Joseph Spector | Albany Bureau

USA TODAY Sports

ALBANY - Giving a fan a hard time could cost more than bad publicity for New York Knicks' owner James Dolan.

After Dolan lashed out at a fan Saturday who told him to "sell the team," the state senator who represents the Manhattan district where Madison Square Garden is located said maybe the state should reconsider the lucrative tax breaks granted to the famous arena.

"Madison Square Garden gets over $40M/year in property tax breaks," said Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan, wrote Sunday night on Twitter.

"If James Dolan wants to treat it as his private stadium & ban fans for merely suggesting he sell a team, then perhaps Albany should take his lead—and redirect those public dollars to Penn Station’s MTA facilities."

Since 1982, Madison Square Garden has gotten a full property-tax exemption that saved the arena owners $54 million in 2015 alone.

The state Legislature granted the break after the New York Rangers and New York Knicks threatened to move out of the arena.

{{props.notification}} {{props.tag}} {{props.expression}} {{props.linkSubscribe.text}} {{#modules.acquisition.inline}}{{/modules.acquisition.inline}} ... Our reporting. Your stories. Get unlimited digital access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now

The Legislature has considered over the years whether to cut the tax break or limit it, but it has never gained any traction.

After a Knicks' loss on Saturday, Dolan jawed with the fan who told him to sell the struggling team, telling the fan he was rude and suggesting he be banned from the arena.

Dolan walked over to the railing where the fan was standing and said, "You really think I should sell the team? You want to not come to any more games?" according to the video obtained by TMZ.

When the fan told him it was an opinion, Dolan said, "It's not an opinion. Enjoy watching them on TV."

Dolan then appears to tell security guards to hold the fan.

"Our policy is and will continue to be that if you are disrespectful to anyone in our venues, we will ask you not to return," a spokesperson from The Madison Square Garden Company said.

Most arenas and stadiums across New York are tax exempt because they are publicly owned. But Madison Square Garden is privately owned, and questions about the tax break has long festered.

“With the advent of its own cable television network, more intensive use of the facility to generate advertising revenue, and construction of new luxury boxes and club seating areas with higher ticket prices, the Garden is now, by all accounts, a highly profitably enterprise,” George Sweeting, deputy director of the Independent Budget Office, said at a 2014 hearing.