Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (NYSE:MSGS) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript February 7, 2023

Operator: Good morning. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. Fiscal 2023 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 Danes, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Ari Danes: Thank you. Good morning and welcome to MSG Sports Fiscal 2023 second quarter earnings conference call. To begin, I'd like to welcome our new President and COO, David Hopkinson to today's earnings call. David will provide 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 4 and 5 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 David.

David Hopkinson: Thank you, Ari. Good morning, everyone. I'm delighted to be here speaking with all of you today, and I look forward to meeting with many of you in the coming months. I am honored to have taken on this new leadership role at MSG Sports. Our company has a collection of iconic professional sports assets, and with significant opportunities for growth ahead, I am excited to drive the business forward and realize this potential. Our portfolio is highlighted by the Knicks and the Rangers, who kicked off their 2022, 2023 regular season in October. And following on last year's record financial performance, I'm pleased to say that we have continued to build on that positive momentum this season as consumer and corporate demand remains robust.

The strength of our business is reflected in our fiscal second quarter results with revenue of $354 million, an increase of 22% year-over-year and adjusted operating income of $77 million, up 38% as compared to the prior year period. This growth was broad based with total revenues, as well as per game revenues across tickets, suites, sponsorship, food and beverage, and merchandise all up year-over-year as compared to the fiscal 2022 second quarter. As we look ahead, our strategy remains focused on continuing to execute on our many opportunities for growth from offering new ticketing and premium hospitality products to forging deeper relationships with our fans, to strengthening our brands globally. Based on our current trajectory, we are positioned to deliver year-over-year growth across key revenue lines this fiscal year.

And our announcement in October to return $250 million to our shareholders reflected this momentum, coupled with our confidence in the underlying value of our marquee professional sports franchises. And now, let's discuss in detail how our business is performing. Our teams are more than halfway through the NBA and NHL regular season. And both the Knicks and Rangers have talented rosters, including the Rangers' Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, and our Artemi Panarin, who participated in the NHL All Star game this past weekend. And to Knicks' Julius Randle who was recently selected as a 2023 NBA All Star. Both teams are currently in playoff contention and we look forward to the coming month of exciting competition. We continue to be energized by our fans, whose enthusiasm for our teams have only grown stronger during the last few years.

Our average combined season ticket renewal rate is above 90% and we have also seen strong sales of new season ticket packages. As a reminder, season tickets represent a significant majority of our ticketing revenue. We're also pleased to say that our group and individual ticket sales have returned in full force, which reflects improving tourism, as well as our enhanced results across dynamic pricing and improved efficiencies in data analytics and marketing. In fact, average tickets sold per game for individuals and groups through the fiscal second quarter has not only significantly exceeded the prior year quarter, but has also exceeded the pre-pandemic second quarter of fiscal 2020. This robust demand combined with higher average ticket yields drove substantial year-over-year growth in ticketing revenue this quarter with both the Knicks and Rangers maintaining their position amongst the league leaders in average gate receipts so far this season.

Beyond ticket sales, we have seen the enthusiasm from our fans again lead to increases in per capita spending across food and beverage and merchandise in the fiscal second quarter relative to last year, which as you may recall was a robust year for guest spending. We are strengthening and growing our fans community using a multipronged approach to forge impactful to rest relationships with our customers at multiple touch points in their experience. On the merchandise front, we've continued to introduce bespoke product offerings to build connections with guests, while driving business results. We are once again partnering with popular streetwear fashion brand, such as Jeff Staple with the Rangers. And Kith with the Knicks to create new collaborative collections this season, following prior year's success.

In fact, in November, we also named Kith Founder and CEO Ronnie Fieg as our first ever Knicks' Creative Director. In addition to developing an in-house line of products, Ronnie is focused on helping to provide a distinctive look and feel across our marketing, content and merchandise initiative. We're extremely excited to have Ronnie join us for this continued and expanded collaboration that we believe will further develop a global community around our iconic Knicks brand. On the Rangers side, we recently welcomed thousands of our fans to watch the team's first ever open at The Garden giving them the opportunity to get up close and personal with their favorite players and another great example of unique ways in which we look to connect with and develop our next .

And our efforts to foster our fan community also extend outside . Across our social media platforms, we've been rolling up compelling exclusive content, including behind the scenes player interactions, locker room footage, and lifestyle looking. It's clear this content is resonating. So far this fiscal year, we have added over 600,000 net new social followers across both teams bringing our combined total following to over across our social channels. As we continue to demonstrate through co-branded social media content, our global marketing partners view this social content as the unique avenue to connect with both our . Our marketing partners have also continued to demonstrate solid demand across all of our assets in fiscal 2023. In partnership with MSG Entertainment, the first half of the fiscal year was highlighted by extensions with signature partners Verizon and Spectrum, as well as with other brands such as Dunkin' and J?¤germeister.

At the same time, the company has made strides in expanding into new categories and we welcome the leading insurance brokerage firm, Hub International, as the signature partner earlier this year. As a reminder, this fiscal year for the first time, we are also realizing the full run rate impact of our expansive deals with sports gaming companies BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, and DraftKings. Our sponsorship momentum demonstrates the strength of our brand and our expansive reach in the New York market and beyond. And with the NBA's expanded international sponsorship opportunity beginning this year, we are increasingly focused on growing our commercial opportunities globally for the Knicks. To that end, we recently announced MSC Cruises as the official cruise line partner and first official global partner of the Knicks.

