MR. PERFECT
Dolan can do little wrong in eyes of Knick marketing maven
Marketing maven Steve Stoute, who was hired by James Dolan to rebrand the Knicks, praised the “misunderstood” owner while blasting Spike Lee for throwing an entitled tantrum.
“The Spike Lee thing seems to be a matter of a celebrity expecting certain privileges and then when you don’t get that privilege anymore, for whatever reason, you start throwing a fit,” Stoute said last week on ‘The Breakfast Club’. “That doesn’t seem real.”
Stoute contrasted Lee’s “fit” against Dolan to the Charles Oakley incident, which he gave more credence and said was “clearly a disaster.” Either way, Stoute hailed his employer as a great sports owner and committed investor despite the many failures.
“I think James Dolan is definitely misunderstood,” Stoute said. “He’s certainly brash. And I always, as a sports fan, love the sports owner that’s willing to invest and pay for the talent. You look at some of the greatest sports owners in sports history, those are the guys that were willing to go buy the top players. And it’s a very risky business, right? Because when you go get Phil Jackson, no- body says, ‘Man, they got Phil Jackson.’ There’s a guy who spent a ton of money to get Phil Jackson and Phil Jackson failed.”
Dolan’s temper, stubbornness and inability to handle criticism have long been part of his business persona. Although these are largely viewed as negative traits, Stoute said he understands and appreciates Dolan’s tactics.
“There’s different stokes for different folks. I like his very clear style. He makes a point and he is very loyal to his perspective. It doesn’t make it any harder (to work with him). If you have a strong argument, he’ll listen. If you don’t have a strong argument, you’ll get run over,” Stoute said. “I’m a CEO. I understand that. I have people come to me with an iffy point of view on something. I can’t make a decision with an iffy point of view. You have to have a rational point of view that you’re willing to support all the way. If you don’t have that, you’re not going to make it. And if you don’t have that with Dolan, you’re not going to make it.”
Of course, the counter to that is Dolan has bought the pitches of many failed Knicks executives and coaches, with Isiah Thomas and Steve Mills continuously selling the owner despite little evidence they could produce a winner.
Stoute also defended Dolan for not issuing a statement in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. The silence, which left the Knicks as the last NBA team to send out a public message on the racial tensions gripping the nation, reportedly frustrated players and MSG employees. But Stoute, who is Black with strong ties to the hip-hop community, tried to explain why it was a complicated and confusing situation for companies.
It’s unclear if Stoute advised Dolan on how to handle the statement, but that would seem to fit into his job description.
“I think the sensitivity around the reemergence of the Black Lives Matters movement after Floyd, companies, and I get these calls all the time, they don’t know what to do, they don’t know what to say, they don’t know how to address their employees,” Stoute said. “With the Knicks, they fell victim to the same type of sensitivities where people were making these statements, the employees wanted to hear something, they definitely wanted to hear something, they weren’t ready to fall victim to what the employees wanted to hear immediately and it became an issue.”
Dolan ultimately issued a statement supporting an equal society.
Stoute was hired by Dolan in January after the franchise failed in free agency and was labeled uncool by Kevin Durant. Then, not long before the coronavirus shutdown, Lee accused Dolan of harassment after Garden security approached him before a game because he took the employee elevator. It sparked a feud that was played out in the media.
Stoute, meanwhile, had largely been silent on the Knicks since a ESPN interview in February when he inadvertently announced, during the middle of the season, that interim coach Mike Miller wouldn’t be retained. It prompted the Knicks to release a statement that Stoute “does not speak on behalf of New York Knicks personnel and basketball operations.”
Still, Stoute said in the recent radio interview that he’ll be a key to attracting free agents alongside executives Leon Rose and William Wesley.
As far as earning potential, it’s hard to imagine the Knicks require a rebrand. In its annual survey of the world’s 50 most valuable sports franchises released last week, Forbes listed the Knicks as No. 1 in the NBA at $4.6 billion. So what will Stoute be doing?
“My number one job is to do what I do the best, that’s to help rebrand them. I think they’re one of the greatest sports brands in the world. You think about the Yankees, the Cowboys, Manchester United, and the Knicks. That’s how I feel about it,” he said.