SJU considering playing fewer games at MSG

[quote="Mean Gene" post=380482][quote="Anthony Mattia" post=380479][quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=380236]In my opinion , if you want to think of fewer games at MSG , AD Cragg might want to get Applications to join the MAAC League ! For one , telling possible BE Recruits they will be playing in a 85 degree 1959 Gym that seats 5000 fans is likely to get a , look that says NO Thanks ! And , who could blame them ? A local kid as many have done during the Willard era , is more likely to want to play in a full Roc in Newark than a full CA . The Nova - SH game the other night was a significant example . The Place was rocking and 2 good teams battling down to the final whistle before 12-15 000 is what we should be aspiring to be ! AGAIN ! As we once were . St John’s has $ 750 million in Endowment Funds . The school shouldn’t be in Financial difficulty and if it is , why? The Schools Academics have dropped substantially over the last 20 years , just as our BB fortunes have done . If you want better attendance , put a contending BE team on the floor ! Not 1 that you hope gets to a 9-9 BE record and finish mid pack . I do know the school is working hard to improve the Academic Standing but , so many years of neglect by the prior Administration takes a while . It would make more sense to ditch CA for all but 2-3 Early season games against cupcakes and split the BE games between MSG and the new Belmont Arena . I get many Alums wax nostalgic about CA but , harsh reality is that it’s beneath a BE School .[/quote]

Really...ever heard of Cameron Indoor? It's all these things but built in 1940. Just sayin[/quote]

Capacity at Cameron Indoor is a little over 9,000 , big difference.[/quote]

True, but hot a s hades and old as dirt
 
I’ve always said we needed an on-campus arena that was between 8-9k and it would solve a lot if problems. We shrink it instead. Eventually it had to be redone and not the minor facelift like last time. I’m for over 8K at home and it’s not hard with good architectural fe-design.
 
[quote="mjmaherjr" post=380447]from a business standpoint if the breakeven MSG number is 10k and its profit after that then I'm not thinking twice I'm putting Uconn at MSG because thats going to be at least 15k seats if not more

Simple as this. Just beat them[/quote]

If uconn comes to the garden with a ranked team, its an away game for us.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=380489][quote="mjmaherjr" post=380447]from a business standpoint if the breakeven MSG number is 10k and its profit after that then I'm not thinking twice I'm putting Uconn at MSG because thats going to be at least 15k seats if not more

Simple as this. Just beat them[/quote]

If uconn comes to the garden with a ranked team, its an away game for us.[/quote]

Not if we are good also
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=380489][quote="mjmaherjr" post=380447]from a business standpoint if the breakeven MSG number is 10k and its profit after that then I'm not thinking twice I'm putting Uconn at MSG because thats going to be at least 15k seats if not more

Simple as this. Just beat them[/quote]

If uconn comes to the garden with a ranked team, its an away game for us.[/quote] I’ll gladly take there money especially for a cash starved school and program
 
[quote="Jack Williams" post=380490][quote="Beast of the East" post=380489][quote="mjmaherjr" post=380447]from a business standpoint if the breakeven MSG number is 10k and its profit after that then I'm not thinking twice I'm putting Uconn at MSG because thats going to be at least 15k seats if not more

Simple as this. Just beat them[/quote]

If uconn comes to the garden with a ranked team, its an away game for us.[/quote]

Not if we are good also[/quote]

Even when we are good and they are too, we lose the home court advantage at the garden. Their fans rush to buy tickets as son as available. We offer Garden only packages and would have to sell 5000 full season ticket packages and 8000 garden only packages to make this a decided home court advantage.

On campus if we charged $60 for home games on average in a new 9000 seat arena, and sold it out ( with a free 1000 seat student section) it could generate $480,000 per game, or approximately $7.5 million for a 16 game home season. If that arena cost $100 million is there a good business case for it?

The answer is win first, and donations will increase. Right now Villanova is xxv raising $100 million per year without a new campaign, which is in the works.

Building a new arena MUST come from donations. There is no business case for it otherwise. Few fans comes to a brand new arena for a bad team simply because it is new, and few fans stay away from and old arena when the team is good just because the arena is old.

As we get better, more games will be shifted to off campus arenas, both Msg or other area arenas. If we win enough and season ticket subscriptions increase significantly we can think differently.

