employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Madison Square Garden

Is this your company?

Madison Square Garden reviews

3.4

42% would recommend to a friend

(858 total reviews)
avatar

James Dolan

25% approve of CEO

41% positive business outlook

Madison Square Garden has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 858 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Madison Square Garden employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Arts, Entertainment & Recreation industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

858 reviews
1.0
Aug 11, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Madison Square Garden is a great place to have on your resume , and you will learn more here about your discipline than you will learn at any other company. Benefits are fantastic. I love the people I work with - we truly are a family (you have to be because you see them more than you do your own friends or family) If you are a fan of the sports teams and work for the sports department, you have access to incredible resources.

Cons

You are expected to work at an extremely fast pace under incredibly tight deadlines, and even the smallest, most minute projects are classified as extremely urgent. Upper management gets bogged down in micromanaging the minutae, does not trust lower-level staff, and the approval process is unlike anything I have ever witnessed (read: anywhere between ten and fifteen people will need to approve). The hours are insane (80 to 90 hour weeks, typically 6 days a week, sometimes 7 depending on your department) and the compensation is incredibly low. Many people run on the fear of "being yelled at", and therefore, you will spend hours worrying about trivial details. For example, one co-worker actually spent hours on a Sunday measuring the distance of the spacing between automated bullets in a word document. Although an employer could never deny time off, taking days off is extremely difficult. Staff is made to feel guilty, often because there are so many projects going on at once and everyone is overworked. Staff often feels guilty for leaving before 8 pm or taking a day off. Extremely understaffed. Most positions in normal companies would be broken up over three or four positions. Pay is incredibly low. Work investment banker hours and get paid an entry level salary (even for middle management). Admittedly because this is MSG and people would do anything to work here. Long hours affect personal relationships - I go for months without visiting family (who only live 30 minutes away), rarely see friends during the season. Rarely see fiance or friends and no matter how hard you try, distance puts a strain on relationships. Turnover is incredibly high. Two separate months saw the exit of 80% of staff for two different departments. Somewhere between 40 or 50 people resigned in a 6 months period. Secrecy from upper management.

2.0
Jul 26, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- VERY recognizable brand - Comped tickets to some sports games and dress rehearsals to company owned/backed productions (Christmas Spectacular, etc...) - Ability to buy full priced tickets on sold out concerts - Good enthusiastic coworkers, with a wide variety of interests, ages, and backgrounds - Variety of business properties and brands (Ability to work with venues, vendors, sports, etc...) - Great place to gain experience and learn if you are an intern or very green.

Cons

- Has little growth opportunities for those that are more mature (experience-wise) - Everyone and their mother will ask you to get them tickets - No comps on concert tickets for regular employees - Compensation and benefits are lower than industry standard - Very little upward mobility - Very limited schedule with late hours if you work with the teams during the season - No career development - Conservative thinking and management

1.0
Jul 19, 2011

Great Brand Name, Zero Growth Potential

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Its Madison Square Garden! -Brand recognition -Very 9-5 job. Gives good opportunity to people looking for long term stability without career progression, laid back work life or mothers. However, no flexibility in 9 to 5 hours. MUST BE IN during these hours and these hours alone.

Cons

- Management perennially stuck in 70s - 80s mindset. VERY old school thinking. - Deep hierarchy. Limited interaction with management, even with direct reports. - No creative thinking to any problem solution. Do-as-told and speak-when-spoken-to attitude thru out the organization - Zero career training, external education, internal brown bags etc. Knowledge sharing doesn't exist - Management positions on an average have been filled by the same people for over 20 years which has stunted growth of various departments. No new ideas/people have been welcomed and thus has left the place with monotonous way of thinking. - No bonuses - Poor benefits package - Below average salaries - No growth opportunity

Viewing 838 - 840 of 858 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,115 Madison Square Garden reviews submitted anonymously by Madison Square Garden employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Madison Square Garden is right for you.