According to Pablo Torre, Knicks owner James Dolan has strong disdain for dogs that compelled him to pull NY Rangers pet mascot ‘Ranger’ right before his in-game debut. Per Torre, “Dolan had effectively banished an autism service puppy from the arena in addition to his human enemies.”
“Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan has such ‘disdain for dogs’, according to a sworn affirmation by a former VP of MSG security, that [Dolan’s chief security officer] Eversole kept K-9 bomb-sniffing dogs away from Dolan when he was walking around the Garden.”
“Ranger [the New York Ranger’s Labrador puppy service dog mascot] went viral in 2018-2019. Ranger was photographed with players, was on the Jumbotron, had the description ‘team’s best friend’, and if you’re now wondering how the team’s best friend could have coexisted with the team’s owner, good question. As one former Garden official put it ‘There was definitely an effort to keep the dog away from James Dolan.’ Ranger would often stay beneath the desk of his handler in the office.”
“According to our MSG sources, there was a tipping point: When a bunch of the models, who sit in the vicinity of Dolan at games saw this adorable Labrador and started asking if they could bring their dogs.”
“Now, MSG did not respond to our request for comment here, but former high-ranking Garden executives recall that right before they were going to introduce Ranger in person at a game, the team’s unofficial dog mascot, as one put it, was abruptly canceled. Dolan had effectively banished an autism service puppy from the arena in addition to his human enemies.”