Duke basketball ALONE raises $30 million per year in donations. We raise under $3 million for the entire athletic department. One of Mike Cragg's heavy lift endeavors is to raise more donations. Their have been significant necessary improvements at CA not visible to fans but to athletes- renovated locker rooms, exercise room, equipment room, team room, and hall of fame. The biggest investment is CMA's contract. When he wins big, more giving will result in more dramatic improvements.

In terms of a new 9000 seat arena, the reason Villanova scrapped plans for a new 10,000 seat arena is there was too much pushback from the community concerned about increased traffic on game days.
 
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[quote="Paultzman" post=380142]Establish a consistently winning team and SJU will have more venue options. Until then, circling wagons and playing five or six of 10 BE home games at dilapidated CA seems necessary financially.

Bigger question is when will the program win consistently. It may take longer than I would like, but one year at a time. Getting better players is immediate crucial issue to me, so staff has to keep pushing on recruiting 24/7.[/quote]

My family has had 6 season tickets for ever 40 years and donate to R&W Club, with may parents being in their mid 70's more games at CA could be the end of our run. Unfortunately, we sit in seats without backs and it's just not easy for them to go anymore. We have tried numerous times to move to seats with backs to no avail. While I understand this decision don't really agree with it.
 
Playing at the garden is great only when there’s a crowd, when we play to an entire section of empty seats and with 30% of those fans of the other team… Where is the benefit.We have better success at Carnesecca… It can’t be denied. We do not have a home court advantage at the garden. I say play a select group of big games at the school. Lack of availability of tickets will create desire. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard “you can always get tickets to St. John’s games” JMHO
 
While I don't think we can, or should abandon MSG for the New York credentials and publicity. It will be interesting to see how Belmont plays out. I believe it will hold ~19K, close by, public transport and will have some name brand due to the racing history. I looked at the drawings and seems like it will be very nice setting inside and out. Can see how we might try to leverage this by less games next year. Wonder what the break even point would be compared to the ~10K figure noted for MSG. Maybe Belmont would even throw in an actual court that is red and not Knick blue.

If Villanova can win nat championships at Wells Fargo, Hall being ranked at Pru Center, perhaps Belmont will be fine over MSG for majority. Save CA for the cupcakes and maybe a few conf games like DePaul, Butler, Marquette, Creighton or X depending on their expected performance since we wont get much of their fans.
 
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I can understand why Fox Sports and the Big East want us to play additional games at MSG, but SJU has legitimate financial reasons to play fewer games there. A possible solution would be for the network and conference, for next year only, to subsidize the Redmen games at MSG. It can't hurt to inquire.
 
Cash strapped university, adversely effected by under enrollment, currently involved in unrelated to athletics capital improvement effort and lacking in “whale” donors seems the equation to consider when exploring feasibility of comprehensive improvements to CA, new arena and incurring more rental deficits at MSG. Like it or not, the bottom line here is not favorable, endowment or not. My impression is SJU Administration really has their work cut out for them.
 
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We’re about to have some players... it’s not really gonna matter at that point. Just with this team this year and maybe next year it will help get some wins. Think about how many close games we lost at MSG.. it’s a neutral site game to be honest. Opposing teams are more fired up to play there than our guys. But when the garden is full and rocking, there’s nothing like it. Just think a better balance is needed. Our guys practice and play most of pre conference games there. Cragg and CMA will find the balance.
 
[quote="Andrew" post=380568]I know Beast loves to talk about Villanova. I went to Binghamton and the school recently received an anonymous 60 million dollar donation to build one of the most expensive college baseball stadiums in the country. There is money out there. You just need to know how to find and extract it.

[URL]https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/binghamtons-stadium-plans-put-it-in-elite-company/[/URL][/quote]
If I ever hit the lottery we'll have our money.
 
[quote="Andrew" post=380568]I know Beast loves to talk about Villanova. I went to Binghamton and the school recently received an anonymous 60 million dollar donation to build one of the most expensive college baseball stadiums in the country. There is money out there. You just need to know how to find and extract it.

[URL]https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/binghamtons-stadium-plans-put-it-in-elite-company/[/URL][/quote]

Nova’s lead donor donated 22.6 million himself to upgrade their stadium in 2016. I’m sure we have a number of alumni who could do this for us...but will they? If not, Nova not a good comparison (for many other reasons too).
 
Hard to read that Binghamton article without thinking how an alum like Mike Repole could singlehandely change the story at St. John's, athletics and beyond.

While it's been mentioned several times by others in the know, that he's not a top donor to university overall or athletics, plus the WFAN drama last year, he's likely the most realistic option we have of someone who cares about the basketball program, who can also be a rainmaker of the biggest $ scale. It was noted by those in the know that Repole is likely more the type that would want something, namely influence/seat at the table, in return, and that's not how it works, at least at St. John's.

