Q4 2024 Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp Earnings Call

Speaker Change: Time to Listen STAY HOME BE WELL GOD BLESS YOU

Operator: Good morning. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and year end earnings conference call. I would now like to turn the call over to Ari Danes, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

Operator: Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp's fiscal 2024, fourth quarter and year-end earnings conference call.

Ari Danes: Good morning. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corps fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and year-end earnings conference call. I would now like to turn the call over to Ari Danes, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

Ari Danes: I would now like to turn the call over to Ari Danes, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

Unknown Executive: Thank you.

Ari Danes: Thank you. Good morning and welcome to MSG Entertainment's fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and year-end earnings conference call. On today's call, Mike Grau, our EVP and Chief Financial Officer, will provide an update on the company's operations, and review our financial results for the quarter. 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 investor section of our corporate website.

Ari Danes: Good morning and welcome to MSC Entertainment's fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and year-end earnings conference call. On today's call, Mike Grau, our EVP and Chief Financial Officer, will provide an update on the company's operations and review our financial results for the quarter.

Ari Danes: Thank you. Good morning and welcome to MSG Entertainment's Fiscal 2024 4th Quarter and Year-End Earnings Conference Call.

Speaker Change: On today's call, Mike Grau, our EVP and Chief Financial Officer, will provide an update on the company's operations and review our financial results for the quarter. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions.

Unknown Executive: After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions.

Unknown Executive: Did you not have a copy of today's earnings release?

Unknown Executive: It is available in the investor section of our corporate website.

Speaker Change: If you do not have a copy of today's earnings release, it is available in the investors section of our corporate website.

Unknown Executive: Please take note of the following.

Ari Danes: 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 statement.

Unknown Executive: 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.

Ari Danes: Please refer to the company's filings with the SEC for a discussion of risks and uncertain, The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be discussed during this call. On pages four and five 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 Mike. Thank you, Ari, and good morning, everyone.

Speaker Change: Please take note of the following.

Speaker Change: Today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Speaker Change: 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.

Speaker Change: The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be discussed during this call.

Unknown Executive: On pages four and five 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.

Speaker Change: 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 Mike.

Ari Danes: And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Mike.

Michael Grau: Thank you, Ariane.

Michael Grau: Good morning, everyone. Fiscal 2024 marked out first full year as a standalone live entertainment company, with our results reflecting strong performance across our businesses, including bookings, the Christmas Spectacular production, and our premium hospitality offerings. In fact, the positive operating momentum we experienced throughout fiscal 24 led us to increase our guidance twice during the year. And with revenues of $959 million and adjusted operating income of $211.5 million, our full year results came in above the high end of our ranges. As we look ahead to fiscal 25, we remain focused on executing on our strategy of increasing venue utilization, growing per event profitability, building on the success of the Christmas Spectacular, and expanding our sponsorship and premium hospitality businesses.

Michael Grau: Fiscal 2024 marked our first full year as a standalone live entertainment company, with our results reflecting strong performance across our businesses, including bookings, the Christmas Spectacular production, and our premium hospitality offer. In fact, the positive operating momentum we experienced throughout fiscal 24 led us to increase our guidance twice during the year, and with revenues of $959 million and adjusted operating income of $211.5 million, our full year results came in above the high end of our range.

Mike: Thank you, Ari, and good morning, everyone.

Mike: Typical 2024 marked our first full year as a stand-alone live entertainment company.

Mike: With our results reflecting strong performance across our businesses, including bookings, the Christmas Spectacular production, and our premium hospitality offerings.

Mike: In fact, the positive operating momentum we experienced throughout fiscal 24 led us to increase our guidance twice during the year.

Mike: And with revenues of $959 million and adjusted operating income of $211.5 million, our full year results came in above the high end of our ranges.

Michael Grau: As we look ahead to fiscal 25, we remain focused on executing on our strategy of increasing venue utilization. Growing Per Event Profitability. Building on the success of The Christmas Spectacular and expanding our sponsorship and premium hospitality business. We believe that this strategy, along with robust ongoing demand for our live entertainment offerings, positions us to deliver a high single to low double-digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income in fiscal 25. So with a strong year behind us and a positive outlook for the year ahead, we remain confident that our business is well-positioned to generate long-term value for our shareholders.

Mike: As we look ahead to fiscal 25, we remain focused on executing on our strategy of increasing venue utilization, growing per-event profitability, building on the success of the Christmas Spectacular, and expanding our sponsorship and premium hospitality businesses.

Michael Grau: We believe that this strategy, along with robust ongoing demand for our live entertainment offerings, positions us to deliver a high single to low double-digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income in fiscal 25.

Mike: We believe that this strategy, along with robust ongoing demand for our live entertainment offerings, positions us to deliver a high single to low double-digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income in Fiscal 25.

Michael Grau: So, with a strong year behind us and a positive outlook to the year ahead, we remain confident that our business is well-positioned to generate long-term value for our shareholders.

Mike: So with a strong year behind us and a positive outlook for the year ahead, we remain confident that our business is well positioned to generate long-term value for our shareholders.

Michael Grau: Let's now review some key operational highlights from our fiscal fourth quarter and full year. Fiscal 2024 was another busy year of events for our venues, as we hosted approximately 6.3 million guests at over 960 live events. The majority of these events were driven by our bookings business, where we saw robust growth in the number of events held at our venues versus the prior year. This growth was driven by the concert and family show categories and included a record high for the number of concerts in a year at both the Garden and at Radio City Music Hall.

Michael Grau: Let's now review some key operational highlights from our fiscal fourth quarter and full year. Fiscal 2024 was another busy year of events for our venues, as we hosted approximately 6.3 million guests at over 960 live events. The majority of these events were driven by our bookings business, where we saw robust growth in the number of events held at our venues versus the prior year. This growth was driven by the concert and family show categories and included a record high for the number of concerts in a year at both the Garden and at Radio City Music Hall. The world's most famous arena ended the year on a particularly strong note with robust year-over-year growth in the number of concerts in the fourth quarter.

Mike: Let's now review some key operational highlights from our fiscal fourth quarter and full year.

Mike: Fiscal 2024 was another busy year of events for our venues, as we hosted approximately 6.3 million guests at over 960 live events.

Mike: The majority of these events were driven by our bookings business, where we saw robust growth in the number of events held at our venues versus the prior year.

Mike: This growth was driven by the concert and family show categories and included a record high for the number of concerts in a year at both the Garden and at Radio City Music Hall.

Michael Grau: The world's most famous arena ended the year on a particularly strong note, with robust year-over-year growth in the number of concerts in the fourth quarter. This reflects our efforts to increase venue utilization within the Nixon Rangers playoff window, as well as our success in attracting acts that are headlining the Garden for the first time. Consumer demand also helped drive this growth, as customers continued to demonstrate their willingness to spend on experiences. Across our venues, the majority of concerts were once again sold out in the fourth quarter. We also saw higher overall per cap spending on food, beverage, and merchandise at concerts in the fourth quarter as compared to the prior year period.

Mike: The world's most famous arena ended the year on a particularly strong note, with robust year-over-year growth in the number of concerts in the fourth quarter.

Michael Grau: This reflects our efforts to increase venue utilization within the Nixon Rangers playoff window, as well as our success in attracting acts that are headlining the garden for the first time. Consumer demand also helped drive this growth, as customers continue to demonstrate their willingness to spend on experience. Across our venues, the majority of concerts were once again sold out in the fourth quarter.

Speaker Change: This reflects our efforts to increase venue utilization within the Nixon Rangers playoff window, as well as our success in attracting acts that are headlining the Garden for the first time.

Speaker Change: Consumer demand also helped drive this growth, as customers continued to demonstrate their willingness to spend on experiences.

Speaker Change: Across our venues, the majority of concerts were once again sold out in the fourth quarter.

Michael Grau: We also saw higher overall per-cap spending on food, beverage, and merchandise at concerts in the fourth quarter as compared to the prior year period. Looking ahead, our bookings calendar continues to fill up, and we expect to again increase the number of events at our venues in fiscal 25, primarily driven by growth in concerts, family shows, and special events. Turning now to the Christmas Spectacular production. During fiscal 24, we sold over 1 million tickets across 193 performances and generated nearly $150 million in revenue. A new record for the beloved production in its 90th season.

Speaker Change: We also saw higher overall per-cap spending on food, beverage, and merchandise at concerts in the fourth quarter as compared to the prior year period.

Michael Grau: Looking ahead, our bookings calendar continues to fill up, and we expect to again increase the number of events at our venues in fiscal 25, primarily driven by growth in concerts, family shows, and special events.

Speaker Change: Looking ahead, our bookings calendar continues to fill up and we expect to again increase the number of events at our venues in fiscal 25, primarily driven by growth in concerts, family shows, and special events.

Michael Grau: Turning now to the Christmas Spectacular production. During fiscal 24, we sold over 1 million tickets; of course, 193 performances, and generated nearly $150 million in revenue. A new record for the beloved production in its 90th season. We are currently on sale with 197 shows for the 2024 holiday season, and expect revenue growth for the production to be driven by the increased number of shows, as well as by higher per show revenue. This year's production will feature new technology and immersive elements, as we continue to explore ways to enhance the experience for our guests.

Speaker Change: Turning now to the Christmas Spectacular production.

Speaker Change: During fiscal 24 we sold over 1 million tickets across 193 performances and generated nearly 150 million dollars in revenue. A new record for the beloved production in its 90th season.

Michael Grau: We are currently on sale with 197 shows for the 2024 holidays, and expect revenue growth for the production to be driven by the increased number of shows as well as by higher per show revenue. This year's production will feature new technology and immersive elements as we continue to explore ways to enhance the experience for our guests. In our fiscal fourth quarter, both the Knicks and Rangers finished their exciting regular season and playoff run. In total, they played 11 additional home games at the Garden as compared to the prior year quarter.

Speaker Change: We are currently on sale with 197 shows for the 2024 holiday season.

Speaker Change: and expect revenue growth for the production to be driven by the increased number of shows as well as by higher per show revenue.

Speaker Change: This year's production will feature new technology and immersive elements as we continue to explore ways to enhance the experience for our guests.

Michael Grau: In our fiscal fourth quarter, both the Nixon Rangers finish their exciting regular season and playoff runs. In total, they play the 11 additional home games at the Garden as compared to the prior year quarter. In terms of our agreements with MSG Sports, for fiscal 25, the cash component of the arena license fees that we receive will be approximately $44 million. And will continue to grow 3% each year through fiscal 2005. Given the strong performance of both teams this past season, we expect to see positive tail wins across our revenue and profit sharing arrangements with MSG Sports in fiscal 25.

Speaker Change: In our fiscal fourth quarter, both the Knicks and Rangers finished their exciting regular season and playoff runs. In total, they played 11 additional home games at the Garden as compared to the prior year quarter.

Michael Grau: In terms of our agreements with MSG Sports, For Fiscal 25, the cash component of the ARENA license fees that we receive will be approximately $44 million and will continue to grow 3% each year through Fiscal 2055. Given the strong performance of both teams this past season, we expect to see positive tailwinds across our revenue and profit-sharing arrangements with MSG Sports in fiscal 25. That includes our share of food, beverage and merchandise, sweets and signage at Nixon Rangers home game.

Speaker Change: In terms of our agreements with MSG Sports, for Fiscal 25, the cash component of the arena license fees that we receive will be approximately $44 million and will continue to grow 3% each year through Fiscal 2055.

Speaker Change: Given the strong performance of both teams this past season, we expect to see positive tailwinds across our revenue and profit-sharing arrangements with MSG Sports in Fiscal 25. That includes our share of food, beverage, and merchandise, sweets, and signage at Nixon Rangers home games.

Michael Grau: That includes our share of food, beverage, and merchandise, sweets, and signage at Nixon Rangers home games.

Michael Grau: Turning to our marketing partnerships business. As you know, last year we transitioned our sponsorship sales effort to OPU Group's Crown Properties collection. I'm pleased to say that we are off to a strong start to fiscal 25 in terms of new deals. We expect to have more to share in the coming weeks and believe this business is positioned for growth this year. During fiscal 24, we saw a strong demand for our premium hospitality offerings, including the two new sweet products we introduced earlier in the fiscal year, an event-level suite, and a luxury event-level club space. And given this demand, we are continuing to expand the capacity of the event-level club space.

Michael Grau: Turning to our Marketing Partnerships business. As you know, last year we transitioned our sponsorship sales effort to Oakview Group's Crown Properties collection. I'm pleased to say that we are off to a strong start to fiscal 25 in terms of new deals. We expect to have more to share in the coming weeks and believe this business is positioned for growth this year. During fiscal 24, we saw strong demand for our premium hospitality, including the two new suite products we introduced earlier in the fiscal year, an event-level suite and a luxury event-level club space.

Speaker Change: i

Speaker Change: Turning to our Marketing Partnerships business.

Speaker Change: As you know, last year we transitioned our sponsorship sales effort to Oakview Group's Crown Properties collection.

Speaker Change: I'm pleased to say that we are off to a strong start to Fiscal 25 in terms of new deals. We expect to have more to share in the coming weeks and believe this business is positioned for growth this year.

Speaker Change: During fiscal 24, we saw strong demand for our premium hospitality offerings, including the two new suite products we introduced earlier in the fiscal year, an event-level suite and a luxury event-level club space.

Michael Grau: And given this demand, we are continuing to expand the capacity of the event level clubs. Along those lines, we are also in the process of renovating a number of our event and Lexus level suites, which we anticipate will drive incremental revenue this year. So as we look to fiscal 25, I'm pleased to say we expect another year of growth in this area of our business as well. Before I discuss our fiscal fourth quarter financial results, I have a couple of points regarding presentation and comparability.

Speaker Change: And, given this demand, we are continuing to expand the capacity of the event-level club space.

Michael Grau: Along those lines, we are also in the process of renovating a number of our event and Lexus-level suites, which we anticipate was driving Cramental revenue this year. So, as we look to fiscal 25, I'm pleased to say we expect another year of growth in this area of our business as well.

Speaker Change: Along those lines, we are also in the process of renovating a number of our event and Lexus level suites, which we anticipate will drive incremental revenue this year.

Speaker Change: So as we look to fiscal 25, I'm pleased to say we expect another year of growth in this area of our business as well.

Michael Grau: Before I discuss our fiscal fourth quarter financial results, I have a couple of points regarding presentation and comparability. First, I’d like to remind you that last quarter, we revised our definition of adjusted operating income as it relates to the arena license fees with MSG Sports. Now, no longer removing the non-cash portion of the arena license fees in our reconciliation of operating income to adjusted operating income, which is reflected in the financial results we reported today for all periods presented. You may recall that the arena license fees are recognized on a straight-line basis over the life of the 35-year agreements, which equates to approximately $68 million a year.

Speaker Change: Before I discuss our fiscal fourth quarter financial results, I have a couple of points regarding presentation and comparability.

Michael Grau: First, I'd like to remind you that last quarter we revised our definition of adjusted operating income as it relates to the arena license fees with MSG Sports. We are no longer removing the non-cash portion of the arena license fees in our reconciliation of operating income to adjusted operating income, which is reflected in the financial results we reported today for all periods presented. You may recall that the arena license fees are recognized on a straight line basis over the life of the 35-year agreements, which equates to approximately $68 million a year. For fiscal 2024, this $68 million was comprised of approximately $43 million of cash revenue and $25 million of non-cash revenue. Second, the company completed its spinoff from Sphere Entertainment on April 20th of last year.

Speaker Change: First, I'd like to remind you that last quarter we revised our definition of Adjusted Operating Income as it relates to the arena license fees with MSG Sports.

Speaker Change: We are no longer removing the non-cash portion of the arena license fees in our reconciliation of operating income to adjusted operating income, which is reflected in the financial results we reported today for all periods presented.

Speaker Change: You may recall that the ARENA license fees are recognized on a straight-line basis over the life of the 35-year agreements, which equates to approximately $68 million a year.

Michael Grau: But fiscal 2024, this $68 million was comprised of approximately $43 million of cash revenue and $25 million of non-cash revenue.

