Knicks and Rangers Split Into Two Stocks, and the Rangers Lose Money Without Playoffs

Madison Square Garden Sports shareholders will get one share of a new Rangers company for every two MSG Sports shares they hold, according to the company’s filing with the SEC. It’s a spin-off, where a company hands its shareholders stock in a new company carved out of it, and Tuesday, Oct. 20, is the record date, the date that sets the list of holders. That’s also the night the Knicks open their season with their championship banner against the 76ers, Sportico reports. The shares are distributed Oct. 26, and a holder who sells MSGS in the regular market before then sells the new shares along with it.

After the split, the parent becomes MSG Knickerbockers Corp., trading as MSGK with the Knicks and the Westchester Knicks, while MSG Rangers Corp., trading as MSGR, takes the Rangers, the Hartford Wolf Pack and the MSG Training Center, MSG Sports said. When-issued trading, in shares that don’t formally exist yet, starts Oct. 21, and regular trading starts Oct. 27. James Dolan is executive chairman and CEO of both companies. The deal still needs final NHL approval, and the board can change or call it off before the distribution.

Sportico values the Knicks at $12.8 billion and the Rangers at $4.15 billion. It puts MSG Sports’ enterprise value, stock plus debt minus cash, at $11 billion, about 65% of the $16.95 billion the two teams add up to.

The new Rangers stock will carry a hockey team whose profit shows up only in the playoffs.

The last season the Rangers played home playoff games, the business made $26.8 million in operating income, the spin-off filing shows. In the two seasons since, with no playoffs, it lost…

— Aaron Harme (@Aaron_Harme) October 18, 2026

A team that earns its money in the playoffs

The Rangers company’s information statement, the disclosure document filed for the spin-off, describes a business that makes its profit in the postseason. In fiscal 2024, when the Rangers played eight home playoff games, it booked $64.4 million in playoff revenue and $26.8 million in operating income. In fiscal 2025 and 2026, when the team missed the playoffs, it posted operating losses of $23.3 million and $30.5 million. The filing says the company is “likely not to be profitable in the near term unless the Rangers make an extended playoff run.” Revenue was $337.3 million in the year ended June 30, 2026.

The Dolan family group, family members plus trusts set up for them, keeps control, with about 89.7% of the Rangers company’s Class B shares, which carry 10 votes each and elect up to 75% of the board, the filing says. That comes to about 63.4% of total voting power, enough to decide nearly every matter that goes to a shareholder vote. Class B holders of MSG Sports get Class B Rangers shares on the same one-for-two terms. From Oct. 27, the Rangers get a daily stock price of their own.

Sources

• MSG Sports 8-K (Sept. 30, 2026)
• MSG Sports: board approves spin-off of Rangers business
• MSGS Spinco information statement, Exhibit 99.1 to 8-K (Oct. 9, 2026)
• Sportico: MSG Sports approves spinoff of Rangers business from Knicks
• Sportico: NBA team values 2026