You're Doing It Wrong...

The St. John's basketball program ranks with programs like North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky and Duke in terms of all-time wins*. But the Red Storm has fallen on hard times of late, bottoming out badly during the tail end of the Mike Jarvis regime with off-court controversies, player transfers, and NCAA sanctions.

And lots and lots of losses.

The university is taking steps to right the ship and emulate some of the other programs on that list.

Unfortunately, one of those key steps is "soak the fan base for every cent you can extract."

St. John's recently unveiled a new method for assigning seat locations for season ticket-holders -- the best seats will go to those who have donated the most cash to the university.

This is a common practice at universities where basketball tickets are as hard-to-get as opening night seats for Young Frankenstein the Musical. But the Johnnies play to mostly-empty houses, except when teams like Connecticut or Duke are in town.

Perhaps the athletic department should consult with one of the professors teaching Economics 101. See, you're only supposed to raise prices when demand is high... not when your squad has been picked to finish 14th out of 16 teams in the preseason coaches' poll.

* Remarkably -- or perhaps not so remarkably -- the NCAA hasn't updated that list since 2004.

Fair & Balanced Reporting
One note on the New York Post article linked above... the author quotes Ron Naclerio, a "season ticket holder since 1975" as saying:

They are saying, 'Thanks for 30 years of loyalty - see you later,' and the last few years have been hard to watch. "I understand that it is a business, and you have to generate money, but it doesn't seem right that it has to be on the backs of the loyal fans."

The article doesn't identify Naclerio as the coach of Cardozo High School -- or as someone who has reportedly campaigned for an assistant coach position with the Johnnies on more than one occasion.

Another Open Letter to the St. John's Athletic Department

Maryland 92, St. John's 60.

Do you fear the turtle? I fear the turtle.

I take it all back. I liked it better when Red Storm games weren't televised.

An Open Letter to the St. John's Athletic Department

Congratulations on assembling what sounds like an exciting young team. As a long-time fan of the program, I was glad to read about Avery Patterson breaking the team record for three-pointers in the season opener, and about Darryl Hill's progress in the Navy game.

Please note that I am reading about these exciting games. Like most of the rest of the world, I haven't been able to see or hear the Red Storm play this year.

It continues to be a disappointment that, in a city with approximately nineteen all-sports cable outlets, only four of fourteen Red Storm games before the new year will be televised. While Norm Roberts' squad was playing its most anticipated season opener in years, the SNY Network showed Connecticut vs. Quinnipiac. For game two against Navy, SNY subscribers were treated to a Big 10 football game.

I know that this subject has been brought to your attention in the past. And I'm aware that the rights to TV broadcasts are controlled by the Big East Conference. And I'm certainly aware that, after the catastrophic years of the Mike Jarvis regime, St. John's basketball doesn't have the same cache to TV networks as it did during the days of Chris Mullin or Walter Berry or Mark Jackson or Ron Artest.

The fact remains -- Connecticut somehow manages to get its season opener on the air -- and on a major cable network in New York City.

To make matters worse, local radio coverage is provided by 1050 ESPN Radio. 1050 also holds the broadcast rights to the Knicks and Rangers -- if either team has a conflict with a St. John's game, the Red Storm is shunted to 1560 Radio Disney... which has a signal so weak, it cannot be heard in Westchester or on Long Island, and which does not offer internet radio of basketball games. As a result, the most die-hard fans of St. John's basketball -- the guys who spend their lives discussing recruits and game plans and coaching decisions on Redmen.com -- spend game nights trying to connect to streaming radio broadcasts from Jacksonville or Annapolis.

You are alienating your die-hard fans. Worse, casual fans don't even know you exist.

It seems a shame to hide Norm Roberts' light under a bushel. So here's a suggestion from a long-time fan: your arrangement with the Big East must be amended. You need to have the option to sell games that aren't picked up as part of the league TV contract to SNY or some other local network. These games need to be on the air. High school players and their coaches and parents need to see St. John's -- and not the Connecticut Huskies or Boston College Eagles -- on television in New York.

And New York's basketball fans need to see something other than the Knicks.

If the Big East cannot adjust so that all its member schools get appropriate media coverage; perhaps its member schools should take a second look at participation in the Big East.