Manuel comment on expanding the Rent

[junglehusky]

Here is a Paul Doyle piece that sums up the situation for UConn post-Louisville. Nothing new for BYers who are following the story (and theories). At the end is a quote from Warde on expanding the Rent:

"[Expansion is] going to depend on the consistency of our fan base and what the needs are," said UConn athletic director Warde Manuel. "I would love to, because of interest and support, to be able to add 10,000 more seats. As our program improves and gets better and we strengthen the schedule like we're doing ... then we'll look to add additional seats."

Nothing set in stone, but it supports the point that both the football product and the fan support need to step it up. We can have a chicken vs. egg argument but hopefully both to trend up... what's not explicit from that short quote is what kind of plan WM has and how he'll execute it, how long it could take. At the very least we can say it's on the radar rather than being a vague idea for after the bball facility is done (which in Hathaway's time was also a vague idea as far as fundraising and timeline).

... or am I reaching too far?

 

[Skiblets]

Susan has been selling a vision these past few days - Research, Tech Lab etc.

This quote from Warde still feels like monitoring. Warde needs to be selling his vision. "We will have a championship football program and expanded stadium by 2015". There. Done. Now put the strategy and tactics in place to make that happen Warde. I took care of the vision thing for you since you will not articulate one.

 

[Rumrunner]

long term, start planning now for an oncampus stadium that will allow uconn to truly mimc a college game day experience. for those who b itch and moan about having to drive to storrs 6 times a year, cry me a river. as far as infrastructure with access, last time i checked civil engineers and excavators still exist in the state.

as far as short term, warde manuel has yet to sign an ooc opponent, away or home. we have no 2014 ooc opponents, and only 1 in 2015. if the product is dull and painful yo watch, hard to excite the fanbase.

why didnt doyle mention over last two yeads louisville has used a dirty cheating recruiter in clint hurtt to get florida kids. it was a very lazy piece, but par for the course from the courant.p

 

[Dann]

by 10k? thats not enough. u either go for it and go 55 to 60k or u dont expand. do it once not twice. go B1G or die trying

 

[UConnDan97]

by 10k? thats not enough. u either go for it and go 55 to 60k or u dont expand. do it once not twice. go B1G or die trying

HFD, 50k will still put us on par with Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers, Maryland, and Indiana. I know what you're saying about getting to 55 or 60k in the first move, but I'd rather have a relatively packed 50k than a 60k stadium with 12 to 14k of empty seats. Here are the B1G numbers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ten_Conference

 

[gars44]

why didnt doyle mention over last two yeads louisville has used a dirty cheating recruiter in clint hurtt to get florida kids. it was a very lazy piece, but par for the course from the courant.p

Because in the final analysis, nobody cares. Only if you get caught. I'm not being facetious. This is the way it is. You want a list of cheaters? Miami, USC, OSU, UNC, FSU, and many would say in BB, Uconn? The list goes on. Read my lips: no one cares. That's why it's not an issue. In the SEC they don't even count that anymore. No one gives a rat's . Truth.

 

[uconNYC]

As our program improves and gets better and we strengthen the schedule like we're doing

Tell us more WM, tell us more.

 

[noeynox]

long term, start planning now for an oncampus stadium that will allow uconn to truly mimc a college game day experience. for those who b itch and moan about having to drive to storrs 6 times a year, cry me a river. as far as infrastructure with access, last time i checked civil engineers and excavators still exist in the state.

as far as short term, warde manuel has yet to sign an ooc opponent, away or home. we have no 2014 ooc opponents, and only 1 in 2015. if the product is dull and painful yo watch, hard to excite the fanbase.

why didnt doyle mention over last two yeads louisville has used a dirty cheating recruiter in clint hurtt to get florida kids. it was a very lazy piece, but par for the course from the courant.p

What would that have to do with the article? I would have liked to see questions along the lines, "winning will put people in the seats, as will exciting offensive football, to that end what are the reasonable expectations for a coach going into his third year?"

