East Hartford’s Rentschler Field needs $63 million upgrade, new study says. ‘like walking into a time capsule’

[pepband99]

I’m just spitballing here on the numbers, but I’m guessing that it’s probably less than $64 million to cailk the stadium. I’d be willing to caulk the stadium for, I don’t know, $30 million.

That’s why am I post above a link to the extra large tub of flexseal.

For what it’s worth, this was the article“ that I remembered:
View attachment 79063
“We’re waving the yellow flag on this”? How about you do that your job and maintain the stadium annually so it doesn’t fall behind and require a multi million dollar investment to catch up on the work you should’ve been doing every year.

The CDRA is the most inapt “quasipublic“ agency I’ve ever seen, and that is a pretty low standard. These guys consistently miss manage and lose money for every property they operate. Football stadiums, little soccer fields, the XL Center, all different types of agencies all losing money. What’s the common denominator? They’re all run by the CDRA.

They’re not inept at their one purpose - funneling money. Everything else is window dressing.

 

[CL82]

Yup, that on campus stadium has done wonders for UMass

Lol, that’s like saying having an on-campus stadium has certainly worked for Alabama.

 

[uconnric]

Lol, that’s like saying having an on-campus stadium has certainly worked for Alabama.

No, I'm just saying it does not make a difference.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Lol, that’s like saying having an on-campus stadium has certainly worked for Alabama.

Believe it or not but prior to when you were in high school (I believe you and I are basically the same age) Alabama played their big games off campus at Legion Field in Birmingham.

 

[billybud]

Believe it or not but prior to when you were in high school (I believe you and I are basically the same age) Alabama played their big games off campus at Legion Field in Birmingham.

Bryant Denny Stadium has been the Alabama on campus stadium since 1929. Expanded in 1950, 1961, 1966...added on to in 1988 and 1998 (to 83,000).

Yes..Bama did play some of their games at Legion in Birmingham but moved major conference games to Denny after 1998 and they stopped playing at Legion Field altogether 19 years ago.

Of course, Legion Field became known as the neutral site for the annual Alabama-Auburn game (the Iron Bowl).

 

[cohenzone]

Because Central Connecticut doesn’t deserve a renovated stadium?

Well if any of you out there are billionaires, now is the time to write a check for an on-campus stadium.

(The Rent is a great place to see a game without a bad seat in the house and the tailgating is tremendous. I love the place. I would just love it more if it were located on campus.)

There were several reasons originally against an on campus stadium, most of which still apply. The gift of the East Hartford site sealed the deal. One argument favoring East Hartford was that down staters were more likely to travel there than to Storrs. Probably true and for now at least definitely true due to how bad the teams have been. At the time The Rent was approved, UConn was already starting Big East membership and game day at Storrs was done pretty well. Would enough people travel to Storrs to a D1 stadium (a lot of formerly buildable land has now been used for other things including sports venues) if UConn were competitive? I visited VTech several times when my son was at grad school there and the big stadium was packed on game day. Blacksburg is way more isolated from population centers than Storrs.

 

[Hoophound]

Just my two cents...from my home stadium experience and from visiting many college stadiums...

An on campus stadium is bigger than football.

It can provide a unique shared campus experience for students that contributes to the culture and spirit of the university. It gives alumni and community members a place to return and experience the campus and the energy of the students. It becomes a place where memories are built across generations. It, for me and many of my ages ago classmates, is still a touchstone. Our children and their children continue the pilgrimage as our generation passes the torch.

I have seen the effects of Miami moving from the Orange Bowl to the Hard Rock stadium...a corporate rent a field with the barest connection to the campus and student body.

Just my $.02.

There is truth to this but CT is very small. It takes about as long to walk to The Swamp for many students at UF as it does UConn students to drive to The Rent. We all have our preferences. When I was in school I loved basketball the games in Hartford and we made the best of it. On campus was great too. Just different environments. We got something good to eat and went to some bars. It was a day/night out. It was great and we loved it.

The population center around the Rent is huge and UConn crazy. Every Dunkin Donuts (they are everywhere in CT), convenience store etc. has UConn on it somewhere. Hartford is a large metro area, many don’t seem to understand that due to its proximity to larger metro areas. There are millions of people within a very easy drive.