Think egos on both sides should be willing to bend. Repole / Body Armor Arena or a voice to Cragg on decisions tied to basketball or marketing might be what this school needs to help weather the financial storm, enrollment, budget or scholarship woes from the athletic dept side.

That should be in Cragg's top 2-3 goals to solve how to bring the parties together.
 
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[quote="Moose" post=380438][quote="Las Vegan" post=380424][quote="mjmaherjr" post=380395][quote="Andrew" post=380387]It's one thing to play in a small on campus arena that gives you a nice home court advantage. Its another to play in an arena that looked old when I had my junior high school graduation there 35 years ago. The fact that MJ Maher won't step foot in the place tells you enough. It is uncomfortable, hot and has almost no emenities. I have been touring a lot of schools with my kids getting ready for college. Go see the Events Center in Binghamton or the brand new Schlar Center at Elon University for what a 5,000 seat arena should look like. I don't have a solution to the problem but I don't know how you can be in the Big East with that arena as your primary home court.[/quote] The Hofstra Arena blows away ours too[/quote]

There are campus venues in the little West Coast Conference that are nicer.[/quote]

We would have a nice on campus arena too if we didn't have to pay as much as we do in MSG rent. Damned if you do damned if you dont.[/quote]
Great point...we are caught between a rock and hard place...the chicken and the egg...

We have this huge 20 year gap where we have failed to grow our fan base and as a result, we have an avid, but older fan base (the type that will no show when the weather is bad or the train schedule doesn’t work) w/a sprinkling of current students and younger fans who don’t remain engaged because we haven’t won...when Nova comes to MSG, you see a sizable portion of local female alums in attendance because it’s something they did when they were at school. winning drives attendance and sustained winning breeds a sense of loyalty...

I think CMA has the ability to get us back on the path. But, in the meantime, we need to market the program to a younger local audience...II believe some on the board have mentioned a renewed focus on attracting kids from NYC Catholic high schools. Just spitballing here...but, why don’t we offer ultra low priced tix to local high schools for seats at MSG that no one will buy such as those behind the basket...if we are paying $100K per game for 5-6 games anyway and those seats will go unsold, why not try to put fannies in them and potentially cultivate new fans and perhaps some new students.
 
[quote="Moose" post=380446][quote="Manhattan1" post=380445]I heard Cragg wants the UConn game on campus but is getting push back from big East.


Next year the game vs UConn will be rough. Their fans will treat it like a celebration for their return to big East. This game should be on campus for just next year and then following year back at msg.

I agree with previous post nova Georgetown UConn and then choose hall or providence. One non conference gavit or big 12 and should be fine. Once start winning consistently schedule more[/quote]

Cragg deserve a lifetime contract if he manages to do that. Screw the BE. You play schools where you want to play them.[/quote]
Agree.

Years ago, Ed Manetta (former AD) made certain games, such as UCONN, only available as part of a package (e.g. 4 games).
 
I think to many of you are going along with this idea that we will be better without any downside consideration that we may not, example being Anderson may want to leave for another school also paying him more money. It would only take one successful season for that to happen.
Remember St Johns is who we are.
 
This article in the Post was interesting to me for a few reasons. It mentions that Cragg has yet to talk to the Garen about any of this. It makes me think he is "floating a trial balloon" to get a better deal. Why else talk to the press like this?

Next, this article quotes Earlington as saying his dreams were to play at the Garden, so the fact is it helps with recruiting.

The article also fails to emphasize that we beat a very good WVA team there earlier and the place was rocking for that game. We managed to beat a pretty good Marquette team there yesterday. The other losses at MSG could have easily been losses at the high school gym in Queens.

Now being from Jersey, I wish all the games were at the Garden because it is so much easier to get to than to the middle of Queens with no train line nearby. So maybe I am biased. I think all of the fans extolling the virtues of this new thinking live on Long Island and good for them and I suspect the school being near the Nassau County border means we have tons more fans in LI than NJ. I get it.

The Garden is iconic, and I repeat what jack fro said, those great games and great crowds were there well before the Big East even existed.

Beating syracuse, Uconn, G Town and Villanova when we are good with all their disappointed fans leaving the Garden to drown their sorrows at the Blarney Stone or the Molly Wee Pub is the greatest feeling in the world.

IMHO, no less than 7 games at the Garden forever.
 
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