Speaker Change: For fiscal 2024, this $68 million was comprised of approximately $43 million of cash revenue and $25 million of non-cash revenue.

Michael Grau: Second, the company completed its spin-off from Sphere Entertainment on April 20th of last year. As a result, our fiscal fourth quarter results are not fully comparable on a year-over-year basis. Results for the prior year quarter are based on carve-out accounting for the first 20 days of April, and therefore last year's fourth quarter results do not reflect all of the SCNA expenses we would have incurred had we been a standalone public company for the entire period.

Speaker Change: Second, the company completed its spinoff from Sphere Entertainment on April 20th of last year. As a result, our fiscal fourth quarter results are not fully comparable on a year-over-year basis.

Michael Grau: As a result, our fiscal fourth quarter results are not fully comparable on a year-over-year basis. Results for the prior year quarter are based on carve-out accounting for the first 20 days of April and therefore last year's fourth quarter results do not reflect all of the SG&A expenses we would have incurred had we been a stand-alone public company for the entire period. Turning now to our financial results. For the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, we reported revenues of $186.1 million, an increase of 26% as compared to the prior year period. This reflected growth across our three revenue categories. Entertainment offerings. Food, Beverage and Merchandise, and Arena Licenses.

Speaker Change: Results for the prior year quarter are based on carve-out accounting for the first 20 days of April and therefore last year's fourth quarter results do not reflect all of the SG&A expenses we would have incurred had we been a standalone public company for the entire period.

Michael Grau: Turning now to our financial results. For the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, we reported revenues of $186.1 million, an increase of 26% as compared to the prior year period. This reflected growth across our three revenue categories: entertainment offerings, food beverage and merchandise, and arena license fees. The increase in revenues from entertainment offerings primarily reflected more concerts at the garden in our fourth quarter compared to the prior year period. The increase in food, beverage, and merchandise revenues primarily reflected the impact of additional mix and Ranger games at the Garden versus the prior year quarter, as well as higher sales at concerts and other live entertainment and sporting events at our venues.

Michael Grau: The increase in revenues from entertainment offerings primarily reflected more concerts at the Garden in our fourth quarter compared to the prior year period. The increase in food, beverage, and merchandise revenues primarily reflected the impact of additional Knicks and Rangers games at the Garden versus the prior year quarter, as well as higher sales at concerts and other live entertainment and sporting events at our venue. Fourth quarter adjusted operating income of $13.1 million, increased by $12.4 million as compared to the prior year quarter.

Speaker Change: Turning now to our financial results. For the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, we reported revenues of 186.1 million dollars, an increase of 26 percent as compared to the prior year period.

Speaker Change: This reflected growth across our three revenue categories, entertainment offerings, food, beverage, and merchandise, and arena license fees.

Speaker Change: The increase in revenues from entertainment offerings primarily reflected more concerts at the Garden in our fourth quarter compared to the prior year period.

Speaker Change: The increase in food, beverage, and merchandise revenues primarily reflected the impact of additional Knicks and Rangers games at the Garden versus the prior year quarter, as well as higher sales at concerts and other live entertainment and sporting events at our venues.

Michael Grau: Fourth quarter adjusted operating income of $13.1 million increased by $12.4 million as compared to the prior year quarter. These AOI results include $2.5 million of non-cash arena license fees in the current year quarter as compared to $1.5 million in the prior year period. The increase in AOI primarily reflects higher revenues, partially offset by an increase in direct operating expenses and, to a lesser extent, higher SGNA expenses. And, as I mentioned earlier, fourth quarter SG&A expenses are not fully comparable on a year-over-year basis.

Speaker Change: Fourth quarter adjusted operating income of $13.1 million, increased by $12.4 million as compared to the prior year quarter.

Michael Grau: These AOI results include $2.5 million of non-cash arena license fees in the current year quarter, as compared to $1.5 million in the prior year period. The increase in AOI primarily reflects higher revenues, partially offset by an increase in direct operating expenses and, to a lesser extent, higher SG&As. And as I mentioned earlier, fourth quarter SG&A expenses are not fully comparable on a year-over-year basis. Tony Swell-Balance, As of June 30th, we had approximately $33 million of unrestricted cash, while our debt balance was approximately $626 million.

Speaker Change: These AOI results include $2.5 million of non-cash arena license fees in the current year quarter, as compared to $1.5 million in the prior year period.

Speaker Change: The increase in AOI primarily reflects higher revenues, partially offset by an increase in direct operating expenses and, to a lesser extent, higher SG&A expenses.

Speaker Change: And as I mentioned earlier, fourth quarter SG&A expenses are not fully comparable on a year-over-year basis.

Michael Grau: Turning to our balance sheet. As of June 30th, we had approximately $33 million of unrestricted cash, while our debt balance was approximately $626 million. Looking ahead to fiscal 25, we currently expect our company to have another year of substantial free cash flow generation. This is underscored by the following expectations. A high single to low double digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income, ongoing net interest payments related to our national properties debt, which told $51 million in fiscal 24. Our current status as a minimal cash taxpayer and capital expenditures, which will include both maintenance cap ex, as well as some incremental spend related to Christmas Spectacular enhancements and sweet renovations at the Garden, both of which I discussed earlier.

Speaker Change: Turning to our balance sheet, as of June 30th, we had approximately $33 million of unrestricted cash, while our debt balance was approximately $626 million.

Michael Grau: Looking ahead to fiscal 25, we currently expect our company to have another year of substantial free cash flow generation. This is underscored by the following expectations. A high single to low double-digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income. Ongoing net interest payments related to our national properties debt, which totaled $51 million in fiscal 24.

Speaker Change: Looking ahead to fiscal 25, we currently expect our company to have another year of substantial free cash flow generation.

Speaker Change: This is underscored by the following expectations.

Speaker Change: A high single to low double-digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income. Ongoing net interest payments related to our national properties debt, which totaled $51 million in fiscal 24.

Michael Grau: Our current status as a minimal cash taxpayer, and Capital Expenditures, which will include both maintenance CapEx as well as some incremental spend related to Christmas Spectacular enhancements and suite renovations at the garden, both of which I discussed earlier. In terms of capital allocation, we remain focused on our dual priorities of opportunistically returning capital to shareholders and paying down debt. As a reminder, we continue to have approximately $110 million remaining under our current share repurchase authorization.

Speaker Change: our current status as a minimal cash taxpayer, and capital expenditures, which will include both maintenance capex, as well as some incremental spend related to Christmas Spectacular enhancements and suite renovations at the Garden, both of which I discussed earlier.

Michael Grau: In terms of capital allocation, we remain focused on our dual priorities of opportunistically returning capital to shareholders and paying down debt. As a reminder, we continue to have a possibly $110 million remaining under our current share repurchase authorization.

Speaker Change: In terms of capital allocation, we remain focused on our dual priorities of opportunistically returning capital to shareholders and paying down debt.

Speaker Change: As a reminder, we continue to have approximately $110 million remaining under our current share repurchase authorization.

Michael Grau: In summary, fiscal 2024 reflected the strength of our business and the robust demand we saw for our assets. And as we look to fiscal 25, we believe we are well positioned to deliver robust AOI growth for the year.

Ari Danes: In summary, Fiscal 2024 reflected the strength of our business and the robust demands we saw for our assets. And as we look to fiscal 25, we believe we are well positioned to deliver robust AOI growth for the year. With that, I will now turn the call back over to Ari. Thank you, Mike. Operator, can we open up the call for questions? Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 in your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star 1 again.

Speaker Change: In summary, Fiscal 2024 reflected the strength of our business and the robust demand we saw for our assets. And as we look to Fiscal 2025, we believe we are well positioned to deliver robust AOI growth for the year.

Ari Danes: With that, I will now turn the call back over to Ari.

Speaker Change: With that, I will now turn the call back over to Ari.

Operator: Operator, can we open up the call for questions?

Unknown Executive: Thank you.

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

Operator: We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to rate your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again.

Speaker Change: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 in your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star 1 again.

Peter Henderson: Your first question comes from a line of Peter Henderson from Bank of America. Your line is open.

Operator: Your first question comes from the line of Peter Henderson from Bank of America. Your line is open. Great, thank you.

Speaker Change: Your first question comes from the line of Peter Henderson from Bank of America. Your line is open.

Peter Henderson: Thank you for taking the question. Can you just provide us with an update on advanced ticket sales for the Christmas Spectacular? And just also discuss the overall growth opportunities for the production, including pricing, show count, etc. Sure, Peter. Good morning.

Peter Henderson: Great. Thank you. Thank you for taking a question.

Michael Grau: Can you just provide us with an update on advanced ticket sales for the Christmas Spectacular? And just also discuss the overall growth opportunities for the production, including pricing, show count, et cetera.

Peter Henderson: Great, thank you. Thank you for taking the question. Can you just provide us with an update on advanced ticket sales for the Christmas Spectacular and just also discuss the overall growth opportunities for the production including pricing, show count, etc.?

Michael Grau: So Peter, good morning, and thanks for the question. So regarding advanced ticket sales pacing, we're currently on sale with 197 shows; that's versus 193 in last year's holiday season, and the marketing around that kicked in in late July. So it's early days. We're certainly very encouraged by what we're seeing to date. Versus this same point last year, we're up about 18% in terms of advanced ticket revenue. And I'd say that's half rate, half volume. I'd reflect growth across group sales, across individual sales. I'd say we're a little more than 10% of the way towards our full-year goal.

Michael Grau: And thanks for the question. So regarding advanced ticket sales pacing, we're currently on sale with 197 shows, that's versus 193 in last year's holiday season, and the marketing around that kicked in in late July. So it's early days, we're certainly very encouraged by what we're seeing to date, you know, versus the same point last year, we're up about 18% in terms of advanced ticket revenue. And I'd say that's half rate half volume.

Speaker Change: So Peter good morning, and thanks for the question um so regarding advanced ticket sales pacing We're currently on sale with 197 shows. That's versus 193

Peter Henderson: in last year's holiday season, and the marketing around that kicked in in late July. So it's early days. We're certainly very encouraged by what we're seeing to date. You know, versus the same point last year, we're up about 18% in terms of advanced ticket revenue, and I'd say that's half rate, half volume.

Michael Grau: Reflects growth across group sales, across individual sales, I'd say we're a little more than 10% of the way towards our full year goal. So again, early days, but the early signs are very encouraging. As for the second part of your question around growth opportunities, I mean, you know, we talk about growth for the Christmas show really in three areas. And I think we see opportunity in all three of them.

Speaker Change: David Byrnes, Michael Grau, David Danes, Philip DAmbrosio, Michael Grau, David Byrnes, Philip

Speaker Change: Reflects growth across group sales, across individual sales.

Michael Grau: So again, early days, but the early signs are very encouraging.

Speaker Change: I'd say we're a little more than 10% of the way towards our full year goal, so again, early days.

Michael Grau: That's the second party question around growth opportunities. I mean, we talk about growth for the Christmas show really in three areas. And I think we see opportunity in all three of them. In terms of show count, we are growing the shows from 193 to 197. We certainly have room around the edges to add more shows, depending on demand. You may recall we did do that last year. And we're certainly not at a peak show volume relative to years past. So we have opportunity in show count pricing. We are seeing better ticket yields this year than we've seen in the prior year.

Speaker Change: but the early signs are very encouraging. As to the second part of your question around growth opportunities,

Michael Grau: In terms of show count, we are growing the shows from 193 to 197. We certainly have room around the edges to add more shows, depending on demand. You may recall, we did do that last year, and we're certainly not at a peak show volume relative to years past. So we have opportunity in show count.

Speaker Change: I mean, you know, we talk about growth for the Christmas show really in three areas, and I think we see opportunity in all three of them. In terms of show count,

Speaker Change: We are growing the shows from $193,000 to $197,000. We certainly have room around the edges to add more shows, depending on demand. You may recall we did do that last year. And we're certainly not at a peak show volume relative to years past. So we have opportunity in show count.

Michael Grau: Pricing, you know, we are seeing better ticket yields this year than we've seen in the prior year But we remain, you know, pretty healthy discount to what I'd call comparable entertainment options on Broadway on average We've been very successful with dynamic pricing And so I think there's opportunity on ticket yields and then in terms of sell-through Listen last year our sell-through for the show was right around 90% That was up from call it mid 80s in the year prior, but still down from peak seasons in the past We've had seasons with sell-through above that and that includes seasons with you know, considerably more show volume So I think in over the longer haul and even for the current season We can see growth across any and all of these these venues any any or all of these factors called show count pricing or sell-through, Great, thank you. Your next question comes from a line of Stephen Laszczyk from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Hey, great.

Speaker Change: pricing you know we are seeing better ticket yields this year than we've seen

Michael Grau: But we remain pretty healthy discount to what I'd call comparable entertainment options on Broadway, on average. We've been very successful with dynamic pricing. And so I think there's opportunity on ticket yields. And then in terms of sell through, last year, our sell through them for the show was right around 90%; that was up from, call it mid 80s in the year prior, but still down from peak seasons in the past. We've had seasons with sell-through above that. And that includes seasons with, you know, considerably more show volume. So I think in over the longer haul and even for the current season, we could see growth across any and all of these venues.

Speaker Change: in the prior year, but we remain, you know, a pretty healthy discount to what I'd call comparable entertainment options on Broadway on average.

Speaker Change: We've been very successful with dynamic pricing, and so I think there's opportunity on ticket yields.

Speaker Change: And then in terms of sell-through.

Speaker Change: Listen, last year, our sell-through for the show was right around 90%.

Speaker Change: That was up from, call it mid-80s in the year prior, but still down from peak seasons in the past. We've had seasons with sell-through above that.

Speaker Change: And that includes seasons with, you know, considerably more show volume. So I think over the longer haul, and even for the current season, we could see growth across any and all of these venues. Any or all of these factors, call it show count, pricing, or sell through.

Michael Grau: Any of any or all of these factors, call it show count pricing or sell.

Stephen Laszczyk: Your next question comes from a line of Stephen Laszczyk from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Speaker Change: Great, thank you.

Speaker Change: Your next question comes from a line of Stephen Lazik from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Stephen Laszczyk: Thanks for taking the questions. First on margins for Mike, could you talk about what you see as the biggest drivers of margin expansion ahead for your business and maybe the extent to which you think we could see some of that operating leverage flow through in 2025? And then on the postseason, would you be able to unpack just how much of a benefit you saw from the Nixon Rangers postseason runs this quarter and how we should think about any momentum that you called out, I think, in the prepared remarks on what that could mean for 2025? Thank you.

Stephen Laszczyk: Hey, great. Thanks for taking the questions.

Stephen Laszczyk: First on margins from like could you talk about what you see as the biggest drivers of margin expansion ahead for your business and maybe the extent to which you think we could see some of that operating leverage flow through in 2025. And then on the postseason, would you be able to impact just how much the benefit you saw from the Nixon Rangers' postseason runs this quarter and how we should think about any momentum that you called out. I think in the prepared remarks on what that could mean for 2025. Thank you.

Stephen Lazik: Hey, great. Thanks for taking the questions. First on margins, from Mike, could you talk about what you see as the biggest drivers of margin expansion ahead for your business and maybe the extent to which you think we could see some of that operating leverage flow through in 2025? And then on the postseason, would you be able to unpack just how much of a benefit you saw from the Nixon Rangers postseason runs this quarter and how we should think about any momentum that you called out, I think, in the prepared remarks on what that could mean for 2025? Thank you.

Michael Grau: Sure, Stephen. Thanks for the question. In terms of margin, we certainly do anticipate some growth in AOM margins in 25. We've talked about the high single, the low double due to percentage growth in AOM. Overall, some of that will be fueled by margin expansion and, over the long haul. I think we see additional opportunities around margin expansion.

Michael Grau: Sure Stephen, thanks for the question. In terms of margin, we certainly do anticipate some growth in AOI margins in 2025. We've talked about the, I think that the low double digit percentage growth in AOI overall, some of that will be fueled by margin expansion. And over the longer haul, I think we see additional opportunities around margin expansion. There are a couple of puts and takes on this that I'd lay out up front.

Speaker Change: Sure Stephen, thanks for the question.

