After winning the NBA championship, James L. Dolan quietly resolved a three-year battle with the New York State Liquor Authority over facial recognition use at Madison Square Garden. The authority had claimed exclusionary biometric surveillance violated state beverage laws requiring public admission.

In an unpublicized ruling last week, the authority levied $10,000 fines each on the Garden, Beacon Theater, and Radio City Music Hall for an unapproved corporate structure change — not the facial recognition issue. Charges contesting patron barring were withdrawn. Manhattan borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal called it "disappointing" the authority wasn't more aggressive.

The controversy began in 2022 when lawyers like Kelly Conlon were barred from venues via facial recognition for working on litigation against MSG Entertainment. The authority's investigation had threatened liquor license revocation. Lawyer Samuel Davis called the fine a "wrist slap" tied to Dolan's political influence.

Meanwhile, a cyberattack revealed MSG's "talent database" tracking nearly 40,000 high-profile figures, including liquor authority chair Lily M. Fan. MSG sued Wired for defamation over the leak report, calling its database standard customer management.