Madison Square Garden may bar certain lawyers from sporting events

The Appellate Division has ruled that Madison Square Garden is legally permitted to prevent people from entering the building for sporting events. This case arises from MSG's determination that basketball and hockey fans employed by law firms that are suing MSG cannot be trusted to enter MSG (and other facilities owned by this entity, including Radio City Music Hall, Beacon Theater or Hulu Theater), even if they purchased tickets to these sporting events. This policy has made the news.

The case is Hutcher v. Madison Square Garden, issued by the First Department on March 28. MSG's appellate brief notes that MSG's policy bars certain attorneys from entering the building:

In July 2022, MSG and its affiliates formalized an internal policy, in place since late June 2022, prohibiting attorneys involved in ongoing litigation against MSG from attending events at the MSG Venues and using the MSG companies’ resources (including its Season Ticket Membership group) to purchase tickets.

MSG says this policy is necessary because of "the adversarial nature inherent in litigation; the potential for improper communication with MSG employees; and the potential for adverse counsel to obtain information outside of proper discovery channels or otherwise undermine MSG’s interests in ongoing litigation." They add, "MSG’s right to implement such a policy is based on long-standing New York law, which provides that tickets to attend events at venues are merely licenses revocable at will, and that venue operators have the discretion to exclude individuals from their premises for any reason or no reason at all." That is legalese for "we can kick people out for most any reason under the at-will doctrine." Law firms in litigation with MSG cannot access these events until the litigation is resolved.

State Supreme Court said that state law prohibits MSG from barring ticket holders for music halls and certain theatrical events. This case involves sporting events. In this case, the lower court still enjoined MSG from enforcing the policy for sporting events. I have never seen a case where the judge sides with the defendant on the merits but still issues an injunction for the plaintiff, but that's why the case went to the First Department, which reverses and rules for MSG. If the policy is legal, then no injunction may issue.

The statute, Civil Rights Law 40-b says nothing about sporting events. That means MSG's persona non grata rule is legal for sporting events. If you want to watch the Knicks or the Rangers, you'll have to watch it on TV. Why sporting events are excluded from the statute's protections probably one of those quirks we have in New York law that no one can explain. But quirks like these are legal. Here is the First Department's reasoning:

The motion court properly excluded sporting events from its holding because Civil Rights Law § 40-b is specifically limited in application to “legitimate theatres, burlesque theatres, music halls, opera houses, concert halls and circuses” Although Madison Square Garden is a multi-purpose venue that sometimes functions as a concert hall or theatre and other times as a sporting arena, we find that it only falls within the ambit of Civil Rights Law § 40-b when it is being used for an enumerated purpose.