Hmmmm:
Jeremy Lin No Longer Benefits MSG Stock, Gamco’s Marangi Says
Gamco Investors (GBL) Inc., Madison Square Garden Co. (MSG)’s third-largest shareholder, has a “sell” rating on Jeremy Lin.
The National Basketball Association’s New York Knicks, owned by MSG, should allow the 23-year-old point guard to go to the Houston Rockets because his contract overvalues him, Chris Marangi, a portfolio manager at Rye, New York-based Gamco, said in a telephone interview.
New York can keep Lin by matching Houston’s three-year, $25.1 million offer. The third year of the deal would be worth $14.8 million, nearly three times higher than the average NBA salary. The signing of veteran Jason Kidd and the trade that brought Raymond Felton back to the team indicate the Knicks may be planning for a future without the Harvard University graduate.
“We like it when companies shop for bargains, and Ray Felton looks like a bargain compared to Jeremy Lin,” Marangi said. “We’re value investors.”
. . .
The TV rights deal will be Lin’s biggest effect on the Knicks, even if the team signs him to a new contract, Tullo said. Cable and satellite-TV operators pay more than $4.50 a month per subscriber for MSG and MSG Plus, according to researcher SNL Kagan.
“The benefit of Linsanity was manifested in the Time Warner Cable affiliate agreement that’s providing the team with an annuity in the future, and the Knicks have already received that benefit,” Tullo said.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-1 ... -says.html