Speaker Change: In terms of margin, we certainly do anticipate some growth in AOI margins in 2025.

Speaker Change: I single the low double-digit percentage growth in AOI overall. Some of that will be fueled by margin expansion and over the longer haul I think we see additional opportunities around margin expansion.

Michael Grau: There are a couple of puts and takes on this that I'd lay out a front one in the bookings business. You know, there is a mix between rentals and promotions for promotions. We will book all the ticket revenue, as well as the artist's costs, whereas in a straight rental that falls to the promoter, and we just booked a straight rent. The AY for these events tends to be roughly the same. All else being equal, but the margin on a rental will be better than the margin on a promotion. So there's an element of that.

Michael Grau: One, in the bookings business, you know, there is a mix between rentals and promotions. For promotions, we will book all the ticket revenue as well as the artist costs, whereas in a straight rental, that falls to the promoter and we just book the straight rent. The AOI for these events tends to be roughly the same, all else being equal, but the margin on a rental will be better than the margin on a promotion. So there's an element to that.

Speaker Change: There are a couple puts and takes on this that I'd lay out up front.

Speaker Change: One, in the bookings business, you know, there is a mix between rentals and promotions.

Speaker Change: For promotions, we will book all the ticket revenue as well as the artist costs.

Speaker Change: Where as in a straight rental, that falls to the promoter and we just book the straight rent. The AOI for these events tends to be roughly the same, all else being equal. But the margin on a rental will be better than the margin on a promotion. So there's an element to that.

Michael Grau: And then I would mention as well, we have a little bit of a headwind around the corporate rent, which we've called out in the past. The comps year over year based on new office lease will create incremental. It expenses more so in the first half of the years; we start to anniversary that in the back half of the year. Despite that, we definitely see margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond. If you think about our revenue streams, bookings, the Christmas show, premium marketing partnerships, these are all high-margin revenue streams, and we see growth in all of these revenue streams in the coming year.

Michael Grau: And then I would mention as well, we have a little bit of a headwind around the corporate rent, which we've called out in the past. The comps year over year, based on our new office lease, will create incremental SG&A expenses, more so in the first half of the year as we start to anniversary that in the back half of the year. Despite that, we definitely see margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond.

Speaker Change: And then I would mention as well, we have a little bit of a headwind around the corporate rent, which we've called out in the past. The comps year over year, based on our new office lease, will create incremental SG&A expenses, more so in the first half of the year as we start to anniversary that in the back half of the year.

Michael Grau: You know, if you think about our revenue streams, bookings, the Christmas show, premium marketing partnerships, these are all high margin revenue streams, and we see growth in all of these revenue streams in the coming year. And so I think that will create some margin expansion. And then equally important, our overhead and infrastructure, you know, we think is adequate to support this growth and more growth going forward. In fact, in our recent budget process, We had a real concentrated effort on efficiency.

Speaker Change: Despite that, we definitely see margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond. You know, if you think about our revenue streams, bookings...

Speaker Change: The Christmas Show, Premium Marketing Partnerships, these are all high margin revenue streams.

Michael Grau: And so I think that will create some margin expansion. And then, equally important, our overhead infrastructure, you know, we think is adequate to support this growth and more growth going forward.

Speaker Change: , and we see growth in all of these revenue streams in the coming year and so I think that will create some margin expansion. And then equally important, our overhead and infrastructure, you know, we think is adequate to support this growth and more growth going forward. In fact, in our recent budget process we, we,

Michael Grau: In fact, in our recent budget process, we had a real concentrated effort on efficiency. We turned over a lot of rocks and identified some cost reduction opportunities. We started to execute on some of those, and I think there's probably more fruit to bear in the future around that. So all of these factors should drive margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond.

Michael Grau: We turned over a lot of rocks and identified some cost reduction opportunities. We've started to execute on some of those, and I think there's probably more fruit to bear in the future around that. So all of these factors should drive margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond. In terms of your second question around the playoff... Listen, playoff games are certainly beneficial to us.

Speaker Change: We had a real concentrated effort on efficiency. We turned over a lot of rocks and identified some cost reduction opportunities. We've started to execute on some of those and I think there's probably more fruit to bear in the future around that. So all of these factors should drive margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond.

Michael Grau: In terms of your second question around the playoffs.

Michael Grau: Listen, playoff games are certainly beneficial to us. I'll remind you, you know, we amortize arena license fees across regular season home games. So there's really nothing incremental in terms of arena license fees attaching to playoff games. But we do have shared revenue streams with MSG Sports around food and beverage, around merchandise, around single events, sweet revenues. In fact, food and beverage, the food and beverage revenues from the playoff games is probably the largest driver of the overall increase you saw in food and beverage revenues in the fourth, 40 year over year. So the playoff games are very profitable on a standalone basis.

Speaker Change: In terms of your second question around the playoffs...

Michael Grau: I'll remind you, you know, we amortize arena license fees across regular season home games. So there's really nothing incremental in terms of arena license fees attaching to playoff games. But we do have shared revenue streams with MSG Sports around food and beverage, around merchandise, around single event suite revenues. In fact, food and beverage, the food and beverage revenues from the playoff games is probably the largest driver of the overall increase you saw in food and beverage revenues in the fourth quarter year over year.

Good morning.

Unknown Executive: Good morning. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corps fiscal 2024, fourth quarter and year end earnings conference call.

Unknown Executive: Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corps fiscal 2024, fourth quarter and year end earnings conference call.

Speaker Change: Listen, playoff games are certainly beneficial to us. I'll remind you, you know, we amortize arena license fees across regular season home games, so there's really nothing incremental in terms of arena license fees attaching to playoff games. But we do have shared revenue streams with MSG Sports around food and beverage, around merchandise, around single event suite revenues.

Ari Danes: I would now like to turn the call over to Ari Danes, senior vice president, investor relations and treasury.

Ari Danes: I would now like to turn the call over to Ari Danes, senior vice president, investor relations and treasury. Please go ahead. Thank you.

Please go ahead.

Ari Danes: Good morning and welcome to MSC Entertainment's fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and year end earnings conference call.

Speaker Change: In fact, the food and beverage revenues from the playoff games was probably the largest driver of the overall increase you saw in food and beverage revenues in the fourth quarter year over year. So, the playoff games are very profitable on a stand-alone basis. The other point I would make is that it's pretty much all incremental.

Michael Grau: So the playoff games are very profitable on a standalone basis. The other point I would make is that it's pretty much all incremental. We've had a lot of success in booking concerts in playoff windows. So we're not preempting other events in that regard.

Ari Danes: Thank you.

Ari Danes: On today's call, Mike Grau, our EVP and Chief Financial Officer, will provide an update on the company's operations and review our financial results for the quarter. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions.

Michael Grau: The other point I would make is that it's pretty much all incremental. We've had a lot of success in booking concerts in playoff windows. So we're not preempting other events in that regard. You may have noted; I think we spoke about in our scripted comments. In the fourth quarter, the arena concerts were up double-digit percentages versus the prior year, despite extended playoff runs from both the mix and the ranges. So this is all incremental profitability from these playoff games.

Speaker Change: We've had a lot of success

Stephen Laszczyk: You may have noted, I think we spoke about in our scripted comments, in the fourth quarter, the arena concerts were up double digit percentages versus the prior year, despite extended playoff runs from both the Knicks and the Rangers. So this is all incremental profitability from these playoff games. To your last point, listen, it's harder to quantify, but I definitely do think the success of the Knicks and Rangers creates a certain tailwind or momentum into fiscal 25 for the teams, and we'll benefit from that by extension, again, to those same shared revenues. That's great. Thank you.

Speaker Change: in booking concerts in playoff window. So we're not preempting other events in that regard. You may have noted, I think we spoke about in our scripted comments, in the fourth quarter, the arena concerts were up double digit percentages versus the prior year, despite extended playoff runs from both the Knicks and the Rangers. So this is all incremental profitability from these playoff games.

Unknown Executive: Did you not have a copy of today's earnings release? It is available in the investor section of our corporate website.

Unknown Executive: Please take note of the following. Today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the private security 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 material 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 four and five 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-gap financial measure.

Michael Grau: To the last point, listen, it's harder to quantify, but I definitely do think the success of the mix and ranges creates a certain tailwind or momentum into fiscal 25 for the teams. And we'll benefit from that by extension, again, to those same shared revenues.

Speaker Change: To your last point, listen, it's harder to quantify, but I definitely do think the success of the Knicks and Rangers creates a certain tailwind or momentum into Fiscal 25 for the teams and we'll benefit from that by extension again to those same shared revenue streams.

Stephen Laszczyk: Streams. That's great. Thank you.

Cameron Manson-Purome: Your next question comes from a line of Cameron Manson-Purome from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Cameron Manson Perron: Your next question comes from a line of Cameron, Manson, Perron from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Thanks morning to if I can first.

Speaker Change: That's great. Thank you.

Speaker Change: Michael Danes, Michael Grau, David Byrnes, Philip DAmbrosio

Speaker Change: Your next question comes from a line of Cameron Manson Perron from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Cameron Manson-Purome: Thanks. Morning. Two if I can.

Michael Grau: First on the bookings business, because you just give us some additional color on how booking activities pacing for fiscal 25 and how we should think about that in terms of the visibility you have sitting here today. And then second on venue utilization, you call out improvement in their earnings presentation.

Cameron Manson Perron: On the bookings business, could you just give us some additional color on how booking activities pacing for fiscal 25 and how we should think about that in terms of the visibility you have sitting here today? And then second on venue utilization, you call out improvement in the earnings presentation. Could you just elaborate on that opportunity?

Speaker Change: Thanks. Morning. Two if I can.

Speaker Change: On the bookings business, could you just give us some additional color on how booking activities pacing for fiscal 25 and how we should think about that in terms of

Speaker Change: the visibility you have sitting here today, and then

Michael Grau: And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Mike. Thank you, Ariane. Good morning, everyone, fiscal 2024 marked out first full year as a standalone live entertainment company with our results reflecting strong performance across our businesses, including bookings, the Christmas spectacular production, and our premium hospitality offerings. In fact, the positive operating momentum we experienced throughout fiscal 24 led us to increase our guidance twice during the year. And with revenues of $959 million and adjusted operating income of $211.5 million, our full year results came in above the high end of our ranges.

Michael Grau: Could you just elaborate on that opportunity, you know, how much runway for improvement DC and as we look across the venue portfolio, you know, where or which venues do you see more or less opportunity to really push forward on the utilization front. Thanks. Sure, Cameron.

Speaker Change: Second, on venue utilization, you call out improvement in the earnings presentation. Could you just elaborate on that opportunity? How much runway for improvement do you see?

Ari Danes: Good morning and welcome to MSC Entertainment's fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and year end earnings conference call.

Michael Grau: On today's call, Mike Grau, our EVP and Chief Financial Officer, will provide an update on the company's operations and review our financial results for the quarter.

Cameron Manson Perron: How much runway for improvement do you see? And as we look across the venue portfolio, where or which venues do you see more or less opportunity to really push forward on the utilization front? Thanks. Drew Cameron, and thank you for the questions.

Speaker Change: As we look across the venue portfolio, where or which venues do you see more or less opportunity to really push forward on the utilization front? Thanks.

Michael Grau: And thank you for the questions. In terms of pacing of bookings, we're basically booking. I would say we're pacing kind of flat to prior year at the same time. It's just one of the ways that we look at this. We do have a little bit of a tough comp this year relative to Billy Joel, who is, you know, ended his residency. So we're going from 12 shows to one show in the fiscal year of a fiscal year. Despite that, again, we are pacing essentially flat versus where we were at the same time last year. If I zoom in on the garden, which is the biggest driver here, for the first quarter, we do expect to be up modestly versus the prior year in terms of number of events.

Michael Grau: In terms of pacings of bookings, we're basically booking, I would say we're pacing kind of flat to prior year at the same time. It's just one of the ways that we look at this. We do have a little bit of a tough comp this year relative to Billy Joel, who, as we know, ended his residency. So, we're going from 12 shows to one show, fiscal year over fiscal year. Despite that, again, we are pacing essentially flat versus where we were at the same time last year.

Speaker Change: Sure, Cameron, and thank you for the questions.

Speaker Change: In terms of pacings of bookings, we're basically booking, I would say we're pacing kind of flat to prior year at the same time. It's just one of the ways that we look at this. We do have a little bit of a tough comp this year relative to Billy Joel, who as we know, ended his residency, so we're going from 12 shows to one show.

Michael Grau: As we look ahead to fiscal 25, we remain focused on executing on our strategy of increasing venue utilization, growing per event profitability, building on the success of the Christmas spectacular, and expanding our sponsorship and premium hospitality businesses. We believe that this strategy, along with robust ongoing demand for our live entertainment offerings, positions us to deliver a high single to low double digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income in fiscal 25.

Speaker Change: and fiscal year over fiscal year.

Speaker Change: Despite that, again, we are pacing essentially flat.

Michael Grau: If I zoom in on the Garden, which is the biggest driver here, for the first quarter, we do expect to be up modestly versus the prior year in terms of number of events. That is against a tough comp.

Speaker Change: versus where we were at the same time last year.

Speaker Change: If I zoom in on the Garden, which is the biggest driver here, for the first quarter, we do expect to be up modestly versus the prior year.

Michael Grau: That is against a tough comp last summer. Had some residencies from Fish and Dave Chappelle, as well as, you know, we Billy Joel shows compared to one this year. Just like that, I think we will host a couple more events this year in the first quarter than we did last year. So the next two quarters, second quarter and third quarter, we are on pace again with last year in terms of number of events booked at this time. And then the fourth quarter will probably slightly behind, but we do have a pretty strong pipeline. We're confident that we can fill that gap.

Michael Grau: Last summer had some residencies from Fish and Dave Chappelle, as well as three Billy Joel shows compared to one this year. Despite that, I think we will host a couple more events this year in the first quarter than we did last year. For the next two quarters, second quarter and third quarter, we are on pace again with last year in terms of number of events booked at this time. And then the fourth quarter, we're probably slightly behind, but we do have a pretty strong pipeline.

Speaker Change: in terms of number of events. That is against the tough comp. Last summer had some residencies from Phish and Dave Chappelle, as well as, you know, three village all-shows compared to one this year. Despite that, I think we will host a couple more events this year in the first quarter.

Michael Grau: So with a strong year behind us and a positive outlook to the year ahead, we remain confident that our business is well-positioned to generate long-term value for our shareholders. Let's now review some key operational highlights from our fiscal fourth quarter and full year. Fiscal 2024 was another busy year of events for our venues, as we hosted approximately 6.3 million guests at over 960 live events. The majority of these events were driven by our bookings business, where we saw robust growth in the number of events held at our venues versus the prior year.

Speaker Change: We are on pace again with last year in terms of number of events booked at this time.

Michael Grau: We're confident that we can fill that gap. So we're in pretty good shape. Yeah, I would say this, you know, we're coming off a record year. We talked about a record number of concerts at the Garden and at Radio City in fiscal 24.

Speaker Change: And then the fourth quarter, we're probably slightly behind, but we do have a pretty strong pipeline. We're confident that we can fill that gap, so we're in pretty good shape.

Michael Grau: After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions.

Michael Grau: So we're in pretty good shape.

Michael Grau: Despite that, we do expect to increase the number of events that we host this year across our venues. And we're very comfortable and happy with the manner in which we're pacing right now towards that goal. In terms of your second question around utilization. It's a good story around utilization in the sense that utilization is very strong, we continue to improve year over year, yet at the same time there's plenty of opportunity for growth. We're not up against a ceiling in any respect, there's no constraints in that regard. At the Garden, we hosted 250 events, that includes the Knicks and the Rangers.

Michael Grau: Yeah, I would say this, you know, we're coming off a record year. We talked about a record number of concerts at the Garden and at Radio City in fiscal 24. Despite that, we do expect to increase the number of events that we host this year across our venues. And we're very comfortable and happy with the manner in which we're pacing right now towards that goal.