The issue with the Rent is losing. It isn’t really even a debate. It was sold out when we were above average. CT fans are horribly spoiled. Aside from our basketball teams, the Boston and NY pro teams clean up. Our fans don’t accept losing. They have a lot of options.

 

[Kolumbo]

Just my two cents...from my home stadium experience and from visiting many college stadiums...

An on campus stadium is bigger than football.

It can provide a unique shared campus experience for students that contributes to the culture and spirit of the university. It gives alumni and community members a place to return and experience the campus and the energy of the students. It becomes a place where memories are built across generations. It, for me and many of my ages ago classmates, is still a touchstone. Our children and their children continue the pilgrimage as our generation passes the torch.

I have seen the effects of Miami moving from the Orange Bowl to the Hard Rock stadium...a corporate rent a field with the barest connection to the campus and student body.

Just my $.02.

word.

"For several years, Memorial Stadium was also the home for the annual UConn Spring Weekend Concert. Performers such as Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, 10,000 Maniacs and Stevie Ray Vaughn played in our campus football stadium. Memorial Stadium also was the home for numerous high school state championship football games, the State of Connecticut Special Olympics, and several UConn graduation ceremonies."

A Farewell To Memorial Stadium - University of Connecticut Athletics

Photo Gallery May 16, 2012STORRS, Conn. -- Memorial Stadium on the University of Connecticut campus was the home of the UConn football team from its dedication in

uconnhuskies.com

 

[Kolumbo]

Bryant Denny Stadium has been the Alabama on campus stadium since 1929. Expanded in 1950, 1961, 1966...added on to in 1988 and 1998 (to 83,000).

Yes..Bama did play some of their games at Legion in Birmingham but moved major conference games to Denny after 1998 and they stopped playing at Legion Field altogether 19 years ago.

Of course, Legion Field became known as the neutral site for the annual Alabama-Auburn game (the Iron Bowl).

So Birmingham has Legion Field (1927, $439k, 72k seats) and Protective Stadium (2021, $175 million, 47k seats). Interesting. And UAB actually shut down its program in 2014 for 2 years.

Legion Field receiving $750K in upgrades and repairs for 2022 | Bham Now

The Old Gray Lady turns 95 in 2022.

bhamnow.com

 

[Nostical]

An on campus stadium is bigger than football. It can provide a unique shared campus experience for students that contributes to the culture and spirit of the university. It gives alumni and community members a place to return and experience the campus and the energy of the students. It becomes a place where memories are built across generations.

This hits all the right notes. Sure, winning impacts attendance no matter where a stadium may be, but what do you think the impact would be on alumni spirit and student enthusiasm if a Michigan stadium study caused them to close its "hard to maintain and expensive to renovate" Big House and announce they would now be playing at Ford Field. I'm sure they would still pack that stadium but the experience of "coming home to Ann Arbor" would be lost. And why if the idea was cost effective would the University still never permit it to happen? For all the reasons billybud expressed.
And BTW, the only way to get to Penn State is down a long and winding narrow road. 100,000 fans somehow manage to do it 6 times a year and the town survives the onslaught.

 

[CL82]

Believe it or not but prior to when you were in high school (I believe you and I are basically the same age) Alabama played their big games off campus at Legion Field in Birmingham.

So there you go. The recipe for a football Dynasty is an on-campus stadium.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

That’s a brilliant take.

Do you have any idea how lame an on campus stadium would be with anything less than $200M?

Of course you don’t. Because if you did you wouldn’t make such a stupid comment.

When someone can show that the state has the appetite to spend something like that on an on campus stadium and spend what it takes to maintain it and keep it up to date then let me know.

Good job, your post is by far the dumbest post of the year. You opinion is 180 degrees opposite from what the coaching staff, almost all on campus students, the players, and most importantly future recruits all want. Do you honestly think Calhoun would have had 4 NC’s if Gampel was built on Pratt & Whitney field?

 

[CL82]

There were several reasons originally against an on campus stadium, most of which still apply. The gift of the East Hartford site sealed the deal. One argument favoring East Hartford was that down staters were more likely to travel there than to Storrs. Probably true and for now at least definitely true due to how bad the teams have been. At the time The Rent was approved, UConn was already starting Big East membership and game day at Storrs was done pretty well. Would enough people travel to Storrs to a D1 stadium (a lot of formerly buildable land has now been used for other things including sports venues) if UConn were competitive? I visited VTech several times when my son was at grad school there and the big stadium was packed on game day. Blacksburg is way more isolated from population centers than Storrs.

