St. John's to implement new points system for season-ticket holders' seating
Ed Kull, newly named St. John's Athletic Director, speaks during his introductory news conference on Sept. 17, 2024. Credit: James Escher
St. John’s season-ticket holders are very likely to be sitting in different seats next season than the ones they’ve gotten used to.
On Tuesday, Red Storm athletic director Ed Kull sent out a notification to all season-ticket holders that the school is going to do a “full re-seat” of season tickets for both Carnesecca Arena and Madison Square Garden and that financial support of the program, athletes and school will be considerations.
Seating now will be based on a points system that factors in:
- Number of seasons one has had season tickets
- Donations to the athletic department
- Charitable giving to the school
- Contributions to NIL efforts that benefit Red Storm athletes
It's a measure Kull believes is necessary for St. John’s to stay competitive in college athletics and one that is common practice at major conference schools.
"We are definitely behind the times on this as we try to compete at the highest of levels," Kull told Newsday.
It is also a way to prepare for financial demands that could come from the proposed House v. NCAA settlement and a possible revenue sharing system.
“We need to do everything we can to financially compete in this new era of college athletics,” Kull’s letter reads. “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 plan will be implemented in the spring and summer and, according to the notification, “will include a reallocation of all season ticket holder seat locations” based on the points system.
St. John’s had done re-seating of season-ticket holders before, most recently after major renovations at the Garden.
In nine games at Carnesecca Arena, St. John's is averaging 5,393 fans per game at the 5,602-seat venue, which includes seven sellouts.
The team has averaged 14,414 fans in three games at the Garden, which seats 19,812.
St. John’s already is taking actions on other fronts to be as competitive as possible under Kull, who has built a reputation for making athletic departments more robust after record revenue generation in his previous job as Fordham’s AD.
Kull said in an interview earlier this week that St. John’s will break ground on the planned $60 million basketball-only practice facility in the spring and that renovations to Carnesecca Arena are being considered. “We’re looking at some different renditions and some architect theories,” he said.
“I’d love to see us have additional seat backs on both ends,” Kull said. “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 even providing the students some 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.”
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.