Speaker Change: Yeah, I would say this, you know, we're coming off a record year. We talked about a record number of concerts at the Garden and at Radio City in fiscal 24. Despite that, we do expect to increase the number of events that we host this year across our venues, and we're very comfortable and happy with the manner in which we're pacing right now towards that goal.

Michael Grau: In terms of your second question about utilization, listen, it's a good story about utilization.

Michael Grau: This growth was driven by the concert and family show categories and included a record high for the number of concerts in a year at both the Garden and at Radio City Music Hall. The world's most famous arena ended the year on a particularly strong note, with robust year-over-year growth in the number of concerts in the fourth quarter. This reflects our efforts to increase venue utilization within the Nixon Rangers playoff window, as well as our success in attracting acts that are headlining the garden for the first time.

Michael Grau: In the sense that utilization is very strong, we continue to improve year over year, yet at the same time there's plenty of opportunity for growth. We're not up against a ceiling in any respect. There's no constraint in that regard.

Speaker Change: In terms of your second question around utilization, let's

Speaker Change: Listen, it's a good story around utilization in the sense that utilization is very strong, we continue to improve year over year, yet at the same time there's plenty of opportunity for growth. We're not up against a ceiling in any respect, there's no constraints in that regard.

Michael Grau: At the garden, we host 250 events that includes the Nicks and the Rangers. When you factor in, load in, load out days, that translates to about 70, a little north of 70% utilization, up modestly from the prior year. At the theaters, across all the theaters, we hosted 520 events in fiscal 24 plus all the Radio City Christmas Show showings. So there's plenty of ample opportunity here. Right now, you know, live entertainment is a growth industry right now, and we're very well positioned, I think, to continue to capitalize that and increase utilization. I mean, we have these iconic venues.

Michael Grau: When you factor in load-in and load-out days, that translates to a little north of 70% utilization, up modestly from the prior year, at the theaters. Plus all the theaters, we hosted 520 events. Fiscal 24, plus all the Radio City Christmas show showings.

Speaker Change: At the Garden, we hosted 250 events. That includes the Knicks and the Rangers. When you factor in load-in and load-out days, that translates to a little north of 70% utilization, up modestly from the prior year.

Speaker Change: At the theaters, of course all the theaters, we hosted 520 events.

Michael Grau: Consumer demand also helped drive this growth, as customers continued to demonstrate their willingness to spend on experiences. Across our venues, the majority of concerts were once again sold out in the fourth quarter. We also saw higher overall per cap spending on food, beverage and merchandise at concerts in the fourth quarter as compared to the prior year period. Looking ahead, our bookings calendar continues to fill up, and we expect to again increase the number of events at our venues in fiscal 25, primarily driven by growth in concerts, family shows and special events.

Michael Grau: So there's plenty of ample opportunity here right now. You know, live entertainment is a growth industry right now, and we're very well positioned, I think, to continue to capitalize that and increase utilization. I mean, we have these iconic venues.

Speaker Change: fiscal 24 plus all the Radio City Christmas show showings

Speaker Change: So there's plenty of ample opportunity here. Right now, you know, live entertainment is a growth industry right now, and we're very well positioned, I think, to continue to capitalize that and increase utilization. I mean, we have these iconic venues. We have great relationships across the industry. We have really strong execution on our bookings team.

Michael Grau: We have great relationships across the industry. We have really strong execution on our bookings team, and we've been able to, you know, to have a couple of different things to continue to increase utilization over year, every year over year, whether that be residencies or multi-night runs, our marquee sports division continues to grow their reach, special events, I think, you know, is an area where we could see some increased utilization this year.

Michael Grau: We have great relationships across the industry. We have really strong execution on our booking steam, and we've been able to, you know, tap a couple different things to continue to increase utilization over year. Every year over year, whether that be residencies or multi-night runs, our marquee sports division continues to grow there, reach special events. I think, you know, it's an area where we could see some increased utilization this year. We're also, we talked about already doing well during playoff runs, and I think that'll continue going forward. The track record is very strong around utilization, and there's no reason to think that that won't continue.

Speaker Change: and we've been able to, you know...

Speaker Change: Tap a couple of different things to continue to increase utilization over year, year over year, whether that be residencies or multi-night runs, marquee sports division continues to grow their reach, special events, I think, you know, is an area where we could see some increased utilization this year.

Michael Grau: Turning now to the Christmas spectacular production. During fiscal 24, we sold over 1 million tickets, of course, 193 performances, and generated nearly $150 million in revenue. A new record for the beloved production in its 90th season.

Michael Grau: We're also, we talked about already doing well during playoff runs, and I think that'll continue going forward. The track record is very strong around utilization, and there's no reason to think that that won't continue. And again, we're really not up against any ceilings at this point. Helpful.

Speaker Change: We're also, we talked about already, doing well during playoff runs and I think that'll continue going forward. The track record is very strong around utilization and there's no reason to think that that won't continue. And again, we're really not up against any ceilings at this point.

Michael Grau: And again, we're really not up against any ceilings at this.

Michael Grau: We are currently on sale with 197 shows for the 2024 holiday season, and expect revenue growth for the production to be driven by the increased number of shows, as well as by higher per show revenue. This year's production will feature new technology and immersive elements, as we continue to explore ways to enhance the experience for our guests.

Brandon Ross: You're next question comes from a line of Brandon Ross from Lachead. Your line is open.

Brandon Ross: Thank you. Your next question comes from a line of Brandon Ross from Lateshed. Your line is open.

Speaker Change: Helpful. Thank you.

Speaker Change: Your next question comes from a line of Brandon Ross from Lakeshed. Your line is open.

Brandon Ross: Hey, thanks for taking the questions. On the MSGS call, they said they were entering a very strong sponsorship year. And I guess you kind of hinted at the same in the prepared. Can you just help us understand how much is up for renewal this year, and how to think about the renewal cadence for sponsorships or premium marketing opportunities going forward? Thanks. Sure, Brandon.

Brandon Ross: Hey, thanks for taking the questions. On the MSGS call, they said they were entering a very strong sponsorship year, and I guess you kind of hinted at the same in the prepared. Can you just help us understand how much is up for renewal this year and how to think about the renewal cadence for sponsorships or premium marketing opportunities going forward.

Brandon Ross: Hey, thanks for taking the questions. On the MSGS call, they said they were entering a very strong sponsorship year.

Brandon Ross: I guess you kind of hinted at the same in the prepares. Can you just help us understand how much is up for renewal this year and how to think about the renewal cadence for sponsorships or premium marketing opportunities going forward? Thanks.

Michael Grau: In our fiscal fourth quarter, both the Nixon Rangers finish their exciting regular season and playoff runs. In total, they play the 11 additional home games at the garden as compared to the prior year quarter. In terms of our agreements with MSG sports, for fiscal 25, the cash component of the arena license fees that we receive will be approximately $44 million. And will continue to grow 3% each year through fiscal 2005. Given the strong performance of both teams this past season, we expect to see positive tail wins across our revenue and profit sharing arrangements with MSG sports in fiscal 25. That includes our share of food beverage and merchandise, sweets, and signage at Nixon Rangers home games.

Michael Grau: Thanks.

Michael Grau: Sure, Brandon. Thanks for the question. I'd say this is a sponsorship revenue. I mean, it is a stronger renewal year in fiscal 25. I'm not going to get into specifics around dollars, but there are some large renewals, which always create opportunities, whether that being upselling the existing partner or perhaps bringing up the category for a different player. So that's always an opportunity for growth.

Michael Grau: Thanks for the question. Um, I'd say this as the sponsorship revenue. I mean, it is a stronger renewal year in fiscal 25. I'm not going to get into specifics around dollars.

Brandon Ross: Sure Brandon, thanks for the question.

Speaker Change: I'd say this is the sponsorship revenue. I mean, it is a stronger renewal year.

Speaker Change: in fiscal 25. I'm not going to get into specifics around dollars.

Speaker Change: But there are some large renewals, which always create opportunities, whether that being upselling the existing partner or perhaps freeing up the category for a different player.

Michael Grau: I mean, taking a wider view of the sponsorship in general, we're feeling pretty bullish about it. We're one year into the partnership with Oakview Group. So I think we're able to capitalize on some of the year one learnings as well as some of the investments that our partners made in people and infrastructure. I think we're pretty well positioned right now. I mean, between the Nick, the success of the Nixon, the Rangers, the success we've had, and how many concerts were showing at the Garden. MSG is a pretty desirable partner right now for those who are looking to spend some money in this area.

Speaker Change: So that's always an opportunity for growth. I mean, taking a wider view of just sponsorship in general, we're feeling pretty bullish about it. We're one year into the partnership with Oakview Group. So I think we're able to capitalize on some of the year one learnings, as well as some of the investments that our partner has made in people and infrastructure.

Michael Grau: But there are some large renewals, which always create opportunities, whether that being upselling the existing partner, or perhaps bringing up the category for a different player. So that's always an opportunity for growth. I mean, taking a wider view of just sponsorship in general, we're feeling pretty bullish about it. We're one year into the partnership with Oakview Group. So I think we're able to capitalize on some of the year one learnings, as well as some of the investments that our partners made in people and infrastructure. I think we're pretty well positioned right now. I mean, between the success of the Knicks and the Rangers, the success we've had and how many concerts we're showing at the Garden.

Speaker Change: I think we're pretty well positioned right now, I mean, between the success of the Knicks and the Rangers, the success we've had, and how many concerts we're showing at the Garden.

Michael Grau: MSG is a pretty desirable partner right now for those who are looking to spend some money in this area. You know, both the access to tickets and to premium, the quality of the events we're hosting, as well as just the general cachet and at the Garden, which probably has never been higher. We're actually anecdotally even seeing a couple of partners approach us to kind of proactively early renew. Arrangements that are expiring, you know in the in the future.

Michael Grau: Turning to our marketing partnerships business.

Michael Grau: As you know, last year we transitioned our sponsorship sales effort to OPU Group's Crown Properties collection. I'm pleased to say that we are off to a strong start to fiscal 25 in terms of new deals. We expect to have more to share in the coming weeks and believe this business is positioned for growth this year. During fiscal 24, we saw a strong demand for our premium hospitality offerings, including the two new sweet products we introduced earlier in the fiscal year, an event-level suite, and a luxury event-level club space.

Michael Grau: You know, both the access to tickets and to premium, the quality of events we're hosting, as well as just the general cache and at the Garden, which probably has never been hired.

Speaker Change: MSG is a pretty desirable partner right now for those who are looking to spend some money in this area.

Speaker Change: You know, both the access to tickets and to premium, the quality of the events we're hosting, as well as just the general cachet at the Garden, which probably has never been higher. We're actually anecdotally even seeing a couple partners approach us to kind of proactively early renew.

Michael Grau: We're actually anecdotally even seeing a couple partners approach us to kind of proactively early renew arrangements that are expiring, you know, in the future. So I think that we're also a real good start around anything specific to offer, but we're hoping to be able to have something specific around that in the not too distant future. But all signs are pointing to what in this regard, and I think we probably probably have a strong year in the Serena.

Michael Grau: And given this demand, we are continuing to expand the capacity of the event-level club Space. Along those lines, we are also in the process of renovating a number of our event and Lexus-level suites, which we anticipate was driving Cramental revenue this year. So as we look to fiscal 25, I'm pleased to say we expect another year of growth in this area of our business as well.

Michael Grau: So I think that we're off to a real good start I don't have anything specific to offer but we're hoping to be able to have something specific around that in the not-too-distant future But all signs are pointing north in this regard and I think we'll probably probably have a strong year in this arena, Great. And then just following up on the guide, you gave high singles to low doubles on AOI.

Speaker Change: arrangements that are expiring you know in the in the future so I think that we're off to a real good start I don't have anything specific to offer but we're hoping to be able to have something specific around that in the not-too-distant future but all signs are pointing north in this regard and I think we'll probably probably have a strong year in this arena

Michael Grau: Great. And then they're just following up on the guide. You gave high singles to low doubles on A O Y. He just told us how to think about that in terms of the revenue for this year. Sure, I mean, listen, I think the demand, as I mentioned, I think right now, live experiences of the demand for shared experiences is very strong, and so we'll continue to ride that wave.

Speaker Change: Great, and then just following up on the guide, you gave high singles to low doubles on AOI. Can you just tell us how to think about that in terms of the revenue for this year?

Brandon Ross: Can you just tell us how to think about that in terms of the revenue for this year? Sure, I mean, listen, I think, The demand, as I mentioned, I think right now, live experiences or the demand for shared experiences is very strong, and so we'll continue to ride that wave. We are not providing explicit revenue guidance for 2025, but we do expect to see broad-based revenue growth, and that will be a, The drive are certainly towards the high single to low double-digit percentage increase in AOI that we are guiding towards. I mean, I can break it down by pieces.

Speaker Change: Sure, I mean, listen, I think...

Speaker Change: The demand, as I mentioned, I think right now, live experiences or the demand for shared experiences is very strong, and so we'll continue to ride that wave. We are not providing explicit revenue guidance for 2025, but we do expect to see broad-based revenue growth, and that will be a...

Michael Grau: If we are not providing explicit revenue guidance for 25, but we do expect to see broad-based revenue growth, and that will be a driver certainly towards the high single to low double-digit percentage increase in A O Y that we are guiding towards, I mean, I can break down by pieces if we talk about our bookings business talked about already coming off a record year and expecting to increase the number of events across our bookings business this year. I will reiterate again that the difference in the accounting around promotions and rentals, and I mentioned this Billy Joel deal was a promoted deal, and so we booked the ticket revenue and the artist's costs.

Unknown Executive: Did you not have a copy of today's earnings release? It is available in the investor section of our corporate website.

Michael Grau: Before I discuss our fiscal fourth quarter financial results, I have a couple of points regarding presentation and comparability. First, I'd like to remind you that last quarter, we revised our definition of adjusted operating income as it relates to the arena license fees with MSG sports. Now, no longer removing the non-cash portion of the arena license fees in our reconciliation of operating income to adjusted operating income, which is reflected in the financial results we reported today for all periods presented.

Please take note of the following.

Speaker Change: are certainly towards the high single to low double-digit percentage increase in AOI that we are guiding towards. I mean I can break it down by pieces. If we talk about our bookings business, talked about already coming off a record year and expecting to increase the number of events across our bookings business this year.

Michael Grau: If we talk about our bookings business, we talked about already coming off a record year and expecting to increase the number of events across our bookings business this year. I will reiterate again the difference in the accounting around promotions and rentals. And I mentioned this Billy Joel deal was a promoted deal. And so we booked the ticket revenue and the artist costs. Those will more likely than not be replaced by straight rentals.

Unknown Executive: Today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the private security 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 material from those in the forward-looking statements.

Speaker Change: I will reiterate again the difference in the accounting around promotions and rentals. And I mentioned this Billy Joel deal was a promoted deal, and so we booked the ticket revenue and the artist costs.

Michael Grau: Those will prop more likely than not be replaced by straight rentals, so that creates a little bit of a revenue headwind, but does not translate to profitability as I discussed earlier. But outside of that, just the sheer growth and number of events should fuel revenue growth in the bookings business. Christmas Spectacular, we spoke to a little bit already, still early, but seeing an 18% increase in advance ticket sales versus the same point last year. We continue to project a continued return of tourism to New York City, higher average per show revenues. So we see revenue growth in the Christmas show.

Unknown Executive: Please refer to the company's filings with the SEC for a discussion of risks and uncertainties.

Michael Grau: You may recall that the arena license fees are recognized on a straight line basis over the life of the 35-year agreements, which equates to approximately $68 million a year. But fiscal 2024, this $68 million was comprised of approximately $43 million of cash revenue and $25 million of non-cash revenue.

Michael Grau: So, that creates a little bit of a revenue headwind, but does not translate to profitability, as I discussed earlier. But outside of that, just the sheer growth in number of events should fuel revenue growth in the bookings business. Christmas spectacular, we spoke to a little bit already, still early, but seeing an 18% increase in advanced ticket sales versus the same point last year. We continue to project a continued return of tourism to New York City, higher average per show revenue. So, we see revenue growth in the Christmas show. Premiums talked about this a little bit in our prepared comments.

