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St. John’s in advanced talks to play Duke at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Alabama at Madison Square Garden in 2024-25

The Red Storm are on the brink of making a monumental spectacle official

By Thomas Cavanagh
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A general view as Novak Djokovic of Serbia as he plays a shot at the net during his match against Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the Men’s Singles Final on a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium with the roof closed during the US Open Tennis Championship 2023 at the USTA National Tennis Centre on September 10th, 2023 in Flushing, Queens, New York City. Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images

Yes, you read that headline correctly. St. John’s is currently in advanced talks to play against the Duke Blue Devils inside the famed Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the 2024-25 season, according to Rick Pitino in a report by Jon Rothstein. The Red Storm are also in talks with Alabama to play at Madison Square Garden as part of a two-year home-and-home series starting next season, with St. John’s playing a road game in Birmingham, Alabama in the 2025-26 season.

“We’ll probably have a non-conference schedule that’s the best in St. John’s history,” Pitino told Rothstein, “It takes a year to build a schedule like that.”

The two potential contests would be a part of a heavyweight non-conference schedule St. John’s is putting together. They are already slated to play in a loaded Baha Mar Hoops Classic four-team tournament in the Bamahas that will also feature Tennessee, Baylor, and a recent national champion to-be-announced. A non-conference home game against Texas Tech was also pushed back from this season and it is unclear when that game will be played.

This contest would be the second organized basketball game to be played inside the world-famous tennis venue and the first under its 2016-constructed retractable roof. In 2008, the Indiana Fever defeated the New York Liberty in a WNBA charity exhibition contest for breast cancer research.

Shameka Christon #20 of the New York Liberty shoots against Ebony Hoffman #32 of the Indiana Fever at the 2008 Liberty Outdoor Classic on July 19, 2008 at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. 
The first basketball game held inside Arthur Ashe Stadium was an exhibition contest between the WNBA’s New York Liberty and Indiana Fever
Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

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