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St. John's Offers Potential Prize to Anyone Who Attended Game in 'Coming to America'

The Red Storm will salute their role in the beloved 1988 comedy.

Patrick Andres

The floor of Carnesecca Arena before St. John's' 81–78 loss to Creighton on Feb. 23, 2022.
The floor of Carnesecca Arena before St. John's' 81–78 loss to Creighton on Feb. 23, 2022. / Mitchell Layton/Getty Images
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Did you attend St. John's men's basketball's 66–59 win over Marist on Dec. 28, 1987 at Madison Square Garden? If so, you may be entitled to compensation.

Don't worry, nothing nefarious happened there. The nondescript December game was merely a filming location for one of the most beloved comedy films of the 1980s.

On Thursday, the Red Storm announced that they will host Coming to America Night on Dec. 28 against Delaware. As part of the promotion, St. John's—in conjunction with memorabilia company Cllct—will offer "a $1,000 reward for the top three highest quality original tickets from the 1987 game."

In the movie, Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) attends the Red Storm's game against the Red Foxes with his love interest Lisa (Shari Headley), her sister Patrice (Allison Dean), and Lisa's boyfriend Darryl (Eriq La Salle).

According to College Basketball Reference, 12,963 people attended the game. To have done so, you would have to be at least 37 years old, rather than 137 years old.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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