We fully expect this global partnership will be the first of many as we remain confident in the reach and appeal of the Knicks internationally. Corporate demand has also extended to our premium hospitality business. We have seen robust renewals and new sales of suite licenses through the first half of the year, positioning us for continued growth in this category. On the media rights side, we continue to see increases in local and national media rights fees due to annual contractual rate escalators. And with the NBA, media rights renewals coming due after the 2024, 2025 season, we remain confident in the opportunity ahead. Before I turn the call over to Victoria, I'd like to touch on the recent third-party valuation for the Knicks and Rangers.

In December, Sportico published its annual ranking of NBA team valuation with the mix coming in at an estimated $6.6 billion, up 8% from last year. That day month, Forbes updated its NHL team valuation with the Rangers maintaining the top spot at $2.2 billion, a 10% increase year-over-year. And there continue to be record transactions for professional sports franchises as evidenced by the recent Phoenix Suns News. Just two months ago, the Suns were valued by Forbes at an estimated . And now, with a reported sale price of $4 billion, the Suns are delivering the highest ever sale for the . We feel great about our position, owning two iconic franchises that have dedicated fan bases and play in the largest media market in the country. We remain encouraged by the continued increases in estimated team valuation along with the transaction to continue to come in well above those estimates.

Our recent share buyback program is a demonstration of that confidence, recognizing the gap that persists between the current trading price of our stock relative to the intrinsic value of our marquee sports franchises. And so, with more than half of fiscal 2023 already behind us, we are proud of how our business is performing and we remain confident in our ability to generate long-term shareholder value. With that, I'll now turn things over to Victoria.

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Victoria Mink: Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. I would like to start by reviewing our fiscal 2023 second quarter financial performance and then provide an update on our balance sheet. Results for the fiscal second quarter reflect pre-season play and the start of the 2022, 2023 regular seasons for the Knicks and Rangers. In aggregate, we hosted 41 pre and regular season games across both teams as compared to 35 games last year for six more games, which positively impacted this quarter's results. I'd also note that our fiscal third quarter will reflect two additional home games, while our fourth quarter will reflect eight fewer regular season home games, both as compared to the prior year period. Turning to results for the fiscal second quarter, total revenues were $353.7 million, as compared to $289.6 million in the prior year period with increases across all key revenue lines.

Event related revenue of $142.3 million, increased 30% year-over-year. This mainly consists of ticket related revenue, as well as food, beverage, and merchandise sales, both of which saw higher average per game revenue, driven by the enthusiasm from our fans. The increase in event related revenue also reflected the additional games played at The Garden during the current year quarter as compared to the prior year period. National and local media rights fees of $118.2 million increased 5%, primarily due to the impact of contractual escalators of both our local and national media rights agreements. Suites and sponsorship revenues of $81 million increased 38%, due to a higher number of games year-over-year, as well as an increase in per game revenue for both suites and sponsorships.

These results reflect the demand we have seen from news suite licenses at The Garden and robust renewals, while sponsorship includes the full run rate impact of our sports betting partnerships and the impact of the NHL's new digitally enhanced DasherBoards. Adjusted operating income increased 38% to $76.6 million as compared to the prior year period. This improvement was driven by the increase in revenues, partially offset by an increase in direct operating expenses and to a lesser extent higher SG&A expenses. The increase in direct operating expenses reflects higher team personnel compensation, as well as other team operating expenses. The increase in SG&A expenses was primarily due to higher employee compensation, reflecting executive management transition costs recorded in the current year period, as well as higher marketing costs.

As we look ahead, we continue to expect our business to deliver growth across key revenue lines in fiscal 2023, while our AOI will also reflect higher team operations expenses. Turning to our balance sheet. As David mentioned earlier, in October, we implemented a program to return approximately $250 million to our shareholders. This was comprised of an approximately $173 million special cash dividend and a $75 million accelerated share repurchase program, which was completed in January. In total, the company repurchased approximately 456,000 shares at an average price per share of approximately $164, representing about 2% of Class A common shares outstanding prior to the buyback. We now have approximately $185 million remaining under our existing share repurchase authorization.

In connection with the special dividend and share repurchase, the company borrowed an additional $55 million under the Knicks revolving credit facility and $160 million under the Rangers facility, of which $30 million in total was subsequently repaid during the quarter. At the end of the quarter, we had $435 million of debt outstanding comprised of $260 million under the mix senior secured revolving credit facility and $145 million under the Rangers senior secured revolving credit facility and $30 million advanced from the NHL. I would also add that in addition to the $30 million of total debt repayment in the quarter, last week we paid down an additional $15 million on the Ranger's revolver. Our quarter-end cash balance of approximately $44 million, represented a net decrease of $37 million, compared to our September 30 balance of $81 million.

With regards to liquidity, as of December 31, we had $164 million of liquidity comprised of $44 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, and $120 million in borrowing capacity under the team's revolving credit facilities. Based on the momentum we continue to see in the business and the growth opportunities ahead, we remain confident in our ability to drive long term value creation for our shareholders. With that, I will now turn the call back over to Ari.

Ari Danes: Thank you, Victoria. Operator, can we now open up the call for questions?

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