MSG Names 'Doc' O'Connor CEO

The Madison Square Garden Co. said David “Doc” O’Connor has been named president and chief executive officer, effective July 15. He joins the company after spending the last three decades at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and will be responsible for setting the company’s overall strategic vision, as well as for the advancement of its sports, media and entertainment businesses, MSG said. The position came open when Tad Smith left in March to head up Sotheby's.

O’Connor will be tasked with identifying new initiatives that enhance MSG’s existing brands and represent new opportunities for growth, including the current pursuit of a spin-off as well as forming new strategic alliances and transactions.

MSG executive chairman James Dolan said in a release: “We are extremely pleased to welcome Doc, who brings with him an extensive understanding of the entertainment and sports worlds, including deep industry relationships and a history of successfully creating platforms for growth. We are confident that his expertise will be crucial to our efforts to strengthen our legendary brands and pursue growth opportunities that expand our business and increase shareholder value.”

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Kent Gibbons

Kent has been a journalist, writer and editor at Multichannel News since 1994 and with Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He is a good point of contact for anything editorial at the publications and for Nexttv.com. Before joining Multichannel News he had been a newspaper reporter with publications including The Washington Times, The Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal and North County News.