Madison Square Garden Sports Corp.

Good morning. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Madison Square Garden Sports Corp Fiscal 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to Ari Daines, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to MSG Sports Fiscal 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Our Chief Operating Officer, Jamal Hussain, will begin this morning's call with an update on the company's strategy and operations. This will be followed by a review of our financial results with Victoria Mink, our EVP, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions. If you do not have a copy of today's earnings release, it is available in the Investors section of our corporate website. Please take note of the following. Today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's filings with the SEC for a discussion of risks and uncertainties. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be discussed during this call. On pages four and five of today's earnings release, we provide consolidated statements of operations and a reconciliation of operating income to adjusted operating income, or AOI, a non-GAAP financial measure. And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Jamal. Thank you, Ari.

And good morning, everyone. For the fiscal 26th second quarter, MSG Sports generated revenues of approximately $403 million and adjusted operating income of approximately $30 million. These results reflect positive momentum in key operating areas, with per-game revenues across all in-game categories, including ticketing, suites, sponsorship, and food, beverage, and merchandise up. as compared to the fiscal 25 second quarter. These results also reflect higher national media rights fees as a result of the NBA's new national media deals, the impact of our amended local media rights agreements with MSG Networks, and our continued investment in our teams. As we look ahead with the ongoing momentum we see across our business, we remain well positioned to drive long-term value for our shareholders. Now let's discuss our operations in more detail. This year, fan enthusiasm for our teams continues to be evident in results across our business. The Knicks and Rangers combined season ticket renewal rate this season was approximately 94%. In addition, we have been focused on optimizing pricing and mix of individual and group sales to maximize revenues for each game. As a result, we saw a year-over-year increase in per-game ticketing revenue in the fiscal second quarter, which also reflects the increase in next season ticket prices following the team's exciting playoff run last year. This year, we've also been celebrating the Rangers' centennial season with multiple generations of fans and former Rangers players joining us at the Garden for a number of curated theme nights to highlight the history of our storied franchise. This celebration will culminate with the Rangers' 100th anniversary capstone game in November. This special season has included two new additions to our merchandise collection, a centennial jersey that honors our 100 years of history and a separate jersey that commemorates our participation in the NHL's annual Winter Classic as won by the players in that game. In addition, we have also introduced a number of other new merchandise offerings for both the Knicks and Rangers this year. We continue to partner with unique brands such as KISS and New Yorker Nowhere for exclusive retail offerings that have been resonating with fans. In fact, when the Knicks new KISS collection launched in November and the Rangers Centennial Collection debuted at the Garden in October, single game merchandise sales were amongst our highest in each team's history. With the help of these efforts, we saw higher food, beverage, and merchandise per capita spending during the quarter as compared to the prior year period. Enthusiasm for the Rangers' centennial season has also extended to our marketing partnerships business. In September, the company announced a significant multi-year agreement with Game 7 that included naming the multi-platform sports and entertainment brand, which was co-founded by Rangers' great Marc Messier, as the first-ever jersey patch partner of the Rangers. Game 7 is now featured on our home, away, and Centennial jerseys this year and was the presenting partner of one of the Rangers' recent Centennial season theme nights. Momentum in our marketing partnerships business has also been highlighted by a number of other announcements so far this fiscal year. Over the last several months, we signed new multi-year partnerships with PWC and Polymarket and reached multi-year renewals with Anheuser-Busch and Infosys. In terms of premium hospitality, we continue to see strong new sales and renewal activity for Suites at the Garden. In addition, we are seeing the benefit of incremental revenue this year from several Lexus-level Suites that were recently renovated. Our progress in these categories puts us on track for growth across both marketing partnerships and premium hospitality in fiscal 26. Turning to media rights. As I mentioned earlier, the NBA's new national media deals with Disney, NBC Universal, and Amazon began this season, which is reflected in today's results. In addition, our results reflect the Nixon Rangers amended local media rights agreements with MSG Networks. As a reminder, those amendments included 28% and 18% reductions in annual rights fees payable to the Knicks and Rangers respectively, which were effective January 1st, 2025, along with an elimination of annual rights fee escalators. Looking ahead, beginning next week, we will be proud to watch a number of Rangers compete in the 2026 Olympic Winter Games for their home countries. And on the basketball side, the Knicks have been carrying on the momentum from last year's playoff run. As you know, In fiscal 25, the team welcomed Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism as its new jersey patch partner. Building on this relationship and global enthusiasm for the team, the Knicks visited Abu Dhabi for two preseason games in October. In addition, the first several months of the season were capped off by the Knicks winning the league's third annual in-season competition, the NBA Cup, in December. Coming up, We are looking forward to watching Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns participate in the 2026 NBA All-Star Game. So in summary, our business, with its strong underlying fundamentals, continues to benefit from robust consumer and corporate demand. And we remain as confident as ever in the value of owning two iconic sports franchises. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Victoria.