Speaker Change: Those will more likely than not be replaced by straight rentals, so that creates a little bit of a revenue headwind, but does not translate to profitability as I discussed earlier.

Unknown Executive: The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be discussed during this call.

Speaker Change: But outside of that, just the sheer growth in number of events should fuel revenue growth in the bookings business.

Speaker Change: Christmas spectacular, we spoke to a little bit already, still early, but seeing an 18% increase in advance ticket sales versus the same point last year. We continue to project a continued return of tourism to New York City, higher average per show revenue, so we see revenue growth in the Christmas show.

Michael Grau: Second, the company completed its spin-off from sphere entertainment on April 20th of last year. As a result, our fiscal fourth quarter results are not fully comparable on a year over your basis. Results for the prior year quarter are based on carve-out accounting for the first 20 days of April, and therefore last year's fourth quarter results do not reflect all of the SCNA expenses we would have incurred had we been a standalone public company for the entire period.

Michael Grau: premiums talked about this a little bit in our prepared comments. We are expanding the event-level club space that we had in just last year to meet current demand. We're renovating a number of our event and Lexus level switch, which also drives incremental revenue. Talked about the tailwind around the mix and the range of success and our success in launching concerts, which will drive demand for premium products. So we're expecting to deliver another year of growth across premium hospitality business, and then I talked about the sponsorship business in response to your first question. And then lastly, just those shared revenue streams with the Nixon Rangers should also be positioned for growth, given the success that those teams have had.

Michael Grau: We are expanding the event level club space that we added just last year to meet current demand. We're renovating a number of our event and Lexus level suites, which also drives incremental revenue. Talked about the tailwind around the mix and the range of success and our success in launching concerts, which will drive demand for premium products. So we're expecting to deliver another year of growth across premium hospitality business. And then I talked about the sponsorship business in response to your first question.

Speaker Change: Premiums, talked about this a little bit in our prepared comments. We are expanding the event level club space that we added just last year.

Speaker Change: to meet current demand.

Speaker Change: We're renovating a number of our events in Lexis-level suites, which also drives incremental revenue.

Speaker Change: talked about the tailwind around the Knicks and the Rangers success and our success in launching concerts, which will drive demand for premium products. So we're expecting to deliver another year of growth across premium hospitality business, and then I talked about the sponsorship business in response to your first question.

Unknown Executive: On pages four and five 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-gap financial measure.

Michael Grau: Turning now to our financial results. For the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, we reported revenues of $186.1 million, an increase of 26% as compared to the prior year period. This reflected growth across our three revenue categories, entertainment offerings, food beverage and merchandise, and arena license fees. The increase in revenues from entertainment offerings primarily reflected more concerts at the garden in our fourth quarter compared to the prior year period. The increase in food beverage and merchandise revenues primarily reflected the impact of additional mix and ranger games at the garden versus the prior year quarter, as well as higher sales at concerts and other live entertainment and sporting events at our venues.

Michael Grau: And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Mike.

Michael Grau: And then lastly, just those shared revenue streams with the Dixon Rangers should also be positioned for growth, given the success that those teams have had. So we're looking at broad based growth across really all of our different revenue streams as we go into fiscal 25. Thank you for all that color.

Speaker Change: And then lastly, just those shared revenue streams within Dixon Rangers should also be positioned for growth given the success that those teams have had. So we're looking at broad-based growth across really all of our different revenue streams as we go into fiscal 25.

Michael Grau: Thank you, Ariane.

Michael Grau: So we're looking at broad base growth across really all about different revenue streams as we go into fiscal 25.

Michael Grau: Thank you for all that color.

David Karnovsky: Your next question comes from the line of David Karnovsky from JP Morgan. Your line is open.

David Karnovsky: Your next question comes from the line of David Karnovsky from JP Morgan. Your line is open. All right, thank you.

Speaker Change: Thank you for all that color.

Speaker Change: Your next question comes from the line of David Karnovsky from J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.

David Karnovsky: All right. Thank you.

David Karnovsky: Just first, given the kind of volatile macro environment, I figured it's worth asking if you've seen any signs of consumer weakening, either in current or forward bookings or in your per caps, and then separately on capital allocation. Any update there and how you're thinking about the right conditions, potentially for resuming a buyback? Thanks.

David Karnovsky: Just first, given the kind of volatile macro environment, figured it's worth asking if you've seen any signs of consumer weakening either in current or forward bookings or in your per caps.

David Karnovsky: Alright, thank you. Just first, given the kind of volatile macro environment, I figured it's worth asking if you've seen any...

Michael Grau: And then separately on capital allocation, any update there and how you're thinking about the right conditions potentially for resuming a buyback. Thanks.

David Karnovsky: Signs of consumer weakening either in current or forward bookings or in your per caps and then separately on capital allocation Any update there and how you're thinking about the right conditions potentially for resuming a buyback. Thanks

Michael Grau: Fourth quarter adjusted operating income of $13.1 million increased by $12.4 million as compared to the prior year quarter. These AOI results include $2.5 million of non-cash arena license fees in the current year quarter as compared to $1.5 million in the prior year period. The increase in AOI primarily reflects higher revenues partially offset by an increase in direct operating expenses and, to a lesser extent, higher SGNA expenses. And as I mentioned earlier, fourth quarter SGNA expenses are not fully comparable on a year-over-year basis.

Michael Grau: David, thank you for the questions. So listen, the slowdown in consumer demand. We're very aware that that narrative is out there, but we're not seeing it at all. And I know some of our peer companies confronted the same question and pretty similar responses. It feels I don't see a slowdown in consumer demand for live entertainment experiences, most specifically. You know, we talked about the Radio City Christmas Show and the growth we're seeing in advanced sales there, which I think speaks for itself. In terms of bookings, you know, we look at sell through year over year.

Michael Grau: Sure, David, thank you for the questions. So listen, the slowdown in consumer demand, we're very aware that that narrative is out there, but we're not seeing it at all. And I know some of our peer companies confronted the same question and pretty similar responses. It feels, I don't see a slowdown in consumer demand for live entertainment experiences, most specifically. You know, we talked about the Radio City Christmas show and the growth we're seeing in advanced sales there, which I think speaks for itself.

Speaker Change: Sure, David. Thank you for the questions. So listen, the slowdown in consumer demand, we're very aware that that narrative is out there, but we're not seeing it at all, and I know some of our peer companies...

Speaker Change: confronted the same question and had pretty similar responses. I don't see a slowdown in consumer demand for live entertainment experiences, most specifically. We talked about the Radio City Christmas show and the growth we're seeing in advanced sales there, which I think speaks for itself.

Michael Grau: If I look at year over year, sell through in the fourth quarter in the first quarter versus the same time last year, of course, all about different venues. In almost every instance, we're either on par t or better. And that's against some really tough comps. I mean, look at fourth quarter overall, how sell through was approaching or just a little north, in fact, of 90%. So we're not seeing any lagging in consumer demand around bookings. We actually, you know, we have certain acts that will add shows after selling out the initially announced shows. You cited the per caps in your question.

Speaker Change: In terms of bookings, you know, we look at

Michael Grau: In terms of bookings, you know, we look at sell through year over year, if I look at year over year sell through in the fourth quarter, in the first quarter versus the same time last year across all of our different venues. In almost every instance, we're either on par or better. And that's against some really tough comps.

Michael Grau: Turning to our balance sheet. As of June 30th, we had approximately $33 million of unrestricted cash, while our debt balance was approximately $626 million. Looking ahead to fiscal 25, we currently expect our company to have another year of substantial free cash flow generation. This is underscored by the following expectations. A high single to low double digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income, ongoing net interest payments related to our national properties debt, which told $51 million in fiscal 24.

Speaker Change: Sell-through year over year. If I look at year over year sell-through in the fourth quarter, in the first quarter, versus the same time last year, across all of our different venues, in almost every instance, we're either on par or better, and that's against some really tough comps.

Speaker Change: I mean, look at fourth quarter overall, how sell-through was approaching, or just a little north, in fact, of 90%.

Speaker Change: So we're not seeing any lagging in consumer demand around bookings.

Speaker Change: We actually, you know, we have certain acts that will add shows after selling out the initially announced shows. You cited the per caps in your question. We're seeing higher per cap spending in the fourth quarter. We were up actually double digits in terms of combined per cap spending across food, beverage, and merchandise at our concerts.

Michael Grau: We're seeing higher per cap spending in the fourth quarter. We were up actually double digits in terms of combined per cap spending across food, beverage, and merchandise at our concerts. So to date, we've not seen anything approaching a slowdown in consumer demand. We're very mindful of it, but really everything's been pretty bullish so far. I would say I think we're positioned well to the extent that was a slowdown in terms of resiliency in the New York marketplace and with the iconic menus that we have, but to date, we're not even seeing anything along those lines.

Michael Grau: I mean, look at fourth quarter overall, how sell through was approaching or just a little north, in fact, of 90%. So we're not seeing any lagging in consumer demand around bookings. We actually, you know, we have certain acts that will add shows after selling out the initially announced shows. You cited the per caps in your question, we're seeing higher per cap spending in the fourth quarter, we were up actually double digits in terms of combined per cap spending across food, beverage, and merchandise at our concerts. So to date, we've not seen anything approaching a slowdown in consumer demand.

Michael Grau: We're very mindful of it, but really everything's been pretty bullish so far. I would say, I think we're positioned well to the extent there was a slowdown in terms of resiliency in the New York marketplace and with the iconic venues that we have. But to date, we're not even seeing anything along those lines.

Michael Grau: Our current status as a minimal cash taxpayer and capital expenditures, which will include both maintenance cap ex, as well as some incremental spend related to Christmas spectacular enhancements and sweet renovations at the garden, both of which I discussed earlier. In terms of capital allocation, we remain focused on our dual priorities of opportunistically returning capital to shareholders and paying down debt. As a reminder, we continue to have a possibly $110 million remaining under our current share repurchase authorization.

Speaker Change: So, to date, we've not seen anything approaching a slowdown in consumer demand. We're very mindful of it.

Speaker Change: Really everything's been pretty bullish so far. I would I would say I think

Speaker Change: were positioned well, to the extent there was a slowdown, in terms of resiliency in the New York marketplace and with the iconic venues that we have. But to date, we're not even seeing anything along those lines.

Michael Grau: In terms of your second question around capital allocation, you know, we've talked historically and really not changing today about the dual priorities around opportunistically returning capital to shareholders and debt paydown. Just to set the stage, we entered the year with about 33 million of unrestricted cash. We do expect to generate substantial free cash flow in fiscal 25. Our seasonally busiest quarters from the fiscal and second and third quarters. So that's when I would anticipate the cash to start to build up to levels where we have to address this question a little more contemporaneously. And once we get to that point, we'll evaluate returning capital to shareholders.

Michael Grau: In terms of your second question around capital allocation, you know, we've talked historically and really not changing today about the dual priorities around opportunistically returning capital shareholders and debt paydowns. Just to set the stage, we ended the year with about $33 million of unrestricted cash. We do expect to generate substantial free cash flow in fiscal 25. Our seasonally busiest quarters are in the fiscal and second and third quarters, so that's when I would anticipate the cash to start to build up to levels where we have to address this question a little more contemporaneously, and once we get to that point, we'll evaluate returning capital to shareholders.

Speaker Change: In terms of your second question around capital allocation, you know, we've talked historically and really not changing today about the dual priorities around opportunistically returning capital shareholders and debt pay down.

Michael Grau: Good morning, everyone, fiscal 2024 marked out first full year as a standalone live entertainment company with our results reflecting strong performance across our businesses, including bookings, the Christmas spectacular production, and our premium hospitality offerings. In fact, the positive operating momentum we experienced throughout fiscal 24 led us to increase our guidance twice during the year. And with revenues of $959 million and adjusted operating income of $211.5 million, our full year results came in above the high end of our ranges.

Michael Grau: In summary, fiscal 2024 reflected the strength of our business and the robust demand we saw for our assets. And as we look to fiscal 25, we believe we are well positioned to deliver robust AOI growth for the year.

Speaker Change: Just to set the stage, we ended the year with about $33 million of unrestricted cash. We do expect to generate substantial free cash flow in fiscal 2025.

Michael Grau: As we look ahead to fiscal 25, we remain focused on executing on our strategy of increasing venue utilization, growing per event profitability, building on the success of the Christmas spectacular, and expanding our sponsorship and premium hospitality businesses. We believe that this strategy, along with robust ongoing demand for our live entertainment offerings, positions us to deliver a high single to low double digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income in fiscal 25.

Speaker Change: Our seasonally busiest quarters are in the fiscal and second and third quarters. So that's when I would anticipate the cash to start to build up to levels where we have to address this question a little more contemporaneously. And once we get to that point, we'll evaluate returning capital to shareholders.

Michael Grau: So with a strong year behind us and a positive outlook to the year ahead, we remain confident that our business is well-positioned to generate long-term value for our shareholders.

Ari Danes: With that, I will now turn the call back over to Ari. Thank you, Mike.

Michael Grau: Let's now review some key operational highlights from our fiscal fourth quarter and full year. Fiscal 2024 was another busy year of events for our venues, as we hosted approximately 6.3 million guests at over 960 live events. The majority of these events were driven by our bookings business, where we saw robust growth in the number of events held at our venues versus the prior year. This growth was driven by the concert and family show categories and included a record high for the number of concerts in a year at both the Garden and at Radio City Music Hall. The world's most famous arena ended the year on a particularly strong note, with robust year-over-year growth in the number of concerts in the fourth quarter.

Unknown Executive: Operator, can we open up the call for questions? Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one in your telephone keypad to rate your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again.

Michael Grau: We do; we have bought back 140 million, or about 10% of our Class A shares since becoming a standalone public company. And to reiterate what we said in our prepared comments. We do have about 110 million of capacity left. What we have currently approved around share bye-bye. with respect to debt paydown. The current expectations will continue, of course, our mandatory quarterly principal payments on our debt, which is about 4 million per quarter. But I think the business should naturally deliver based on our expectations of AOI growth in the years ahead, so we're well positioned to continue advance on both debt paydown and share repurchases.

Michael Grau: We have bought back $140 million, or about 10% of our Class A shares, since becoming a standalone public company, and to reiterate what we said in our prepared comments, we do have about $110 million of capacity left. What we have currently approved around share buyback. With respect to debt paydown, the current expectation is we'll continue, of course, our mandatory quarterly principal payments on our debt, which is about $4 million per quarter.

Speaker Change: We have bought back $140 million, or about 10% of our Class A shares, since becoming a stand-alone public company. And to reiterate what we said in our prepared comments, we do have about $110 million of capacity left in what we have currently approved around share buybacks.

Peter Henderson: Your first question comes from a line of Peter Henderson from Bank of America. Your line is open. Great. Thank you. Thank you for taking a question. Can you just provide us with an update on advanced ticket sales for the Christmas spectacular? And just also discuss the overall growth opportunities for the production, including pricing, show count, et cetera.

Speaker Change: With respect to debt pay down.

Speaker Change: The current expectation is we'll continue, of course, our mandatory quarterly principal payments on our debt, which is about $4 million per quarter. But I think the business should naturally de-lever based on our expectations of AOI growth in the years ahead. So we're well positioned to continue to advance on both debt paydown and share repurchases. The other thing I shouldn't shortchange, you know, just reinvestment in the business.

Michael Grau: This reflects our efforts to increase venue utilization within the Nixon Rangers playoff window, as well as our success in attracting acts that are headlining the garden for the first time. Consumer demand also helped drive this growth, as customers continued to demonstrate their willingness to spend on experiences.

Michael Grau: But I think the business should naturally delever based on our expectations of AOI growth in the years ahead. So we're well-positioned to continue to advance on both debt paydown and share repurchases. The other thing I shouldn't shortchange, you know, just reinvestment in the business. We don't have any current plans for anything substantial in this regard. There's no M&A on the horizon. There's no major renovations that are needed at our venues.

Michael Grau: Across our venues, the majority of concerts were once again sold out in the fourth quarter. We also saw higher overall per cap spending on food, beverage and merchandise at concerts in the fourth quarter as compared to the prior year period.

