Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Jeremy Lin has done a lot of things. First, he’s led the Knicks to an improbable five-game win streak. Second, he’s scored more points in his first four starts than Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan or Allen Iverson. Third, he’s created a Tebow-esque NBA phenomenon with everyone losing their minds such as writing about a couch where he sleeps.
But fourth, he’s given a major boost to not just the Knicks, but MSG’s stock.Â
We have virtually no compunction about taking unsightly victory laps whenever we chance to hazard a decent guess on where the markets going. So allow us this quick trot around the MarketBeat velodrome, with Madison Square Garden’s shares up 4.1% early, schooling the broader S&P which is up a mere 0.5%. The stock hit an all-time high of $31.34 early Monday.On Friday, we wondered aloud about whether the sports, entertainment and media company could get a bounce from the unheralded arrival of Jeremy Lin as the New York Knicks’ newly minted star point guard.
While it’s tough to prove, we think Lin’s 38-point performance against the Lakers Friday night, and his gutsy 20-point effort versus Minnesota Saturday — including hitting a free throw with less than 5 seconds left to lift the Knicks to their fifth straight win — might have something to do with it.
Newsday also reported that Nielsen ratings on the MSG Network jumped 36 percent. Linsanity is real, you guys.
The WSJ report says it probably won’t be a long-term boost for the shares because merchandise sales aren’t typically a big driver for earning results for MSG. It’s more about the eyeballs watching their network. There’s a current dispute between MSG and Time Warner that’s keeping Knicks games off a lot of TVs in the New York area, but some analysts thing that the Lin Mania could restart discussions. Why? Because there’s money to be made.
WRITTEN BY Royce Young & FULL STORY HERE