Yeah, that whole “free land in East Hartford“ always struck me as being meaningless since there are three sites in Storrs that are suitable for a stadium and are already owned by the University. For what it’s worth they still exist. They are the Separatist Tract, Horsebarn Hill, and the Mansfield Training property. Of the three I prefer the Separatist Tract as the most logical. That way the parking for the football stadium could also be used for the baseball and hockey facility, and gamble for that matter. If you’ve ever been on the Penn State campus that’s the way they approach it and their athletic quarter is very nice.

I’m not sure what you mean when you say Gameday on campus was “pretty much done.“ There was a lot of energy as we headed into D1 status. Memorial stadium was packed.

As for the “downstaters argument“ I think that’s a little bit of revisionist history. No one was making that argument at the time, at least to my memory. Instead, the big argument was that Rentschler Field was going to be an economic engine for East Hartford. Now, 20 years later, there are a lot of people who say, I won’t travel 30 minutes further six times a year to go see a football game. I don’t know how accurate that actually is, but I find the entire debate to be largely pointless, except as it pertains to the extent of renovation to Rentschler field.

The useful life of a college football stadium is 30 years. Now, that’s not to say that they cannot be extended beyond that, the Yale bowl is a notable example. But those old sunken stone stadiums are better positioned to have their life extended indefinitely. Heck there are still amphitheater‘s in Sicily and Greece that are in use thousands of years later. so, if the useful life of the rent is 30 years, does it make sense to spend $64 million for improvements that will not extend its useful life? Sure, we can continue to Band-Aid it and patch it after that 30 years has passed, but then you get into an XL Center situation where you’re in a facility that nobody particularly likes and is grossly out of date. In my opinion, it makes sense to make the repairs necessary so that Rentschler field can be a successful venue through its useful life. In 10 years we can reevaluate the situation. Maybe, it’ll make the most sense to go to the XL Center route And keep on patching the thing as it grows increasingly more out of date. Maybe it’ll make more sense to build on campus. Maybe it will make the most sense to build a stadium next-door to the existing stadium. I don’t know. But this go round, I would perform those repairs necessary to keep the stadium functioning through its useful life. I would also tell the CRDA that if it continues to ignore routine maintenance, it will be disbanded. If there’s extra money, I’d rather see more seat backs put in, but that’s just me and I really don’t have a dog in this hunt since it’s not my tax dollars supporting it.

 

[ZooCougar]

Good job, your post is by far the dumbest post of the year. You opinion is 180 degrees opposite from what the coaching staff, almost all on campus students, the players, and most importantly future recruits all want. Do you honestly think Calhoun would have had 4 NC’s if Gampel was built on Pratt & Whitney field?

What kind of stadium do you think you will get for $63M?

Hey if you can get the state to pony up $300M+ for a stadium on campus then I’m on board.

But that’s not happening so welcome back to reality.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

I’m sure someone has more of an understanding of history but where did the New England Patriots possible relocation to Connecticut fall in with construction The Rent? Am I mistaken or was the site of the Rent supposed to be for the Patriots and when they backed out the State said we will move forward with the facility for UConn?

As for on-campus, I am all in favor, but this is Connecticut here. Nobody wants anything built in their town. Drives me crazy people will buy a house in a town with a university and will then kick and scream when expansion or development at said university is proposed. No different buying a house near an airport and getting upset that someone wants to bring in more air traffic.

 

[CL82]

What kind of stadium do you think you will get for $63M?

Mmmm, an inflatable one?

 

[Patman]

You can't get a 6K seater hockey rink for 63M these days. The understanding of things around here are astounding.

 

[giddyup]

We literally truck in chic Fil a from Glastonbury and run out of hot cocoa. They literally can’t make hot water and mix it with cocoa powder on site.

There are so many basic things that the place lacks that it’s embarrassing.

Maybe $63M is an upsell but it’s long overdue some fixing. It’s not like they are calling for a retractable roof.

I just can’t resist. So, it’s $63 Million to keep that chicken and hot cocoa flowing. Now, it all makes sense.

