Season-ticket holders at St. John’s can expect to find themselves in new seats next season, departing from their familiar locations.
On Tuesday, athletic director Ed Kull communicated to all season-ticket holders that the university plans to implement a complete re-seating of tickets for both Carnesecca Arena and Madison Square Garden, with financial contributions to the program, athletes, and institution being key considerations.
The new seating arrangement will utilize a points system, which will take into account various factors, including:
1. The total number of seasons a fan has held season tickets
2. Donations made to the athletic department
3. Contributions to the school’s charitable efforts
4. Support for NIL initiatives benefiting Red Storm athletes
Preparing for a New Era in College Athletics
Kull views this strategy as essential for St. John’s to remain competitive in college athletics, a common approach among major conference institutions.
“We are definitely behind the times on this as we try to compete at the highest of levels,” Kull stated to Newsday.
This initiative also serves as preparation for potential financial obligations arising from the proposed House v. NCAA settlement and the possibility of a revenue-sharing framework.
“We need to do everything we can to financially compete in this new era of college athletics,” his letter stated.
“As these new policies are expected to go into effect next year, we need to be ready for how they will impact our St. John’s student-athletes and department.”
The re-seating process is set to take place in the spring and summer, with plans to “reallocate all season ticket holder seat locations” according to the new points system.
St. John’s has previously conducted re-seating of season ticket holders, following renovations at Madison Square Garden.
Fan Engagement and Facility Upgrades
This season, the Red Storm are averaging 5,393 fans per game at Carnesecca Arena, which holds 5,602 seats, including seven sellouts across nine games.
At Madison Square Garden, the team has drawn an average of 14,414 fans over three games in the 19,812-seat venue.
Kull is also pursuing other initiatives to enhance competitiveness, drawing from his experience of increasing athletic department revenues during his tenure as Fordham’s AD.
In an interview earlier this week, Kull revealed that St. John’s will break ground on a planned $60 million basketball-only practice facility in the spring and that he is considering renovations for Carnesecca Arena. “We’re looking at some different renditions and some architect theories,” he noted.
Expressing his vision for the arena, Kull mentioned, “I’d love to see us have additional seat backs on both ends. We need to remove and upgrade some of the bleacher situations and obviously improve the concession space.
We need some more hospitality space in terms of not only entertaining donors or trustees or investors in the program but also providing students with more entertainment space.
“It’s not easy trying to renovate a 60-year-old building, so we’re trying to do that tastefully and carefully.”
