James Dolan Reportedly Called Rupert Murdoch, "Furious" Over FS1 Subway Ad [UPDATE]

FS1 ran an ad on the New York City subway between Grand Central and Times Square this morning debating whether the Knicks were hopeful or hopeless; the latter side of the argument included “Nothing will change until Dolan sells the team” printed on a seat. It bounced around social. Everybody had a good laugh about it and went on with their days.

Well, everyone except Knicks owner James Dolan. Basketball writer Adam Zagoria reports that the “furious” Dolan personally called Fox boss Rupert Murdoch and gave him an earful.

While it’s unclear why Murdoch should care about offending Dolan — I guess it’s not out of the question that MSG and Fox do business together in some capacity; or maybe the billionaires mingle socially, as billionaires tend to do? — but the ads, having generated sufficient buzz, are coming down tomorrow, an MTA ad agency spokesperson tells Kevin Draper of the New York Times. (The NYT story also covers the several other subway debate ads that got less attention than the Knicks one.)

It’ll be hard to know if there’s any relationship between social buzz and television viewership for FS1 weekday studio shows but there can’t be too many Knicks fans out there who have much faith a turnaround is on the horizon under Dolan’s leadership.

UPDATE: issuedFox the following statement:

Disclosure: The Big Lead’s editor-in-chief Jason McIntyre is an on-air personality for FS1.