Business

James Dolan’s plan to build orb-like amphitheaters under fire

James Dolanā€™s planšŸ”œ to build futuristic is comišŸŒ³ng under attack.

Dolan, who owns the New York Knicks, saw support for his ambitious new project start to fizzle Tuesday after executives of his šŸ„‚entertainment company, MadišŸ”Æson Square Garden, said the first high-tech orb could cost half a billion dollars more than forecast.

Thź§ƒat, combined with disappointing MSG earnings, sent shares of the Radio City Music Hall owner into their worst decline iną¼’ the stockā€™s four-year history.

One investošŸ·r was so livid, he told The Post he wašŸƒnts Dolan to just walk away from the costly construction project.

ā€œWe think they should scrap the sphere arenas,ā€ a leading MSG investor told The Posź§ƒtš”‰.

The problems started when executišŸ’œves of Madison Square Garden told analysts in an earnings call Tuesday that the cost to build the first sphere in Las Vegas by 2021 ballooned to $1.7 billion, or $500 million over budget. A similar project has been proposed for London.

Analysts pushed back by asking MSG execs to give them a sense of the Las Vegas sphereā€™s expected returns. But they never answered the question, according to sources and a transcript of the callšŸŽ‰.

ā€œWeā€™re going to š†be taking people places where theyā€™ve never gone before, both experiencing it visually as well as feeling it, smelling it aā™“nd hearing it,ā€ MSG president Andrew Lustgarten said in response to a pointed question about returns.

Sources say Wall Street wź¦†as šŸŽ¶ā€œupsetā€ over the lack of answers and that concerns werenā€™t alleviated when MSG officials said they planned to negotiate the price down.

ā€œWe are reviewing and challenging our contractorsā€™ estimates and assumptions. We believe as a result of this pź¦šrocess that we šŸ§”will be successful in achieving significant cost reductions,ā€ Victoria Mink, chief financial officer at MSG, told analysts.

MSG shares plunged as much as 9.7 percent before settling down 8.8 percent Tuesday, at $267.33 ā€” mā€arking MSGā€™s sharpest drop since its split from MSG Networks four years ago.

Also dragging on MSGā€™s shšŸ… ares was a wider-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $3.08 a share ā€” 43 cents lower than analysts surveyed byšŸ§ø Bloomberg predicted.

Iį€£nvestors were also disappointed to learn that the companyā€™s plans to spin off its Knicks and Rangers franchises ąµ²are ā€œtaking longer than expected,ā€ according to Lustgarten.

š“„§MSG declined to comment, but pointed to comments from the call, including Lustgarten telling investors that the new high-tech spheres, which will include vibrating seats and video everywhere, will be more popular than MšŸ¦‚SG or Radio City Music Hall.