As far as not having a chance, I call BS. We should have been trumpeting that we are the only the school to win a national title in mens hoops, a final four in woman's hoops and a bcs bowl in the same academic year. We should have been screaming this from the mountain tops in the media to sell our overall excellence as an athletic department. Instead the only thing we got was "were monitoring" the "situation" the "landscape" the "buffet line".

The whole our "silence is telling" made me nervous. Would it have mattered, probably not, but who wouldn't feel better if we know that our people are willing to get down and dirty in the media with the best of em. We saw Louisville try to WVU a year earlier, and they went to work again this year and it worked.

 

[huskymedic]

The way I read it, it's basically saying "you are hanging the blame on the wrong people". This wasn't a SH/WM/PP failure. It was good old JH and BOT. UConn is playing catch up. Herbst here 18 months and WM here 9 months wasn't going to undo what was already done that quickly. They (BOT/SH/WM) are now on the clock to be sure it doesn't happen again in a reasonable opportiunity).

This was all FSU pulling a power play on the Carolina cartel and we ended up collateral damage.

 

[uconNYC]

I really don't see stadium size being the deciding factor for us to get a B1G invite. If they want us to increase capacity it will be for traveling fans. If we can offer the same amount of seats to Michigan and Ohio State alumni that a Purdue or Iowa does - what's it to them if the Rent is 40,000 or 60,000?

In a previous post I wrote that we could probably easily add temporary bleachers, SRO tickets and move the band to field level to accommodate another 5,000 or so fans. That would mean a total of 8,500 (5000+3500) seats for the visiting team. I am sure that is more than Purdue, Iowa and Minnesota allocate.

Furthermore, if we look at macro trends, I really think attendance at sporting events in the future is going to decline because of rapid technology innovation. Watching games at home with HD TV and ESPN Goal Line with a tablet in hand will be as enjoyable as going to the stadium. That is why despite its massive popularity most of the new NFL stadiums tend to be around 65,000 instead of 80-90,000.

 

[UConnRock]

Somebody has to tell Warde that he is not speaking to the comptroller or some other adminsitrative person when doing these interviews. A constant with him is that he always seems to speak in a conservative tone that would be used in a presentation to the trustees. He has to learn to put on a salesmans hat in some situations. If I had to answer that question here is what I would say.

"We are ready to expand the Rent to 50-55K. It was part of the original design plans and can be done whenever it needs to be done. UConn is "the game" in Connecticut and we plan on making the Rent a tough place to play and a tough ticket to get".

Sell something and stop monitoring. We don't need a politician we need someone with a goal and the focus to achieve it.

 

[uconNYC]

Sell something and stop monitoring. We don't need a politician we need someone with a goal and the focus to achieve it.

His biggest selling fail has been to the fan base.

 

[Adios]

I really don't see stadium size being the deciding factor for us to get a B1G invite. If they want us to increase capacity it will be for traveling fans. If we can offer the same amount of seats to Michigan and Ohio State alumni that a Purdue or Iowa does - what's it to them if the Rent is 40,000 or 60,000?

In a previous post I wrote that we could probably easily add temporary bleachers, SRO tickets and move the band to field level to accommodate another 5,000 or so fans. That would mean a total of 8,500 (5000+3500) seats for the visiting team. I am sure that is more than Purdue, Iowa and Minnesota allocate.

Furthermore, if we look at macro trends, I really think attendance at sporting events in the future is going to decline because of rapid technology innovation. Watching games at home with HD TV and ESPN Goal Line with a tablet in hand will be as enjoyable as going to the stadium. That is why despite its massive popularity most of the new NFL stadiums tend to be around 65,000 instead of 80-90,000.

There's nothing like watching a game in person. If we DO go to the B1G, we'll pack the stadium.

 

[husky210]

Yea on campus stadium in 40+ years wooohooo. Not happening anytime soon.

 

[SubbaBub]

By Doyle's account, BC was chosen for the same reasons. PFFFT, the ACC made another mistake. The Fox analyst's quote applies to Louisville just as much as it applies to us.

