2025-2026 Schedule
- Thread starter paultzman
- Start date
Someone with knowledge of scheduling OOC games please esssplain me.... if Pop was "over the moon" with playing Rick and St Johns.... what was stopping him from signing a Home n Home?
As someone completely ignorant to scheduling games.... this agreement sounds like the easiest handshake ever... (unless the "showcase' game was in the works for a bit and would of conflicted with a home/home for this season)
SJUDave
Well-known member
You and many others
Pretty sure the hold up was scheduling when they'd come to MSG, and they couldn't commit to 2026 because of other scheduling agreements. So its a little complicated to either cancel/reschedule on another team or drop out of an event.
Newsstands?Paper newspapers? Right next to the payphones?
St. John’s and Kentucky
Pitino and his disciple Mark Pope
Has this already been posted?
If not it’s my pleasure to share it
Great time to be a St. John’s fan!
Actually beyond Great!!
SS&G
Pitino and his disciple Mark Pope
Has this already been posted?
If not it’s my pleasure to share it
Great time to be a St. John’s fan!
Actually beyond Great!!
SS&G
What's interesting is so far Pitino has landed some huge OOC MTEs which are primarily handled by the TV networks (Vegas Players Era, CBS vs. UK), but has struggled to land H&Hs with elite teams. New Mexico and Ole Miss are great opponents, but we haven't been able to get Duke, Alabama, Kentucky (H&H), or Louisville done, along with some others apparently.
I realize there's legit excuses for some with scheduling (UK?), but I do sense that at least some teams are scared to play us. CBS has a $trong TV ratings interest in showcasing us at their event, but is a Duke afraid of coming to MSG and losing in front of a St. John's crowd? We scheduled Duke and Syracuse until they started losing to us, and while our teams weren't good back then the opposing team did have the crowd advantage at MSG.
Today, if a Duke is recruiting someone from NY do they want to risk losing to us AND having the crowd be primarily red? They can schedule other teams at MSG instead. They wouldn't care as much about TV ratings for a H&H as a network would for an MTE.
I could be off here, others know far more than I do about these negotiations, but just a thought. A good problem to have obviously, but hopefully the rumored November MSG game vs. a big opponent happens.
I realize there's legit excuses for some with scheduling (UK?), but I do sense that at least some teams are scared to play us. CBS has a $trong TV ratings interest in showcasing us at their event, but is a Duke afraid of coming to MSG and losing in front of a St. John's crowd? We scheduled Duke and Syracuse until they started losing to us, and while our teams weren't good back then the opposing team did have the crowd advantage at MSG.
Today, if a Duke is recruiting someone from NY do they want to risk losing to us AND having the crowd be primarily red? They can schedule other teams at MSG instead. They wouldn't care as much about TV ratings for a H&H as a network would for an MTE.
I could be off here, others know far more than I do about these negotiations, but just a thought. A good problem to have obviously, but hopefully the rumored November MSG game vs. a big opponent happens.
SJU14
Well-known member
Duke used to love coming to play us at MSG. They get to showcase their NY fan base in a sold out MSG which usually ended in a win. That’s not so attractive when the win isn’t so easy and the fans aren’t in their favor
I checked with their website and no dates as of yet: https://www.playersera.com/2025
I checked with MGM Grand and no dates as of yet.
The dates for last year's sessions were Nov 26-30 which were during Thanksgiving week.
I checked with MGM Grand and no dates as of yet.
The dates for last year's sessions were Nov 26-30 which were during Thanksgiving week.
SJUDave
Well-known member
The thought is it'll be around there but they added a bunch of teams this year so I think they may stretch the tournament out a bit longer than last year
I'm not sure teams are afraid to play us, as much as its a product of:
- Home & homes not being a thing anymore (although slowly coming back)
- MSG being notoriously difficult to schedule with because of Knicks, Rangers, and other events
- Big enough brands being able to play MSG without needing us: whether it is Jimmy V or another showcase, Duke having a home game last year, Rutgers/Mich St, etc. We don't really have the leverage in either direction for the elite programs to come to MSG and have to go through us.
Was thinking same.. but hard if they stretch over a full week. Maybe 2 of 3 games just before or after holiday might consider still going. Wish they'd schedule soon as makes it hard to plan around holidays
SJUDave
Well-known member
And the other thing is I believe there was a 2 day break in between the final and games prior so they are probably going to adjust this quite a bit
Chriscin33
Well-known member
Whatever it maybe, this sounds like another great roadtrip not only to watch our team, but see other good teams play.
They were a normal 8-team field last year, though.
My guess is that they don't even know the dates yet. Probably waiting for television to decide that.
If the Falcons have a home game that weekend, hotels could get expensive. NFL schedule gets released 5/14. Maybe the tournament executives have inside info. I reserved a room just in case. Can always cancel.