James Dolan’s name does not always inspire confidence with New York Knicks fans and, frankly, observers of the NBA in general. That makes things even more interesting given what came to light on Tuesday, as Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog brought word of a call between Dolan and FOX mogul Rupert Murdoch that included the irate Knicks owner taking the television executive to task.
In short, FS1 rolled out a series of Knicks-themed subway ads that included a “Pick A Side” campaign.
There are two sides to FS1's ad campaign. The slogan is "Pick a Side." pic.twitter.com/xGqdenCnpb
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) October 3, 2017
On the shuttle that runs between grand central and Times Square lmao pic.twitter.com/iWMrHJijU7
— Jared (@JMintzWords) October 2, 2017
The word “hopeless” was prominently featured in variations of the ad and, even if at least some of the images were positive (through the prism of Kristaps Porzingis), it is easy to see why Dolan would be bothered. The ZagsBlog report indicated that Dolan’s “wrath” produced quite a reaction at FOX and the presence of one ad that read “Nothing will change until Dolan sells the team” probably did not go a long way toward slowing his anger.
FS1’s decision to use the Knicks as a marketing tool in New York was probably wise in that everyone is now talking about what took place. Still, angering Dolan probably wasn’t an ideal fallout for the network, especially considering that he and Murdoch are seemingly friendly enough for the reported exchange to take place.
In the meantime, the jokes continue to fly and they don’t seem to be slowing.
