Madison Square Garden (the arena and the “MSG” brand around it) is controlled by the Dolan family through their publicly traded companies, not by a single individual outright.

Who owns “MSG” today?

When people ask “who owns MSG,” they usually mean the Madison Square Garden arena in New York and the company behind it.

  • The arena itself is owned and operated by Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. (often called MSG Entertainment).
  • MSG Entertainment is an entertainment holding company based in New York City.
  • MSG Entertainment, along with the related sports company Madison Square Garden Sports, is controlled through voting power by the Dolan family (descendants of cable TV pioneer Charles Dolan), with James Dolan as the key figure.

So in everyday terms, people say: “MSG is owned by the Dolan family.”

Quick breakdown: corporate structure

Think of MSG as a brand sitting on top of a couple of linked companies:

  • Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp.
    • Owns and operates:
      • Madison Square Garden arena in NYC.
  * The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

  * Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan.

  * The Chicago Theatre in Chicago.
  • Madison Square Garden Sports Corp.
    • Holds major sports assets such as the New York Knicks and New York Rangers; after a 2020 split, the arena stayed with the entertainment side while the teams stayed with the sports side, but both remain under Dolan family control.

Even though they are separate companies on paper, they share the same controlling family, which is why it all still feels like “one MSG empire.”

A bit of recent history (why it’s confusing)

The ownership question is messy because of restructurings:

  • In 2020, the old MSG company split into two:
    • One company focusing on the arena and entertainment venues (MSG Entertainment).
    • One company focusing on sports teams (MSG Sports).
  • Both resulting companies remained under the Dolan family’s voting control, so the real-world power didn’t change much—just the corporate packaging.

This is why different sites might talk about “MSG Sports,” “MSG Entertainment,” or “Madison Square Garden, Inc.” but still point back to the Dolans.

Forum-style TL;DR

Q: Who owns MSG?
A: The Madison Square Garden arena and the MSG name sit under MSG Entertainment, which, together with MSG Sports, is controlled by the Dolan family (with James Dolan as the main decision‑maker).

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.