The Dispute Index

James L. Dolan

James L. Dolan is an American entertainment and sports executive. Dolan is executive chairman and chief executive officer of Madison Square Garden Entertainment and has led businesses operating live-entertainment venues, sports teams and television networks.

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What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by James L. Dolan on Basketball, Consumer Protection, and Free Speech, among other topics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

Topics in this coverage

Statements by James L. Dolan

James L. Dolan

Role at the time: MSG Entertainment chief executive, interviewed on Good Day New York

Defended or excused

Statement summary

Dolan defends the exclusions as a private venue owner's decision about whom to admit.

“This is just about owning property, you know, any, a bakery, right? A restaurant, right? You get to say who you serve, right?”
Open the original interview (opens in a new tab)James Dolan defends MSG's lawyer-exclusion policy in a FOX 5 interviewFacial recognition and property-rights exchanges; company statement at the end
Why we used this label

Reference point: MSG's policy of excluding lawyers at firms with active lawsuits against it. Dolan argues that a property owner may choose whom it serves, which justifies the policy. Challenged the characterization is the closest alternative and loses because Dolan defends the policy itself rather than only disputing how critics describe it.

Read statementJames Dolan defends MSG's facial-recognition lawyer exclusions; New York officials object

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.