James Dolan scammed Knicks employees with phony championship ring offer

posted by u/New-Process-6463 · 2026-10-23 14:13 UTC

When a team wins a championship it's customary for an organization to give at least some employees championship rings as a token of gratitude for being the support staff of the team. The Seahawks gave football staffers full Super Bowl rings, the Carolina Hurricanes gave every team employee a ring. Dolan and the Knicks? They tricked workers with a scam instead.

An email went out in September to every Madison Square Garden employee, which was obtained by The Athletic. In it, the team seemingly promised everyone a ring. going so far as to ask for their customization preferences.

(Employee name), this one is on the house. MSG is issuing a complimentary employee championship ring. The same jeweler, the same craftsmanship, personalized with your name. No cost to you.

There are two designs to choose from: Championship Gold and Garden Classic. Reserve the one you want below.

Naturally, employees were excited. The problem was that this was a targeted scam, organized by Dolan. He asked for the emails to be sent to his workforce as a way to test which of his employees would fall for a phishing scam. It's been reported that Dolan is growing increasingly paranoid about cybersecurity, which is fine but trying to test this under the guise of giving his workers rings? That's just gross.

Not only was there never a plan to give MSG employees rings, but anyone who did click on the link and tried to reserve their ring was instead put in compulsory cybersecurity training. When reached for comment the Knicks refused to discuss the ring situation with The Athletic.

Team employees work incredibly hard. Most are so consumed by their love of the job that, when the playoffs roll around or, God willing, a finals run they accept long hours, weekend work, and extra duties outside their typical responsibilities. This is why teams reward their staff with rings if a team finally breaks through, because while athletes are the ones responsible for winning, the organization as a whole would be nothing without the hundreds of people working behind the scenes, from marketing to equipment management, and beyond.

To make these people think they were getting noticed, and that something was being done for them only to learn it was a rug pull plan to test them, it's just disgusting. Shame on James Dolan for being such a paranoid, ludicrous cheapskate that he gleefully screw over his employees as a test.

Just an awful dude.

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Here is the full article.

Source:

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/james-dolan-scammed-knicks-employees-121136841.html

Original link: https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/james-dolan-scammed-knicks-employees-121136841.html

## Top comments

1. u/NoTransportation888 · 2026-10-23 14:17 UTC

Shit man, I know a guy who held the first down marker at the Vet/Linc for like 30 years, and he got one the first time the Eagles won. They're obviously not the diamond-studded ones players get, but still a nice gesture, and this guy is so damn proud of that ring too; you can tell how much it meant to him.

Unbelievably scummy from Dolan here

2. u/jmbrand13 · 2026-10-23 14:27 UTC

Yeah there are typically like 3 different versions of the ring that are given out depending on status.

This is incredibly shitty of Dolan. What else do you expect.

3. u/TinyFugue · 2026-10-23 17:00 UTC

Sounds like something that was done to teachers a few years ago. The teachers were sent an email with a button: Click here for more information about your yearly bonus.

Those that clicked were informed that they'd fallen for a phishing scam and had to take training.

4. u/Clown_Toucher · 2026-10-23 18:07 UTC

At that point I'm not opening emails anymore. Just send me hand written letters.

5. u/TheShark12 · 2026-10-23 18:36 UTC

That’s how I handle links at this point. If it’s important enough you’ll come talk to me about it at some point.

6. u/oochiewallyWallyserb · 2026-10-23 18:19 UTC

The raise/bonus/reward phishing email is standard at like every company now. Evil but they are supposed to play on your emotions, hit you at your lowest point.

This ring thing feels worse somehow especially since this was very feasible and likely in some employees hearts and minds.

7. u/TheVaniloquence · 2026-10-23 14:32 UTC

This is going to be a deep cut, and I have no idea how I remember this, but there was a contestant on the game show “Stump the Schwab” back in the day who was an Accountant for the New Jersey Devils. He brought his championship ring that he got for working for the team to the show, and said he had another one at home

8. u/Brightcab · 2026-10-23 15:36 UTC

Chiming in for possible reddit assistance. My girlfriend's dad was on this show and we're dying to see his performance. Anyone got rips or a link to where this can be viewed anywhere?

9. u/Jiklim · 2026-10-23 15:16 UTC

The Stump the Schwab knower has logged on

10. u/vornado_leader · 2026-10-23 16:22 UTC

Stump the Stump the Schwab Knower

11. u/Barnyard_Rich · 2026-10-23 15:43 UTC

I recently discovered that many episodes of Win Ben Stein's Money are on youtube. I get it that Stump the Schwab is more recent and owned by the Disney by way of ESPN, but come on, we've got to get these old episodes up on youtube.

12. u/mydrumluck · 2026-10-23 14:36 UTC

Cheap as fuck Tom Dundon did that? I hate Dolan so much. What a horrible piece of shit.

13. u/Swingaravegurl · 2026-10-23 15:28 UTC

I'm also surprised Dundon did it, which makes Dolan look so much worse.

14. u/codygmiracle · 2026-10-23 17:02 UTC

I worked part time at the warriors store while I was in school in SF and the warriors gave me two rings. Not giving actual employees who work in the front office rings is honestly so scummy and the phishing test is lowkey evil.

15. u/foshiiy · 2026-10-23 15:27 UTC

The fucking beer guys who walk the seats got one both times for the Astros, as well as ALCS rings if I’m not mistaken.

16. u/EstablishmentTop551 · 2026-10-23 16:34 UTC

I contest that there’s nothing unbelievable about this at all, James Dolan has been known to be a massive piece of shit for a very long time

17. u/xbhaskarx · 2026-10-23 17:49 UTC

Contend not contest

18. u/DataDude00 · 2026-10-23 17:53 UTC

I know someone that works at MLSE in marketing and when the Raptors when a championship even he got a ring. They have different tiers for different roles, I think there were three groups and he got the lowest one but all of this is very common at the pro sports level.

Dolan cheeping out and fucking over back office employees is crazy (but believable) for him

19. u/almostcurly · 2026-10-23 18:03 UTC

I had heard there were 5 tiers of rings for the raptors. But either way yeah this is fucking insane from Dolan. Not surprised though

20. u/DataDude00 · 2026-10-23 18:04 UTC

Some teams do more tiers. I know the Raps also had a "fan tier" which was basically just a promo item with no real value they gave away at various events