Michael Grau: The other thing, I shouldn't shortchange just reinvestment in the business. We don't have any current plans for anything substantial in this regard. There's no M&A on the horizon. There's no major renovations that are needed. Out of venues, we will do some things around the edges. And we talked about most of this already. You know, really, I think small, but really smart and high return capital investments, talking about, you know, expanding the event level club space at the Garden that we introduced last year, renovation of some of the event Lexus level suites, and investments in the Christmas Spectacular to enhance the guest experience.

Michael Grau: Looking ahead, our bookings calendar continues to fill up, and we expect to again increase the number of events at our venues in fiscal 25, primarily driven by growth in concerts, family shows and special events.

Michael Grau: So Peter, good morning, and thanks for the question. So regarding advanced ticket sales pacing, we're currently on sale with 197 shows that's versus 193 in last year's holiday season and the marketing around that kicked in in late July. So it's early days. We're certainly very encouraged by what we're seeing to date. Versus this same point last year, we're up about 18% in terms of advanced ticket revenue. And I'd say that's half rate, half volume. I'd reflect growth across group sales, across individual sales. I'd say we're a little more than 10% of the way towards our full year goal. So again, early days, but the early signs are very encouraging.

Michael Grau: Turning now to the Christmas spectacular production. During fiscal 24, we sold over 1 million tickets, of course, 193 performances, and generated nearly $150 million in revenue. A new record for the beloved production in its 90th season. We are currently on sale with 197 shows for the 2024 holiday season, and expect revenue growth for the production to be driven by the increased number of shows, as well as by higher per show revenue. This year's production will feature new technology and immersive elements, as we continue to explore ways to enhance the experience for our guests.

Speaker Change: We don't have any current plans for anything substantial in this regard, there's no M&A on the horizon.

Michael Grau: But we will do some things around the edges. And we talked about most of this already. You know, really, I think, smaller, but really smart and high-return capital investments, talking about, you know, expanding the event-level club space at the Garden that we introduced last year, renovation of some of the event Lexus-level suites, and investments in the Christmas Spectacular to enhance the guest experience. These are all very smart and high ROI opportunities that we will take advantage of as well. Thank you. Operator, we have time for one last caller. Certainly. Your final question comes from a line of Peter Supino from Wolf Research.

Speaker Change: There's no major renovations that are needed at our venues. We will do some things around the edges, and we talked about most of this already. You know, really, I think, smaller but really smart and high-return capital investments.

Michael Grau: In our fiscal fourth quarter, both the Nixon Rangers finish their exciting regular season and playoff runs. In total, they play the 11 additional home games at the garden as compared to the prior year quarter.

Michael Grau: In terms of our agreements with MSG sports, for fiscal 25, the cash component of the arena license fees that we receive will be approximately $44 million. And will continue to grow 3% each year through fiscal 2005.

Michael Grau: Given the strong performance of both teams this past season, we expect to see positive tail wins across our revenue and profit sharing arrangements with MSG sports in fiscal 25. That includes our share of food beverage and merchandise, sweets, and signage at Nixon Rangers home games.

Speaker Change: talking about, you know, expanding the event-level club space at the Garden that we introduced last year, renovation of some of the event Lexus-level suites, and investments in the Christmas Spectacular to enhance the guest experience. These are all very smart and high ROI opportunities that we will take advantage of as well.

Michael Grau: Turning to our marketing partnerships business.

Michael Grau: These are all very smart and high ROI opportunities that we will take advantage of as well.

Michael Grau: As you know, last year we transitioned our sponsorship sales effort to OPU Group's Crown Properties collection.

Michael Grau: I'm pleased to say that we are off to a strong start to fiscal 25 in terms of new deals.

Unknown Executive: Thank you.

Michael Grau: We expect to have more to share in the coming weeks and believe this business is positioned for growth this year.

Operator: Operator, we have time for one last caller.

Operator: Your line is open. Hi, good morning. I wanted to follow up on a prior question about 2025 revenue and dig into the, event growth next year and specifically how you see the mix changing between concerts or theaters versus the garden. If you just help us think about those trends and what they might mean for margins in 2025. Thank you. Sure, Peter.

Peter Sipino: Certainly, your final question comes from a line of Peter Sipino from Wolf Research. Your line is open.

Michael Grau: During fiscal 24, we saw a strong demand for our premium hospitality offerings, including the two new sweet products we introduced earlier in the fiscal year, an event-level suite, and a luxury event-level club space. And given this demand, we are continuing to expand the capacity of the event-level club Space.

Michael Grau: That's the second party question around growth opportunities. I mean, we talk about growth for the Christmas show really in three areas. And I think we see opportunity in all three of them. In terms of show count, we are growing the shows from 193 to 197. We certainly have room around the edges to add more shows, depending on demand. You may recall we did do that last year. And we're certainly not at a peak show volume relative to years past.

Speaker Change: Thank you.

Speaker Change: Operator, we have time for one last caller.

Michael Grau: Along those lines, we are also in the process of renovating a number of our event and Lexus-level suites, which we anticipate was driving Cramental revenue this year.

Speaker Change: Certainly. Your final question comes from a line of Peter Cepino from Wolf Research. Your line is open.

Peter Sipino: Hi, good morning. I wanted to follow up on a prior question about 2025 revenue and dig into the event growth next year and specifically, how you see the mix changing between concerts or theatres, versus the Garden, if you just help us think about those trends and what they might mean for margins in 2025.

Peter Cepino: Hi, good morning. I wanted to follow up on a prior question about 2025 revenue and dig into the

Peter Cepino: event growth next year and specifically how you see the mix changing between concerts or theaters versus the garden. If you just help us think about those trends and what they might mean for margins in 2025. Thank you.

Michael Grau: So we have opportunity in show count pricing. We are seeing better ticket yields this year than we've seen in the prior year. But we remain pretty healthy discount to what I'd call comparable entertainment options on Broadway on average. We've been very successful with dynamic pricing. And so I think there's opportunity on ticket yields. And then in terms of sell through, last year, our sell through them for the show was right around 90% that was up from, call it mid 80s in the year prior, but still down from peak seasons in the past.

Michael Grau: Thank you.

Michael Grau: Sure, Peter, and thank you for the question. When we talk about events, we kind of look at it across a couple of categories. We talk about it in terms of concerts, family shows, special events, and then marquee sports, which is what we internally used for any of the sporting events beyond the Nixon Rangers. For concerts, we do expect event growth this year against our record-setting year in fiscal 24. We've had some success in kind of introducing new acts, or really I'd call it marching new acts up the ladder to the point where they're ready to play the arena.

Peter Supino: And thank you for the question. Um, when we talk about events, we kind of look at it across a couple categories. We talk about in terms of concerts, family shows, special events and then marquee sports, what we internally use for any of the sporting events beyond the Knicks and Rangers. For concerts, we do expect event growth this year against our record-setting year in fiscal 24. We've had some success in kind of introducing new acts, or really I'd call it marching new acts up the ladder to the point where they're ready to play the arena, and we have introduced some new acts to arena-level shows with success.

Peter: Sure, Peter, and thank you for the question. When we talk about events, we kind of look at it across a couple categories. We talk about it in terms of concerts, family shows, special events, and then marquee sports, which is...

Peter: What we internally use for any of the sporting events beyond the Knicks and Rangers For concerts, we do expect event growth this year against our record-setting year in fiscal 24

Michael Grau: We've had seasons with sell through above that. And that includes seasons with, you know, considerably more show volume. So I think in over the longer haul and even for the current season, we could see growth across any and all of these venues. Any of any or all of these factors, call it show count pricing or sell. Thank you.

Peter: We've had some success in kind of introducing new acts, or really, I'd call it marching new acts up the ladder to the point where they're ready to play the arena, and we have introduced some new acts to arena-level shows with success. We've had some success around multi-night runs.

Michael Grau: And we have introduced some new acts to arena-level shows with success. We've had some success around multi-night runs. I've talked a little bit about how we're pacing versus our goal this year, pacing very well to increase the number of concerts. So I think we're well positioned there in terms of the family show category. We recently announced 64 Annie Holiday shows at the Theatre at MSG and Chicago Theatre. That really gets us about 75% plus of our way towards our annual goal for family shows and even more than that in terms of a profitability perspective. I'd mention addicts totally as well.

Peter Supino: We've had some success around multi-night runs. I've talked a little bit about how we're pacing versus our goal this year, pacing very well to increase the number of concerts, so I think we're well-positioned there. In terms of the family show category, we recently announced 64 Annie holiday shows at the theater, at MSG and Chicago Theater.

Stephen Laszczyk: Your next question comes from a line of Stephen Laszczyk from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Hey, great. Thanks for taking the questions. First on margins from like could you talk about what you see as the biggest drivers of margin expansion ahead for your business and maybe the extent to which you think we could see some of that operating leverage flow through in 2025. And then on the postseason, would you be able to impact just how much the benefit you saw from the Nixon Rangers postseason runs this quarter and how we should think about any momentum that you called out. I think in the prepared remarks on what that could mean for 2025. Thank you. Sure, Stephen. Thanks for the question.

Peter: I've talked a little bit about how we're pacing versus our goal this year, facing very well to increase the number of concerts.

Peter: So I think we're well positioned there.

Michael Grau: So as we look to fiscal 25, I'm pleased to say we expect another year of growth in this area of our business as well.

Peter: In terms of the family show category, we recently announced 64 Annie holiday shows at the theater, at MSG and Chicago Theater.

Michael Grau: That really gets us about 75% plus of our way towards our annual goal for family shows, and even more than that in terms of a profitability perspective. I'd mention anecdotally as well, we're welcoming back the Westminster Dog Show to the Garden. I think we last hosted that in February of 20, just before the pandemic, so we're excited to renew that partnership with them. Special events. Look, a lot of that business takes place in the fiscal fourth quarter. It's a little early here.

Peter: That really gets us about 75% plus of our way towards our annual goal for family shows and even more than that in terms of a profitability perspective.

Michael Grau: We're welcoming back the Westminster Drug Show to the garden. I think we last hosted that in February of 2020, just before the pandemic. So we're excited to meet into that partnership with them.

Peter: I'd mention anecdotally as well, we're welcoming back the Westminster Dog Show to the Garden. I think we last hosted that in February of 20, just before the pandemic. So, you know, we're excited to renew that partnership with them.

Michael Grau: Special events look, a lot of that business takes place in the fiscal fourth quarter. It's a little early here. We are seeing some traction, some encouraging things, and would hope to have something to announce along those lines in the not too distant future. And then in more key sports, we'll continue to do a lot of business in college sports. We have great relationships with St. John's, with the Big East. I think we just announced Duke versus Illinois at the Garden, which is certainly a high-profile game. And then some of the other sports that some of the other events that that group books around boxing, the darks championship, the bull riding, all those events.

Peter: Special events. Look, a lot of that business takes place in the fiscal fourth quarter. It's a little early here. We are seeing some traction, some encouraging things, and we hope to have something to announce along those lines in the not-too-distant future.

Michael Grau: We are seeing some traction, some encouraging things, and we hope to have something to announce along those lines in the not-too-distant future. And then in marquee sports, you know, we'll continue to do a lot of business in college sports. We have great relationships with St. John's, with the Big East. I think we just announced Duke v. Illinois at the Garden, which is certainly a high-profile game. And then some of the other sports that – some of the other events that that group books around – boxing, the Darts Championship, the bull riding – all those events we anticipate returning and looking to explore really expanding the range of events in that category. So look, each one of those categories, as we look at it, we think we're positioned to be able to grow the event count in fiscal 25 versus a very, very strong year in fiscal 24.

Michael Grau: In terms of margin, we certainly do anticipate some growth in AOM margins in 25. We've talked about the high single, the low double due to percentage growth in AOM. Overall, some of that will be fueled by margin expansion and over the long haul. I think we see additional opportunities around margin expansion. There are a couple of puts and takes on this that I'd lay out a front one in the bookings business.

Peter: And then in marquee sports, you know, we'll continue to do a lot of business in college sports. We have great relationships with St. John's, with the Big East.

Peter: I think we just announced Duke v. Illinois at the Gordon, which is certainly a high-profile game.

Peter: and then some of the other sports, some of the other events that that group books around boxing.

Michael Grau: You know, there is a mix between rentals and promotions for promotions. We will book all the ticket revenue, as well as the artist's costs, whereas in a straight rental that falls to the promoter and we just booked a straight rent. The AY for these events tends to be roughly the same. All else being equal, but the margin on a rental will be better than the margin on a promotion. So there's an element of that.

Michael Grau: We did anticipate returning and looking to explore really expanding the range of events in that category. So look, each one of those categories, as we look at it, we think we're positioned to be able to grow the event count in fiscal 25 versus a very, very strong year in fiscal 24.

Peter: the darts championship, the bull riding, all those events we would anticipate returning and looking to explore really.

Peter: expanding the range of events in that category. So look, each one of those categories, as we look at it, we think we're positioned to be able to grow the event count in fiscal 25 versus a very, very strong year in fiscal 24.

Unknown Executive: Thanks so much.

Ari Danes: Thanks so much. That concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Ari Danes for closing remarks. Thank you all for joining us. We look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call. Have a good day. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Ari Danes: That concludes our question-and-answer session.

Michael Grau: And then I would mention as well, we have a little bit of a headwind around the corporate rent, which we've called out in the past. The comps year over year based on new office lease will create incremental. It expenses more so in the first half of the years, we start to anniversary that in the back half of the year. Despite that, we definitely see margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond. If you think about our revenue streams, bookings, the Christmas show, premium marketing partnerships, these are all high margin revenue streams, and we see growth in all of these revenue streams in the coming year.

Speaker Change: Thanks so much.

Ari Danes: I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Ari Danes for closing remarks. Thank you all for joining us. We look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call.

Speaker Change: That concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. R.E. Danes for closing remarks.

Operator: Have a good day.

R.E. Danes: Thank you all for joining us. We look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call. Have a good day.

Operator: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation.

Operator: You may now just get.

Speaker Change: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Michael Grau: And so I think that will create some margin expansion. And then equally important, our overhead infrastructure, you know, we think is adequate to support this growth and more growth going forward. In fact, in our recent budget process, we had a real concentrated effort on efficiency. We turned over a lot of rocks and identified some cost reduction opportunities. We started to execute on some of those, and I think there's probably more fruit to bear in the future around that. So all of these factors should drive margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond.

Michael Grau: In terms of your second question around the playoffs. Listen, playoff games are certainly beneficial to us. I'll remind you, you know, we, we amortize arena license fees across regular season home games. So there's really nothing incremental in terms of arena license fees attaching to playoff games. But we do have shared revenue streams with with MSG sports around food and beverage, around merchandise, around single events, sweet revenues. In fact, food and beverage, the food and beverage revenues from the playoff games is probably the largest driver of the overall increase you saw in food and beverage revenues in the fourth, 40 year over year.

Michael Grau: So the playoff games are very profitable on a standalone basis. The other point I would make is that it's pretty much all incremental. We've had a lot of success in booking concerts in playoff windows. So we're not preempting other events in that regard. You may have noted, I think we spoke about in our scripted comments. In the fourth quarter, the arena concerts were up double digit percentages versus the prior year, despite extended playoff runs from both the mix and the ranges.

Michael Grau: Before I discuss our fiscal fourth quarter financial results, I have a couple of points regarding presentation and comparability. First, I'd like to remind you that last quarter, we revised our definition of adjusted operating income as it relates to the arena license fees with MSG sports. Now, no longer removing the non-cash portion of the arena license fees in our reconciliation of operating income to adjusted operating income, which is reflected in the financial results we reported today for all periods presented. You may recall that the arena license fees are recognized on a straight line basis over the life of the 35-year agreements, which equates to approximately $68 million a year.

But fiscal 2024, this $68 million was comprised of approximately $43 million of cash revenue and $25 million of non-cash revenue.

Second, the company completed its spin-off from sphere entertainment on April 20th of last year.

As a result, our fiscal fourth quarter results are not fully comparable on a year over your basis. Results for the prior year quarter are based on carve-out accounting for the first 20 days of April, and therefore last year's fourth quarter results do not reflect all of the SCNA expenses we would have incurred had we been a standalone public company for the entire period.

