St. John’s would possibly play much more video games at Garden subsequent season

St. John’s this season performed an astonishing 13 dates at Madison Square Garden, together with 12 regular-season video games, which was final accomplished within the 1951-52 season.

Next season the Red Storm would possibly play much more Garden dates, Newsday has discovered.

St. John’s and the Garden are exploring the growth of the portfolio of video games performed in The World’s Most Famous Arena. It might imply greater than 14 regular-season video games and maybe extra exhibition video games just like the one in October in opposition to Michigan, presently ranked No. 3.

“We have had an awesome partnership and relationship with them and, as you’ve seen this 12 months and final 12 months, [St. John’s] bought out most video games,” MSG executive vice president for marquee events and operations Joel Fisher told Newsday. “We hope to be able to do more and they’ve expressed that interest. So if we’re able to handle more games, based on our incredibly busy schedule, we will do more games.”

“We were at 13 — 14 if you include the women’s game [against No. 1 UConn] — and I’ve been throwing around the number 18 and would love 18, but if we can get to 16, I’d be happy with that step,” St. John’s athletic director Ed Kull said. “Getting to 16 is definitely realistic.”

The Garden is a sanctified place for St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, a New Yorker from birth who spent his formative years on Long Island in Bayville and attended St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay. He was an assistant coach and a head coach with the Knicks.

“Every time I step onto that floor of Madison Square Garden, I’m emotional, excited, honored,” he said, referring to playing the Big East Tournament at the Garden, when he attended the Big East Player of the Year award ceremony for Zuby Ejiofor on Wednesday. “I don’t need to get [jazzed]. I am totally, totally enthralled with the Big East Tournament.”

Top-seeded and 13th-ranked St. John’s is the outright Big East regular-season champion in consecutive years for the first time in program history and was looking to win back-to-back conference tournament titles for the first time on Saturday night against second-seeded and No. 6-ranked Connecticut.

Ascertaining the Garden’s capacity for more Red Storm games can happen only after the Knicks’ and Rangers’ schedules are determined as well as several annual Garden events and concerts.

“We now call St. John’s one of our franchises,” Fisher said. “We have the Knicks. We have the Rangers. We have college basketball and concerts. But St. John’s — especially now with the amount of games they play here — is what we consider a franchise and [it’s] a really good partnership.”

In virtually every visit by prospective transfers and recruits, St. John’s includes a tour of the Garden. Almost all who commit say it makes a major impression.

In addition to the exhibition game against Michigan, St. John’s played No. 15 Alabama, Ole Miss, Iona and nine Big East home games at the Garden this season. Expanding the portfolio of games at MSG could bring more high-profile matchups for the Red Storm.

“We’re looking to do more and more high-profile games with them, and [while] that comes from us, it’s even more so from them,” Fisher said. “In the past, they weren’t willing to play high-profile, tough non-conference games. Now Rick gets it’s a smart thing to do to get them ready for the [NCAA] Tournament, and so we work very closely with them to find dates to do these non-conference games that are very high-profile that we know will be great competition for them and also great games [that] draw a lot of people here. So we’re definitely looking to do more and more of those with them.”

For perspective, St. John’s played an average of 5.5 regular-season games at the Garden during Chris Mullin’s four seasons as head coach. Mike Anderson was at the helm four seasons (one impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic), and the Red Storm averaged five regular-season games at MSG. During the past two seasons, St. John’s has more than doubled the average, playing 21 Garden dates.

The number of permitted exhibition games rises from two to three next season, and Kull said St. John’s would like to play a pair of them against high-major opponents at the Garden in addition to more regular-season games. As to how it might impact costs to season-ticket holders, he added, “I am very sensitive to this and the impact on the blue-collar segment of our fan base. Prices might go up slightly, but nothing like the 30% [they rose] last season.”

Of the vastly improved relationship that St. John’s has built with the Garden, Fisher said, “We couldn’t be more thrilled with the partnership. It’s been really a great, great partnership. Bringing in Rick, who I’ve known for 40 years — I worked with him when he was the head coach of the Knicks — and what he’s done to the program has brought the fans out, and it’s made [everything] very, very exciting.

“It goes way beyond just the way the team has played and the fans that come here,” he added. “It’s us working with them on ticketing, sponsorships, on all kinds of different things to help their program. We work with them on all of their recruiting visits. They’ll have a recruit come in, whether it’s myself or members of our staff, that show them around the building, talk to the parents, tell them how exciting it is to play at Madison Square Garden,The World’s Most Famous Arena, and what they’ll get out of the relationship, not only with St. John’s but with us in New York City. It’s great.”