James Dolan moves to split Knicks and Rangers into two separate public companies

Madison Square Garden Sports has moved to split the New York Knicks and New York Rangers into two separate, publicly traded companies — a move analysts say could finally unlock billions in trapped franchise value tied up under James Dolan’s sprawling sports empire.MSG Sports said it confidentially filed an initial Form 10 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday as it advances a proposed tax-free spin-off that would separate the Knicks business from the Rangers business.The Knicks entity would include the NBA franchise and the Westchester Knicks G League affiliate, while the Rangers company would house the NHL club and the Hartford Wolf Pack.“This move has been a long time in coming,” Derek Reisfield, co-founder of MarketWatch and a former CBS executive who worked on NFL rights negotiations, told The Post.“There has been a persistent gap in the stock value of MSG Sports to the private market value,” Reisfield said.Forbes valued the Knicks at $9.75 billion last year, while CNBC recently pegged the franchise above the $10 billion mark amid soaring NBA media-rights expectations.The Rangers, meanwhile, were valued by Forbes at $4 billion — making them the NHL’s second-most valuable franchise behind only the Toronto Maple Leafs.MSG Sports, however, currently carries a public market valuation of roughly $8.5 billion — far below the combined estimated private-market value of the Knicks and Rangers.Investors have long argued that Dolan’s complicated corporate structure obscured the true value of the teams.MSG Sports said the transaction, if completed, would create two separate publicly traded companies.The company cautioned there is no guarantee the separation will be completed.Still, the filing immediately fueled speculation over whether Dolan could ultimately cash out of one or both franchises after decades of insisting the teams were not for sale.“Will one of the teams get sold, that’s not clear,” Reisfield s...