 

[CL82]

I’m sure someone has more of an understanding of history but where did the New England Patriots possible relocation to Connecticut fall in with construction The Rent? Am I mistaken or was the site of the Rent supposed to be for the Patriots and when they backed out the State said we will move forward with the facility for UConn?

As for on-campus, I am all in favor, but this is Connecticut here. Nobody wants anything built in their town. Drives me crazy people will buy a house in a town with a university and will then kick and scream when expansion or development at said university is proposed. No different buying a house near an airport and getting upset that someone wants to bring in more air traffic.

The patriots stadium was going to be built right in Hartford on the river. It would have been gorgeous. As much as I am a fan of an on-campus stadium, that would have been a really unique location. Putting the stadium in East Hartford was just the legislature being reactionary to losing the Hartford Stadium.

I’ve said this previously in this thread, but keep in mind, as long as all the land is currently owned by the University, there are no approvals needed for the stadium from Mansfield. People will definitely NIMBY this, but their opposition and righteous indignation would be entirely meaningless. I’m not sure if that is correct for the Mansfield Training Center site though but it definitely is for either Horsebarn Hill or the Separatist Tract.

 

[huskymedic]

I’ve said this previously in this thread, but keep in mind, as long as all the land is currently owned by the University, there are no approvals needed for the stadium from Mansfield. People will definitely NIMBY this, but their opposition and righteous indignation would be entirely meaningless. I’m not sure if that is correct for the Mansfield Training Center site though but it definitely is for either Horsebarn Hill or the Separatist Tract.

I agree until the EIE (Environmental Impact Evaluations) are done… then the legit/impactful/expensive noise will occur. My gut tells me that Horsebarn Hill and the Separatist Tracts remain primarily undeveloped for a reason (cost to remediate/develop).

 

[RSTuthill]

Well, this will be a very very unpopular post, but whether we know it or not, in the minds of many the football program is at an existential juncture. There are likely four more seasons to establish its viability. I suspect that there will be those who will want to wait on this size expenditure until that viability is established. There is a lot riding on the shoulders of HCJM.

 

[Hoophound]

Well, this will be a very very unpopular post, but whether we know it or not, in the minds of many the football program is at an existential juncture. There are likely four more seasons to establish its viability. I suspect that there will be those who will want to wait on this size expenditure until that viability is established. There is a lot riding on the shoulders of HCJM.

I don't know. Schools with far lower profile athletic departments are jumping into D1 football head first. Football will be needed to retain the school's national status and its basketball programs. The loss of big time football would result in us becoming UNH or URI.

 

[CL82]

I agree until the EIE (Environmental Impact Evaluations) are done… then the legit/impactful/expensive noise will occur. My gut tells me that Horsebarn Hill and the Separatist Tracts remain primarily undeveloped for a reason (cost to remediate/develop).

Wasn’t Pfizer going to build on horsebarn hill? The only objection that stuck was that the finials (and just the finials) on one of the barns were historic. That’s not a dealbreaker. I do think putting a stadium dramatically changes landscape.

I suspect that the Separatist Tract will require a wetlands offset. Again, that’s doable. Yes there will be a lot of noise, but absent someone discovering some obscure salamander, that wouldn’t stop the development.

 

[uconnric]

The patriots stadium was going to be built right in Hartford on the river. It would have been gorgeous. As much as I am a fan of an on-campus stadium, that would have been a really unique location. Putting the stadium in East Hartford was just the legislature being reactionary to losing the Hartford Stadium.

I’ve said this previously in this thread, but keep in mind, as long as all the land is currently owned by the University, there are no approvals needed for the stadium from Mansfield. People will definitely NIMBY this, but their opposition and righteous indignation would be entirely meaningless. I’m not sure if that is correct for the Mansfield Training Center site though but it definitely is for either Horsebarn Hill or the Separatist Tract.

You still haven't proven that a Storrs stadium, that realistically will never happen for reasons that have been explained ad nauseum, turns us into a winning program. Sure, a stadium on campus is a nice romantic notion, but it ain't gonna happen nor will it make any difference. And Storrs isn't Ann Arbor.

 

[ZooCougar]

You can't get a 6K seater hockey rink for 63M these days. The understanding of things around here are astounding.

And yet we have people in this thread actively stating we should build a stadium with said money.

The Boneyard is breathtaking in its stupidity.