When St. John’s began to execute the revised season ticket plan for the 2025-26 men’s basketball season, it was very public about their cost rising 30% from a year ago. Their value, however, has risen right along with it.
The Red Storm home schedule now includes eight Big East games plus four non-conference dates at Madison Square Garden — an exhibition with Michigan and games against Alabama, Ole Miss and Iona — and coach Rick Pitino assembled a team very likely to open the season ranked nationally in the top 10.
And now those season tickets may become even more valuable.
St. John’s is in a dialogue with the Garden about moving two more games to the World’s Most Famous Arena and playing its entire 10-game conference schedule there. The current plan the school is looking to expand on has 12 dates at MSG (including Seton Hall on a date not yet determined). Big East games against DePaul and Butler could be relocated from Carnesecca Arena on campus to the Garden.
“So the reason the pricing is not finalized is: the more Garden games we have, the more expensive it’s going to be,” St. John’s AD Ed Kull told Newsday. “We’re currently looking at approximately 12 games and, I’m not going to lie when I tell you we want 14.
“I understand that people get [angry] and ask ‘Ed, why don’t you just release the full schedule?’ but there’s a lot to it, just like every year,” he added. “The Knicks and Rangers go first — they get first dibs, so we have to be flexible — and then there is television to factor in.”
Kull was asked if he’s comfortable playing no Big East games on campus and replied, “I have no problem with that if we can work it out well. This is the right year to do it, too.”
The Storm played nine Garden dates in the 2024-25 regular season with an average attendance of 16,994 in the 19,812-seat arena including selling out the final three. There were non-sellouts that exceeded 19,000, 18,000 and 17,000.
“How do you get the fans back? Form a team [and] we’re a team with the Garden,” Pitino said after a win over Creighton before a sellout crowd. “We wanted the Garden to own St. John’s [and] . . . the Garden is our home.”
St. John’s sent some shivers through its fan base in the spring when it announced season ticket holders would be reseated based on a points system. It said points would be based on years of season-ticket loyalty as well as several kinds of giving to support athletics, NIL efforts and the university.
No holdover season ticket holder will be jumped in the distribution order by a newcomer, Kull said.
“We’re making sure all the active season ticket holders get priority and they get all their seats first,” Kull said. “The new season ticket holders . . . will go after. I need the fan base to understand that because there have been misperceptions.
“A lot of active season ticket holders seem to believe that if a new season ticket holder gave enough money, they would jump some of the old season ticket holders and that’s just not the case.”
Kull estimated that an active season ticket holder who hadn’t been a big donor would be seated no worse than section 108 in the Garden.
“And that’s where I sat for the whole Big East Tournament,” Kull said.
The hope is that season-ticket growth is extensive enough that the returners fill up the lower bowl at the Garden.
And St. John’s will have a bunch of new season ticket holders, Kull estimated 2,500 have enlisted to become one and that’s on top of the approximately 5,600 that were in place from last season.
“It’s an exciting time,” Kull said. “You can really feel an energy around this upcoming season.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.