MSG lawsuit against liquor authority tossed

James Dolan and Madison Square Garden have lost a legal fight against the New York State Liquor Authority after a judge threw out MSG’s lawsuit against the New York State Liquor Authority.

NEW YORK – Madison Square Garden CEO James Dolan is back in the headlines again, this time after losing a legal fight against the New York State Liquor Authority.

Dolan may have tripped himself up in an interview on FOX 5 NY's Good Day New York in January.

"They're being extremely aggressive and they're saying we're gonna take away your liquor license," Dolan told GDNY.

RELATED: MSG sues NY Liquor Authority over alcohol ban threat

The interview, however, may have helped convince a state supreme court judge to throw out MSG's lawsuit against the Liquor Authority. MSG CEO James Dolan On The Record

James Dolan, CEO of MSG Entertainment defended his use of facial recognition in an exclusive interview on FOX 5’s Good Day New York. For more: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/msg-lawyer-ban-anti-bias-laws-madison-square-garden

Last month, MSG sued the Liquor Authority after it warned MSG that it was going to possibly revoke its liquor license over MSG's use of facial recognition technology to identify and ban lawyers from MSG, Radio City Music Hall, and the Beacon Theatre if their law firms are involved in lawsuits against any of the venues.

RELATED: Appeals court: Madison Square Garden can ban lawyers suing them from entry

MSG had claimed it would suffer financially if its liquor license was pulled, but on Good Day New York Dolan said "People are still gonna come to the games and, you know, honestly yes alcohol, but we don't make, we don't make all our money on alcohol."

The judge quoted this comment in his decision to dismiss MSG's lawsuit, saying it raised doubt that MSG would be harmed if its liquor license was taken away.  

"The SLA will continue our disciplinary process to ensure that MSGE complies with its duties under the law," the Liquor Authority said after Wednesday's decision.

Meanwhile, MSG says it will continue to block certain lawyers from its venues. 

"While the judge denied our filing as ‘premature,’ this decision has no impact on our enforcement of our policy, which we will continue to vigorously defend," MSG said in a statement.