Michael Grau: Turning now to our financial results.

Michael Grau: For the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, we reported revenues of $186.1 million, an increase of 26% as compared to the prior year period. This reflected growth across our three revenue categories, entertainment offerings, food beverage and merchandise, and arena license fees. The increase in revenues from entertainment offerings primarily reflected more concerts at the garden in our fourth quarter compared to the prior year period.

Michael Grau: The increase in food beverage and merchandise revenues primarily reflected the impact of additional mix and ranger games at the garden versus the prior year quarter, as well as higher sales at concerts and other live entertainment and sporting events at our venues.

Michael Grau: So this is all incremental profitability from these playoff games. To the last point, listen, it's harder to quantify, but I definitely do think the success of the mix and ranges creates a certain tailwind or momentum into fiscal 25 for the teams. And we'll benefit that from that by extension, again, to those same shared revenues. Streams. That's great.

Michael Grau: Fourth quarter adjusted operating income of $13.1 million increased by $12.4 million as compared to the prior year quarter. These AOI results include $2.5 million of non-cash arena license fees in the current year quarter as compared to $1.5 million in the prior year period.

Unknown Executive: Thank you.

Michael Grau: The increase in AOI primarily reflects higher revenues partially offset by an increase in direct operating expenses and, to a lesser extent, higher SGNA expenses.

Cameron Manson-Purome: Your next question comes from a line of Cameron Manson-Purome from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Thanks. Morning. Two if I can. First on the bookings business, because you just give us some additional color on how booking activities pacing for fiscal 25 and how we should think about that in terms of the visibility you have sitting here today. And then second on venue utilization, you call out improvement in their earnings presentation.

Cameron Manson-Purome: Could you just elaborate on that opportunity, you know, how much runway for improvement DC and as we look across the venue portfolio, you know, where or which venues do you see more or less opportunity to really push forward on the utilization front. Thanks.

Michael Grau: And as I mentioned earlier, fourth quarter SGNA expenses are not fully comparable on a year-over-year basis.

Michael Grau: Sure, Cameron. And thank you for the questions. In terms of pacing of bookings, we're basically booking. I would say we're pacing kind of flat to prior year at the same time. It's just one of the ways that we look at this. We do have a little bit of a tough comp this year relative to Billy Joel, who is, you know, ended his residency. So we're going from 12 shows to one show in fiscal year of a fiscal year.

Michael Grau: Turning to our balance sheet. As of June 30th, we had approximately $33 million of unrestricted cash, while our debt balance was approximately $626 million.

Michael Grau: Looking ahead to fiscal 25, we currently expect our company to have another year of substantial free cash flow generation. This is underscored by the following expectations.

Michael Grau: A high single to low double digit percentage increase in adjusted operating income, ongoing net interest payments related to our national properties debt, which told $51 million in fiscal 24.

Michael Grau: Despite that, again, we are pacing essentially flat versus where we were at the same time last year. If I zoom in on the garden, which is the biggest driver here, for the first quarter, we do expect to be up modestly versus the prior year in terms of number of events. That is against a tough comp last summer had some residencies from fish and Dave Chappelle as well as, you know, we billy Joel shows compared to one this year.

Michael Grau: Our current status as a minimal cash taxpayer and capital expenditures, which will include both maintenance cap ex, as well as some incremental spend related to Christmas spectacular enhancements and sweet renovations at the garden, both of which I discussed earlier.

Michael Grau: In terms of capital allocation, we remain focused on our dual priorities of opportunistically returning capital to shareholders and paying down debt.

Michael Grau: As a reminder, we continue to have a possibly $110 million remaining under our current share repurchase authorization.

Michael Grau: Just like that, I think we will host a couple more events this year in the first quarter than we did last year. So the next two quarters, second quarter and third quarter, we are on pace again with last year in terms of number of events booked at this time. And then the fourth quarter will probably slightly behind, but we do have a pretty strong pipeline. We're confident that we can fill that gap.

Michael Grau: So we're in pretty good shape. Yeah, I would say this, you know, we're coming off a record year. We talked about a record number of concerts at the garden and at Radio City in fiscal 24. Despite that, we do expect to increase the number of events that we host this year across our venues. And we're very comfortable and happy with the manner in which we're pacing right now towards that goal.

Michael Grau: In summary, fiscal 2024 reflected the strength of our business and the robust demand we saw for our assets.

Michael Grau: And as we look to fiscal 25, we believe we are well positioned to deliver robust AOI growth for the year.

Ari Danes: With that, I will now turn the call back over to Ari.

Thank you, Mike.

Michael Grau: In terms of your second question about utilization, listen, it's a good story about utilization. In the sense that utilization is very strong, we continue to improve year over year, yet at the same time there's plenty of opportunity for growth. We're not up against a ceiling in any respect. There's no constraint in that regard. At the garden, we host a 250 events that includes the nicks and the rangers. When you factor in, load in, load out days, that translates to about 70, a little north of 70% utilization up modestly from the prior year.

Michael Grau: At the theaters, across all the theaters, we hosted 520 events in fiscal 24 plus all the Radio City Christmas show showings. So there's plenty of ample opportunity here. Right now, you know, live entertainment is a growth industry right now, and we're very well positioned, I think, to continue to capitalize that and increase utilization. I mean, we have these iconic venues. We have great relationships across the industry. We have really strong execution on our booking steam, and we've been able to, you know, tap a couple different things to continue to increase utilization over year.

Michael Grau: Every year over year, whether that be residencies or multi-night runs, our marquee sports division continues to grow there, reach special events. I think, you know, it's an area where we could see some increased utilization this year. We're also, we talked about already doing well during playoff runs, and I think that'll continue going forward. The track record is very strong around utilization, and there's no reason to think that that won't continue. And again, we're really not up against any ceilings at this. Thank you.

Unknown Executive: Operator, can we open up the call for questions?

Brandon Ross: You're next question comes from a line of Brandon Ross from Lachead. Your line is open. Hey, thanks for taking the questions. On the MSGS call they said they were entering a very strong sponsorship year and I guess you kind of hinted at the same in the prepared. Can you just help us understand how much is up for renewal this year and how to think about the renewal cadence for sponsorships or premium marketing opportunities going forward.

Thank you.

Unknown Executive: We will now begin the question and answer session.

If you would like to ask a question, please press star one in your telephone keypad to rate your hand and join the queue.

If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again.

Peter Henderson: Your first question comes from a line of Peter Henderson from Bank of America.

Your line is open.

Brandon Ross: Thanks. Sure, Brandon. Thanks for the question. I'd say this is a sponsorship revenue. I mean, it is a stronger renewal year in fiscal 25. I'm not going to get into specifics around dollars, but there are some large renewals, which always create opportunities, whether that being upselling the existing partner or perhaps bringing up the category for a different player. So that's always an opportunity for growth. I mean, taking a wider view of the sponsorship in general, we're feeling pretty bullish about it.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you for taking a question.

Brandon Ross: We're one year into the partnership with Oakview Group. So I think we're able to capitalize on some of the year one learnings as well as some of the investments that our partners made in people and infrastructure. I think we're pretty well positioned right now. I mean, between the Nick, the success of the Nixon, the Rangers, the success we've had and how many concerts were showing at the garden. MSG is a pretty desirable partner right now for those who are looking to spend some money in this area.

Brandon Ross: You know, both the access to tickets and to premium, the quality of events we're hosting as well as just the general cache and at the garden, which probably has never been hired. We're actually anecdotally even seeing a couple partners approach us to kind of proactively early renew arrangements that are expiring, you know, in the in the future.

Michael Grau: So I think that we're also a real good start around anything specific to offer, but we're hoping to be able to have something specific around that in the not too distant future. But all signs are pointing to what in this regard, and I think we probably probably have a strong year in the Serena.

Michael Grau: Great. And then they're just following up on the guide. You gave high singles to low doubles on A O Y. He just told us how to think about that in terms of the revenue for this year. Sure, I mean, listen, I think the demand, as I mentioned, I think right now, live experiences of the demand for shared experiences is very strong, and so we'll continue to ride that way. If we are not providing explicit revenue guidance for 25, but we do expect to see broad based revenue growth, and that will be a driver certainly towards the high single to low double digit percentage increase in A O Y that we are guiding towards, I mean, I can break down by pieces if we talk about our bookings business talked about already coming off a record year and expecting to increase the number of events across our bookings business this year.

Michael Grau: I will reiterate again that the difference in the accounting around promotions and rentals, and I mentioned this Billy Joel deal was a promoted deal, and so we booked the ticket revenue and the artist's costs. Those will prop more likely than not be replaced by straight rentals, so that creates a little bit of a revenue headwind, but does not translate to profitability as I discussed earlier. But outside of that, just the sheer growth and number of events should fuel revenue growth in the bookings business.

Can you just provide us with an update on advanced ticket sales for the Christmas spectacular?

Michael Grau: Christmas spectacular, we spoke to a little bit already, still early, but seeing an 18% increase in advance ticket sales versus the same point last year, we continue to project a continued return of tourism to New York City, higher average per show revenues. So we see revenue growth in the Christmas show, premiums talked about this a little bit in our prepared comments. We are expanding the event level club space that we had in just last year to meet current demand.

And just also discuss the overall growth opportunities for the production, including pricing, show count, et cetera.

Michael Grau: So Peter, good morning, and thanks for the question.

Michael Grau: We're renovating a number of our event and Lexus level switch, which also drives incremental revenue, talked about the tailwind around the mix and the range of success and our success in launching concerts, which will drive demand for premium products. So we're expecting to deliver another year of growth across premium hospitality business, and then I talked about the sponsorship business in response to your first question. And then lastly, just those shared revenue streams with the Nixon Rangers should also be positioned for growth, given the success that those teams have had. So we're looking at broad base growth across really all about different revenue streams as we go into fiscal 25.

Unknown Executive: Thank you for all that color.

David Karnovsky: Your next question comes from the line of David Karnovsky from JP Morgan. Your line is open. All right. Thank you.

Michael Grau: Just first, given the kind of volatile macro environment, figured it's worth asking if you've seen any signs of consumer weakening either in current or forward bookings or in your per caps. And then separately on capital allocation, any update there and how you're thinking about the right conditions potentially for resuming a buyback. Thanks. David, thank you for the questions. So listen, the slowdown in consumer demand. We're very aware that that narrative is out there, but we're not seeing it at all.

Michael Grau: And I know some of our peer companies confronted the same question and pretty similar responses. It feels I don't see a slowdown in consumer demand for live entertainment experiences, most specifically. You know, we talked about the radio city, Christmas show and the growth we're seeing in advanced sales there, which I think speaks for itself. In terms of bookings, you know, we look at sell through year over year. If I look at year over year, sell through in the fourth quarter in the first quarter versus the same time last year, of course, all about different venues.

So regarding advanced ticket sales pacing, we're currently on sale with 197 shows that's versus 193 in last year's holiday season and the marketing around that kicked in in late July.

So it's early days.

We're certainly very encouraged by what we're seeing to date. Versus this same point last year, we're up about 18% in terms of advanced ticket revenue.

And I'd say that's half rate, half volume.

Michael Grau: In almost every instance, we're either on part or better. And that's against some really tough comps. I mean, look at fourth quarter overall, how sell through was approaching or just a little north, in fact, of 90%. So we're not seeing any lagging in consumer demand around bookings. We actually, you know, we have certain acts that will add shows after selling out the initially announced shows. You cited the per caps in your question.

I'd reflect growth across group sales, across individual sales.

I'd say we're a little more than 10% of the way towards our full year goal.

So again, early days, but the early signs are very encouraging.

That's the second party question around growth opportunities.

I mean, we talk about growth for the Christmas show really in three areas. And I think we see opportunity in all three of them.

In terms of show count, we are growing the shows from 193 to 197. We certainly have room around the edges to add more shows, depending on demand.

Michael Grau: We're seeing higher per cap spending in the fourth quarter. We were up actually double digits in terms of combined per cap spending across food, beverage and merchandise at our concerts. So to date, we've not seen anything approaching a slowdown in consumer demand. We're very mindful of it, but really everything's been pretty bullish so far. I would say I think we're positioned well to the extent that was a slowdown in terms of resiliency in the New York marketplace and with the iconic menus that we have, but to date, we're not even seeing anything along those lines.

You may recall we did do that last year.

And we're certainly not at a peak show volume relative to years past.

So we have opportunity in show count pricing.

We are seeing better ticket yields this year than we've seen in the prior year.

But we remain pretty healthy discount to what I'd call comparable entertainment options on Broadway on average.

Michael Grau: In terms of your second question around capital allocation, you know, we've talked historically and really not changing today about the dual priorities around opportunistically returning capital shareholders and debt paydown. Just to set the stage, we entered the year with about 33 million of unrestricted cash. We do expect to generate substantial free cash flow in fiscal 25. Our seasonally busiest quarters from the fiscal and second and third quarters. So that's when I would anticipate the cash to start to build up to levels where we have to address this question a little more contemporaneously.

We've been very successful with dynamic pricing.

And so I think there's opportunity on ticket yields. And then in terms of sell through, last year, our sell through them for the show was right around 90% that was up from, call it mid 80s in the year prior, but still down from peak seasons in the past.

We've had seasons with sell through above that.

And that includes seasons with, you know, considerably more show volume.

So I think in over the longer haul and even for the current season, we could see growth across any and all of these venues.

Michael Grau: And once we get to that point, we'll evaluate returning capital to shareholders. We do, we have bought back 140 million or about 10% of our class A shares since becoming a standalone public company and to reiterate what we said in our prepared comments. We do have about 110 million of capacity left. What we have currently approved around share bye-bye, with respect to debt paydown. The current expectations will continue, of course, our mandatory quarterly principal payments on our debt, which is about 4 million per quarter.

Any of any or all of these factors, call it show count pricing or sell.

Thank you.

Stephen Laszczyk: Your next question comes from a line of Stephen Laszczyk from Goldman Sachs.

Your line is open.

Hey, great.

Thanks for taking the questions.

Michael Grau: But I think the business should naturally deliver based on our expectations of AOI growth in the years ahead, so we're well positioned to continue advance on both debt paydown and share repurchases. The other thing, I shouldn't shortchange just reinvestment in the business. We don't have any current plans for anything substantial in this regard. There's no M&A on the horizon. There's no major renovations that are needed. Out of venues, we will do some things around the edges.

Michael Grau: And we talked about most of this already, you know, really, I think small, but really smart and high return capital investments, talking about, you know, expanding the event level club space at the garden that we introduced last year, renovation of some of the event lexus level suites and investments in the Christmas spectacular to enhance the guest experience. These are all very smart and high ROI opportunities that we will take advantage of as well.

Unknown Executive: Thank you.

Peter Sipino: Operator, we have time for one last caller. Certainly, you're a final question comes from a line of Peter Sipino from Wolf Research. Your line is open.

First on margins from like could you talk about what you see as the biggest drivers of margin expansion ahead for your business and maybe the extent to which you think we could see some of that operating leverage flow through in 2025.

And then on the postseason, would you be able to impact just how much the benefit you saw from the Nixon Rangers postseason runs this quarter and how we should think about any momentum that you called out.

Michael Grau: Hi, good morning. I wanted to follow up on a prior question about 2025 revenue and dig into the event growth next year and specifically, how you see the mix changing between concerts or theatres, versus the garden, if you just help us think about those trends and what they might mean for margins in 2025. Thank you. Sure, Peter, and thank you for the question. When we talk about events, we kind of look at it across a couple of categories.

I think in the prepared remarks on what that could mean for 2025.

Thank you.

Michael Grau: Sure, Stephen.

Thanks for the question.

Michael Grau: We talk about it in terms of concerts, family shows, special events, and then marquee sports, which is what we internally used for any of the sporting events beyond the Nixon Rangers. For concerts, we do expect event growth this year against our record setting year in fiscal 24. We've had some success in kind of introducing new acts or really I'd call it marching new acts up the ladder to the point where they're ready to play the arena.

