economic interest in the pure-play sports company; and

• Approximately $1 billion in cash on hand.

The live entertainment company would also continue to move forward with plans to create state-of-the-art venues – called MSG Sphere. The first MSG Sphere is expected to open in Las Vegas in fiscal 2021, followed by a second MSG Sphere in London approximately one year later.

J.P. Morgan and PJT Partners continue to serve as financial advisors and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP continues to serve as legal advisor.

Madison Square Garden Co. said it has completed the planned split of its sports and entertainment properties into two separate publicly traded companies – Madison Square Garden and MSG Networks.

MSG announced plans for the split last October. As part of the deal, Madison Square Garden now includes entertainment venues like the Madison Square Garden arena, Beacon Theater, Radio City Music Hall, The Forum in Los Angeles, the Chicago Theater and others and professional sports teams the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and the New York Liberty and trades on the New York stock exchange under the symbol “MSG”. MSG Networks, which trades on the NYSE under the symbol “MSGN” includes regional sports networks MSG and MSG Plus.

Officially, Madison Square Garden was spun out of the former Madison Square Garden, with the remaining entity renamed MSG Networks.

The split was made as a tax-free distribution, with shareholders of the former Madison Square Garden Co. receiving one share of MSG for every three shares of Madison Square Garden Co, they hold. That distribution was completed on Sept. 30.  

MSG Networks debuted on the NYSE on Oct. 1, opening at $20.15 per share. The stock was down about 11% ($2.15 each) in early trading, priced at $17.85 per share. MSG stock was priced at $159.63 each in early trading Thursday, up 5.7% ($8.63 per share).

With their six-game triumph over the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers are returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years and MSG Networks will be all over the  action.

MSG Network will expand its pregame coverage of the Broadway Blueshirts with the addition of Rangers Stanley Cup Countdown presented by Chase. The puck will drop on the hour-long show, hosted by Bill Pidto and Ron Dugua from Rangerstown Hockey House presented by Chase, at 6:30 p.m. on game nights and will feature special guests and Rangers alumni throughout the Final series.

Rangers Stanley Cup Gamenight hosted by Al Trautwig and featuring Joe Micheletti and Sam Rosen, will follow at 7:30 p.m. along with Mercedes-Benz Rangers Stanley Cup Postgame, a 60-90 minute recap and analysis immediately following the game. 

On all non-game days, MSG Network will telecast the new one-hour program Rangers Stanley Cup Insider at 9 p.m. This live show, hosted by Pidto and featuring MSG’s popular play-by-play team of Micheletti and Rosen, will provide Rangers fans with up-to-the-minute news on the teams, players, and coaches, as well as live interviews with former players, hockey aficionados, celebrities and more. (Check out a schedule below)

The Rangers will battle either the 2012 titlist Los Angeles Kings or the 2013 defending champion Chicago Blackhawks for Lord Stanley's Cup.  LA leads Chicago three games to two, with the sixth contest scheduled for May 30 at Staples Center. Should a decisive seventh game be necessary, the Blackhawks would hold home ice advantage in the United Center.

 MSG Network and MSG + will also screen marathons of series featuring Rangers players and coaches, alongside player interviews and other content.

On Tuesday, June 3 Rangers fans can relive every minute of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final – which ended the club’s 54-year NHL championship drought -- as MSG Network broadcasts all seven games beginning at 6 a.m., leading into the premiere of Rangers Stanley Cup Insider at 9 p.m.

Preceding the first Final game on Wednesday, June 4, MSG will tee up Beginnings, its original series that profiles the roots of Garden stars and legends.  Starting at 1:30 p.m. the Beginnings stunts presents behind-the-scenes looks at Adam Graves, Brian Boyle, Marc Staal, Brad Richards, Derek Dorsett, John Moore, Ryan McDonagh, Derick Brassard, and Dan Girardi, and will lead into that evening’s pregame coverage.

The following day the regional sports network will dedicate two hours to goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, starting at 5 p.m., with three episodes of The Game 365 and MSG Countdown:HenrikLundqvist’s Greatest Saves.

The full programming schedule, along with New York Rangers news and information, is available at http://www.msg.com/.

GAME DAY PROGRAMMING

Rangers Stanley Cup Countdown presented by Chase: 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Live one-hour pregame show hosted by Bill Pidto and Ron Duguay from Rangerstown Hockey House (free indoor fan festival featuring interactive games, photo opportunities with Rangers alumni, and more), featuring special guests and Rangers alumni

Rangers Stanley Cup Gamenight: 7:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Live 30-minute pregame show hosted by Al Trautwig and featuring Joe Micheletti and Sam Rosen

Mercedes-Benz Rangers Stanley Cup Postgame: Immediately following each game

Live 60-90 minute show recapping the game, hosted by Al Trautwig, with Joe Micheletti, Sam Rosen, Dave Maloney, John Giannone, and Ron Duguay

OFF DAY PROGRAMMING INCLUDES:

Rangers Stanley Cup Insider: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Live one-hour show providing Rangers fans with the latest news during the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, hosted by Bill Pidto with Joe Micheletti and Sam Rosen and featuring special guests and Rangers alumni