Dolan’s toast in MSG probe fight
Liquor license on line
The beer line at Madison Square Garden may soon get a lot shorter.
The world’s most famous arena is in jeopardy of losing its liquor license after an appellate court ruled late last month that the state can proceed with its investigation into whether MSG owner
James Dolan (inset) violated the terms of his agreement by banning his enemies from his venues.
The feud between the home of the Knicks and Rangers and the State Liquor Authority has been brewing for over a year — since Dolan revealed that he used facial recognition technology to bar entry to lawyers working at firms that had filed lawsuits against the arena and his other venues including Radio City Music Hall.
However, blacklisting specific fans could violate state beverage laws that require establishments admit the general public, leading the SLA to launch its probe.
‘Gangster-like org’
Dolan has been trying to derail the process since the outset, claiming that booze investigators abused their power by looking into the Garden’s admissions practices.
“This gangster-like governmental organization has finally run up against an entity that won’t cower in the face of their outrageous abuses,” Dolan told The Post in March.
However, the New York Supreme Court First Appellate Department unanimously ruled Nov. 28 that the SLA “has not acted in excess of jurisdiction,” according to Crain’s. “We reject petitioners’ contention that SLA lacks authority to revoke their special on-premises licenses.”
The ruling allows the state to complete its administrative hearing process. Only once that is finished and should the SLA conclude that MSG violated the terms of its liquor license can Dolan dispute the decision.
“This decision will not deter us from fighting an administrative agency that has run amok,” an MSG Entertainment spokesperson told The Post. “We intend to appeal. If we cannot get the relief we deserve in the state court, we will turn to the federal courts.
“The SLA has been trampling over small businesses for decades, including through systemic corruption. No business — large or small — should have to endure these abuses. This time, the SLA picked the wrong victim.”
Representatives for the SLA did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. The SLA has argued that Dolan’s “policy” of targeting attorneys means MSG properties are no longer “open to the public.” The “adverse attorney policy” bars members of the public “not for reasons to do with responsibilities under the license, but because such persons have pending lawsuits” against the venues, the agency said.
MSG insisted that its ban only affected “less than one half of a percent of lawyers in New York” and “less than one one-hundredth of a percent of New York State’s population.”
Ahead of the appellate court’s latest ruling, Dolan’s saga with the SLA escalated when he called out SLA boss Sharif Kabir during a January interview on “Good Day New York.”
During the TV spot, Dolan held up an image of Kabir and warned he would send thirsty fans his way to complain. Kabir should “stick to his knitting and to what he’s supposed to be doing and stop grandstanding and trying to get press,” said Dolan, who’s also bashed the SLA in an interview with The Post as a “gangsterlike governmental organization.”
Shortly thereafter, Dolan enlisted a private eye to shadow SLA investigator Charles Stravalle who, as a retired police captain, noticed the tail and notified the NYPD.
MSG Entertainment acknowledged it had hired a PI to tail Stravalle, which it said was “a common and lawful practice,” according to court papers filed earlier this year.