Michael Grau: And we have introduced some new acts to arena level shows with success. We've had some success around multi-night runs. I've talked a little bit about how we're pacing versus our goal this year, pacing very well to increase the number of concerts. So I think we're well positioned there in terms of the family show category. We recently announced 64 Annie Holiday shows at the theatre at MSG and Chicago Theatre. That really gets us about 75% plus of our way towards our annual goal for family shows and even more than that in terms of a profitability perspective.

Michael Grau: I'd mention addicts totally as well. We're welcoming back the Westminster drug show to the garden. I think we last hosted that in February of 2020 just before the pandemic. So we're excited to meet into that partnership with them. Special events look, a lot of that business takes place in the fiscal fourth quarter. It's a little early here. We are seeing some traction, some encouraging things and would hope to have something to announce along those lines in the not too distant future.

Michael Grau: And then in more key sports, we'll continue to do a lot of business in college sports. We have great relationships with St. John's, with the Big East. I think we just announced Duke versus Illinois at the garden, which is certainly a high profile game. And then some of the other sports that some of the other events that that group books around boxing, the darks championship, the bull riding, all those events. We did anticipate returning and looking to explore really expanding the range of events in that category.

In terms of margin, we certainly do anticipate some growth in AOM margins in 25.

Michael Grau: So look, each one of those categories as we look at it, we think we're positioned to be able to grow the event count in fiscal 25 versus a very, very strong year in fiscal 24. Thanks so much.

We've talked about the high single, the low double due to percentage growth in AOM.

Overall, some of that will be fueled by margin expansion and over the long haul.

Ari Danes: That concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Ari Danes for closing remarks. Thank you all for joining us. We look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call. Have a good day. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now just get

I think we see additional opportunities around margin expansion.

There are a couple of puts and takes on this that I'd lay out a front one in the bookings business.

You know, there is a mix between rentals and promotions for promotions.

We will book all the ticket revenue, as well as the artist's costs, whereas in a straight rental that falls to the promoter and we just booked a straight rent.

The AY for these events tends to be roughly the same.

All else being equal, but the margin on a rental will be better than the margin on a promotion.

So there's an element of that.

And then I would mention as well, we have a little bit of a headwind around the corporate rent, which we've called out in the past.

The comps year over year based on new office lease will create incremental.

It expenses more so in the first half of the years, we start to anniversary that in the back half of the year.

Despite that, we definitely see margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond.

If you think about our revenue streams, bookings, the Christmas show, premium marketing partnerships, these are all high margin revenue streams, and we see growth in all of these revenue streams in the coming year. And so I think that will create some margin expansion.

And then equally important, our overhead infrastructure, you know, we think is adequate to support this growth and more growth going forward.

In fact, in our recent budget process, we had a real concentrated effort on efficiency. We turned over a lot of rocks and identified some cost reduction opportunities.

We started to execute on some of those, and I think there's probably more fruit to bear in the future around that.

So all of these factors should drive margin expansion in fiscal 25 and beyond.

Michael Grau: In terms of your second question around the playoffs.

Listen, playoff games are certainly beneficial to us.

I'll remind you, you know, we, we amortize arena license fees across regular season home games. So there's really nothing incremental in terms of arena license fees attaching to playoff games.

But we do have shared revenue streams with with MSG sports around food and beverage, around merchandise, around single events, sweet revenues.

In fact, food and beverage, the food and beverage revenues from the playoff games is probably the largest driver of the overall increase you saw in food and beverage revenues in the fourth, 40 year over year. So the playoff games are very profitable on a standalone basis.

The other point I would make is that it's pretty much all incremental.

We've had a lot of success in booking concerts in playoff windows.

So we're not preempting other events in that regard.

You may have noted, I think we spoke about in our scripted comments.

In the fourth quarter, the arena concerts were up double digit percentages versus the prior year, despite extended playoff runs from both the mix and the ranges. So this is all incremental profitability from these playoff games.

Michael Grau: To the last point, listen, it's harder to quantify, but I definitely do think the success of the mix and ranges creates a certain tailwind or momentum into fiscal 25 for the teams.

And we'll benefit that from that by extension, again, to those same shared revenues.

Streams.

That's great.

Thank you.

Your next question comes from a line of Cameron Manson-Purome from Morgan Stanley.

Cameron Manson-Purome: Your line is open.

Thanks.

Morning.

Two if I can.

First on the bookings business, because you just give us some additional color on how booking activities pacing for fiscal 25 and how we should think about that in terms of the visibility you have sitting here today.

And then second on venue utilization, you call out improvement in their earnings presentation.

Could you just elaborate on that opportunity, you know, how much runway for improvement DC and as we look across the venue portfolio, you know, where or which venues do you see more or less opportunity to really push forward on the utilization front.

Thanks.

Michael Grau: Sure, Cameron.

And thank you for the questions.

In terms of pacing of bookings, we're basically booking. I would say we're pacing kind of flat to prior year at the same time.

It's just one of the ways that we look at this.

We do have a little bit of a tough comp this year relative to Billy Joel, who is, you know, ended his residency.

So we're going from 12 shows to one show in fiscal year of a fiscal year.

Despite that, again, we are pacing essentially flat versus where we were at the same time last year.

If I zoom in on the garden, which is the biggest driver here, for the first quarter, we do expect to be up modestly versus the prior year in terms of number of events.

That is against a tough comp last summer had some residencies from fish and Dave Chappelle as well as, you know, we billy Joel shows compared to one this year.

Just like that, I think we will host a couple more events this year in the first quarter than we did last year. So the next two quarters, second quarter and third quarter, we are on pace again with last year in terms of number of events booked at this time. And then the fourth quarter will probably slightly behind, but we do have a pretty strong pipeline. We're confident that we can fill that gap. So we're in pretty good shape.

Yeah, I would say this, you know, we're coming off a record year.

We talked about a record number of concerts at the garden and at Radio City in fiscal 24.

Despite that, we do expect to increase the number of events that we host this year across our venues.

And we're very comfortable and happy with the manner in which we're pacing right now towards that goal.

In terms of your second question about utilization, listen, it's a good story about utilization. In the sense that utilization is very strong, we continue to improve year over year, yet at the same time there's plenty of opportunity for growth.

We're not up against a ceiling in any respect.

There's no constraint in that regard.

At the garden, we host a 250 events that includes the nicks and the rangers. When you factor in, load in, load out days, that translates to about 70, a little north of 70% utilization up modestly from the prior year.

At the theaters, across all the theaters, we hosted 520 events in fiscal 24 plus all the Radio City Christmas show showings.

So there's plenty of ample opportunity here.

Right now, you know, live entertainment is a growth industry right now, and we're very well positioned, I think, to continue to capitalize that and increase utilization.

I mean, we have these iconic venues.

We have great relationships across the industry.

We have really strong execution on our booking steam, and we've been able to, you know, tap a couple different things to continue to increase utilization over year.

Every year over year, whether that be residencies or multi-night runs, our marquee sports division continues to grow there, reach special events.

I think, you know, it's an area where we could see some increased utilization this year.

We're also, we talked about already doing well during playoff runs, and I think that'll continue going forward.

The track record is very strong around utilization, and there's no reason to think that that won't continue.

And again, we're really not up against any ceilings at this.

Thank you.

Brandon Ross: You're next question comes from a line of Brandon Ross from Lachead.

Your line is open.

Hey, thanks for taking the questions.

On the MSGS call they said they were entering a very strong sponsorship year and I guess you kind of hinted at the same in the prepared.

Can you just help us understand how much is up for renewal this year and how to think about the renewal cadence for sponsorships or premium marketing opportunities going forward.

Thanks.

Sure, Brandon.

Thanks for the question.

Michael Grau: I'd say this is a sponsorship revenue.

I mean, it is a stronger renewal year in fiscal 25. I'm not going to get into specifics around dollars, but there are some large renewals, which always create opportunities, whether that being upselling the existing partner or perhaps bringing up the category for a different player.

So that's always an opportunity for growth.

I mean, taking a wider view of the sponsorship in general, we're feeling pretty bullish about it. We're one year into the partnership with Oakview Group. So I think we're able to capitalize on some of the year one learnings as well as some of the investments that our partners made in people and infrastructure.

I think we're pretty well positioned right now.

I mean, between the Nick, the success of the Nixon, the Rangers, the success we've had and how many concerts were showing at the garden.

MSG is a pretty desirable partner right now for those who are looking to spend some money in this area.

You know, both the access to tickets and to premium, the quality of events we're hosting as well as just the general cache and at the garden, which probably has never been hired.

We're actually anecdotally even seeing a couple partners approach us to kind of proactively early renew arrangements that are expiring, you know, in the in the future.

So I think that we're also a real good start around anything specific to offer, but we're hoping to be able to have something specific around that in the not too distant future.

But all signs are pointing to what in this regard, and I think we probably probably have a strong year in the Serena.

Great.

Michael Grau: And then they're just following up on the guide.

You gave high singles to low doubles on A O Y.

He just told us how to think about that in terms of the revenue for this year.

Sure, I mean, listen, I think the demand, as I mentioned, I think right now, live experiences of the demand for shared experiences is very strong, and so we'll continue to ride that way.

If we are not providing explicit revenue guidance for 25, but we do expect to see broad based revenue growth, and that will be a driver certainly towards the high single to low double digit percentage increase in A O Y that we are guiding towards, I mean, I can break down by pieces if we talk about our bookings business talked about already coming off a record year and expecting to increase the number of events across our bookings business this year.

I will reiterate again that the difference in the accounting around promotions and rentals, and I mentioned this Billy Joel deal was a promoted deal, and so we booked the ticket revenue and the artist's costs.

Those will prop more likely than not be replaced by straight rentals, so that creates a little bit of a revenue headwind, but does not translate to profitability as I discussed earlier.

But outside of that, just the sheer growth and number of events should fuel revenue growth in the bookings business.

Christmas spectacular, we spoke to a little bit already, still early, but seeing an 18% increase in advance ticket sales versus the same point last year, we continue to project a continued return of tourism to New York City, higher average per show revenues.

So we see revenue growth in the Christmas show, premiums talked about this a little bit in our prepared comments.

We are expanding the event level club space that we had in just last year to meet current demand.

We're renovating a number of our event and Lexus level switch, which also drives incremental revenue, talked about the tailwind around the mix and the range of success and our success in launching concerts, which will drive demand for premium products.

So we're expecting to deliver another year of growth across premium hospitality business, and then I talked about the sponsorship business in response to your first question.

And then lastly, just those shared revenue streams with the Nixon Rangers should also be positioned for growth, given the success that those teams have had.

So we're looking at broad base growth across really all about different revenue streams as we go into fiscal 25.

Thank you for all that color.

David Karnovsky: Your next question comes from the line of David Karnovsky from JP Morgan.

Your line is open.

All right.

Thank you.

Just first, given the kind of volatile macro environment, figured it's worth asking if you've seen any signs of consumer weakening either in current or forward bookings or in your per caps.

And then separately on capital allocation, any update there and how you're thinking about the right conditions potentially for resuming a buyback.

Thanks.

David, thank you for the questions.

Michael Grau: So listen, the slowdown in consumer demand.

We're very aware that that narrative is out there, but we're not seeing it at all.

And I know some of our peer companies confronted the same question and pretty similar responses.

It feels I don't see a slowdown in consumer demand for live entertainment experiences, most specifically. You know, we talked about the radio city, Christmas show and the growth we're seeing in advanced sales there, which I think speaks for itself.

In terms of bookings, you know, we look at sell through year over year.

If I look at year over year, sell through in the fourth quarter in the first quarter versus the same time last year, of course, all about different venues.

In almost every instance, we're either on part or better. And that's against some really tough comps.

I mean, look at fourth quarter overall, how sell through was approaching or just a little north, in fact, of 90%.

So we're not seeing any lagging in consumer demand around bookings.

We actually, you know, we have certain acts that will add shows after selling out the initially announced shows.

You cited the per caps in your question. We're seeing higher per cap spending in the fourth quarter.

We were up actually double digits in terms of combined per cap spending across food, beverage and merchandise at our concerts.

So to date, we've not seen anything approaching a slowdown in consumer demand. We're very mindful of it, but really everything's been pretty bullish so far.

I would say I think we're positioned well to the extent that was a slowdown in terms of resiliency in the New York marketplace and with the iconic menus that we have, but to date, we're not even seeing anything along those lines.

In terms of your second question around capital allocation, you know, we've talked historically and really not changing today about the dual priorities around opportunistically returning capital shareholders and debt paydown.

Just to set the stage, we entered the year with about 33 million of unrestricted cash.

We do expect to generate substantial free cash flow in fiscal 25.

Our seasonally busiest quarters from the fiscal and second and third quarters. So that's when I would anticipate the cash to start to build up to levels where we have to address this question a little more contemporaneously.

And once we get to that point, we'll evaluate returning capital to shareholders.

We do, we have bought back 140 million or about 10% of our class A shares since becoming a standalone public company and to reiterate what we said in our prepared comments. We do have about 110 million of capacity left.

What we have currently approved around share bye-bye, with respect to debt paydown.

The current expectations will continue, of course, our mandatory quarterly principal payments on our debt, which is about 4 million per quarter.

Michael Grau: But I think the business should naturally deliver based on our expectations of AOI growth in the years ahead, so we're well positioned to continue advance on both debt paydown and share repurchases.

The other thing, I shouldn't shortchange just reinvestment in the business.

We don't have any current plans for anything substantial in this regard.

There's no M&A on the horizon. There's no major renovations that are needed.

Out of venues, we will do some things around the edges.

And we talked about most of this already, you know, really, I think small, but really smart and high return capital investments, talking about, you know, expanding the event level club space at the garden that we introduced last year, renovation of some of the event lexus level suites and investments in the Christmas spectacular to enhance the guest experience. These are all very smart and high ROI opportunities that we will take advantage of as well.

Thank you.

Operator, we have time for one last caller.

Certainly, you're a final question comes from a line of Peter Sipino from Wolf Research.

Your line is open.

Peter Sipino: Hi, good morning.

I wanted to follow up on a prior question about 2025 revenue and dig into the event growth next year and specifically, how you see the mix changing between concerts or theatres, versus the garden, if you just help us think about those trends and what they might mean for margins in 2025.

Thank you.

Sure, Peter, and thank you for the question.

When we talk about events, we kind of look at it across a couple of categories.

We talk about it in terms of concerts, family shows, special events, and then marquee sports, which is what we internally used for any of the sporting events beyond the Nixon Rangers.

For concerts, we do expect event growth this year against our record setting year in fiscal 24.

We've had some success in kind of introducing new acts or really I'd call it marching new acts up the ladder to the point where they're ready to play the arena. And we have introduced some new acts to arena level shows with success.

We've had some success around multi-night runs.

I've talked a little bit about how we're pacing versus our goal this year, pacing very well to increase the number of concerts. So I think we're well positioned there in terms of the family show category. We recently announced 64 Annie Holiday shows at the theatre at MSG and Chicago Theatre. That really gets us about 75% plus of our way towards our annual goal for family shows and even more than that in terms of a profitability perspective.

I'd mention addicts totally as well.

We're welcoming back the Westminster drug show to the garden. I think we last hosted that in February of 2020 just before the pandemic.

So we're excited to meet into that partnership with them.

Special events look, a lot of that business takes place in the fiscal fourth quarter.

It's a little early here.

We are seeing some traction, some encouraging things and would hope to have something to announce along those lines in the not too distant future.

And then in more key sports, we'll continue to do a lot of business in college sports.

We have great relationships with St.

John's, with the Big East.

I think we just announced Duke versus Illinois at the garden, which is certainly a high profile game.

And then some of the other sports that some of the other events that that group books around boxing, the darks championship, the bull riding, all those events.

We did anticipate returning and looking to explore really expanding the range of events in that category.

So look, each one of those categories as we look at it, we think we're positioned to be able to grow the event count in fiscal 25 versus a very, very strong year in fiscal 24.

Thanks so much.

That concludes our question and answer session.

I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Ari Danes for closing remarks.

Thank you all for joining us.

We look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call.

Have a good day.

This concludes today's conference call.

Thank you for your participation.

You may now just get