When is Enough Enough?

While I can't say I was totally shocked upon hearing the news that New York Knicks President and General Manager Donnie Walsh will not return to the team next season, I was most definitely concerned about what this might mean for my favorite NBA franchise.  With rumors regarding a possible Isiah Thomas return swirling around the basketball world, one has to wonder what's in store for the Knicks franchise.  After a promising Walsh era that featured a complete gutting of the roster and the acquisition of two bonafide superstars, would owner James Dolan really put his friendship with Thomas ahead of the team's well-being and hire the world's worst basketball executive to lead the Knicks again?  And, perhaps more interestingly, should he be allowed to do it?

James Dolan paid good money to purchase the Knicks, and the team is part of a publicly traded company.  If the Knicks tank next season and ensure a season of both basketball and financial losses, MSG's shareholders will be the ones footing the bill - not the fans.  From this perspective, a team's ownership (or appointees) should be able to do what it wants with its franchise, even if the results are painful to watch.  Professional sports owners have worked hard to earn the money required to purchase a franchise, and as a reward get to operate their teams as they see fit.  For most, this means trying to put together a winner and pleasing the fans.  For Dolan, this apparently means hiring incompetent friends and ruining an iconic NBA franchise.

At the same time, though, pro sports teams are not normal businesses.  If they were, then disgruntled consumers could easily stop consuming the firm's product and buy from a competitor; the result of Dolan's continuous boneheaded decisions would be an anemic Knicks fan base and a perennial loser.  The leagues, however, don't allow competitors to emerge within markets.  While there's little doubt in my mind that another owner, given access to the New York market, could regularly field a team more exciting and enjoyable to watch than the Knicks, the NBA would never allow it.  Instead, New York-based NBA fans are forced to live through Dolan's insufferable reign, or convert to Nets fandom (yeah, right).

Because professional sports are regulated to prevent competitors from popping up in markets such as New York, shouldn't those same leagues protect fans against destructive owners like James Dolan?  Once a league like the NBA makes the decision to regulate its franchises, doesn't it have an obligation to go all the way in the name of promoting good basketball, especially in a market as valuable as New York?  Sure, Dolan's shareholders pay the financial bills, but the fans pay the emotional ones by having to sit through season after season of poor on-court performance, nonsensical roster decisions and extremely unprofessional behavior.  If the rumors about Dolan and Thomas are true, it might be time for the NBA to say enough is enough.