If we ever get to 10-0, there will be 43,000 in the RENT and another 10,000 in the parking lot. The article is a case study in sour grapes rationalization. Perhaps the ACC chose Louisville, because at least one person in the media down there can write an insightful article that generates interest in the program, instead of alienating the core fanbase.

 

[Devland]

by 10k? thats not enough. u either go for it and go 55 to 60k or u dont expand. do it once not twice. go B1G or die trying

Since the expansion was figured in at the time of the original design it is possible the expansion plans are done in more than one step. I.E. One step would expand the stadium by 10k, then expanding another part of the stadium would add another 5K..... If this is the case I would think expansion would be one step at a time.

 

[Doggie Style]

The way I read it, it's basically saying "you are hanging the blame on the wrong people". This wasn't a SH/WM/PP failure. It was good old JH and BOT. UConn is playing catch up. Herbst here 18 months and WM here 9 months wasn't going to undo what was already done that quickly. They (BOT/SH/WM) are now on the clock to be sure it doesn't happen again in a reasonable opportiunity).

This was all FSU pulling a power play on the Carolina cartel and we ended up collateral
damage.

Yes!

 

[rich1122]

By Doyle's account, BC was chosen for the same reasons. PFFFT, the ACC made another mistake. The Fox analyst's quote applies to Louisville just as much as it applies to us.

If we ever get to 10-0, there will be 43,000 in the RENT and another 10,000 in the parking lot. The article is a case study in sour grapes rationalization. Perhaps the ACC chose Louisville, because at least one person in the media down there can write an insightful article that generates interest in the program, instead of alienating the core fanbase.

I am not sure that we could pack it in again even with a good record. People go to the Giants, Jets, Pats and MLB games. Even Yale has a weekly following. While the record and coach make a difference, we seem to be too high brow to bring in the average fan.

Hopefully we go back and take another good look at having something on campus. I think that we were almost there (North Campus) and then Pratt offered the Rent. property.

Otherwise I don't see it flying.

 

[Doggie Style]

I really don't see stadium size being the deciding factor for us to get a B1G invite. If they want us to increase capacity it will be for traveling fans. If we can offer the same amount of seats to Michigan and Ohio State alumni that a Purdue or Iowa does - what's it to them if the Rent is 40,000 or 60,000?

In a previous post I wrote that we could probably easily add temporary bleachers, SRO tickets and move the band to field level to accommodate another 5,000 or so fans. That would mean
a total of 8,500 (5000+3500) seats for the visiting team. I am sure that is more than Purdue,
Iowa and Minnesota allocate.



Furthermore, if we look at macro trends, I really think attendance at sporting events in the future is going to decline because of rapid technology innovation. Watching games at home with HD TV and ESPN Goal Line with a tablet in hand will be as enjoyable as going to the stadium. That is why despite its massive popularity most of the new NFL stadiums tend to be around 65,000 instead of 80-90,000.

Size matters!!!

 

[Doggie Style]

Somebody has to tell Warde that he is not speaking to the comptroller or some other adminsitrative person when doing these interviews. A constant with him is that he always seems to speak in a conservative tone that would be used in a presentation to the trustees. He has to learn to put on a salesmans hat in some situations. If I had to answer that question here is what I would say.

"We are ready to expand the Rent to 50-55K. It was part of the original design plans and can
be done whenever it needs to be done. UConn is "the game" in Connecticut and we plan on
making the Rent a tough place to play and a tough ticket to get".

Sell something and stop monitoring. We don't need a politician we need someone with a goal and the focus to achieve it.

Warde is carefully choosing his words bcuz that's what they have to do in a real program like Michigan, due to the 24/7-365 media coverage a big time program has. Rule of thumb... Don't let a quote come back and bite u in the . The problem is, that while that rule works great in the B1G/Michigan where media outlets are beyond fanatic regarding results, WE on the other hand have Dez!!!!! Tell us something Warde, anything will do. You're on the clock!

 

[WingU]

Hopefully we go back and take another good look at having something on campus. I think that we were almost there (North Campus) and then Pratt offered the Rent. property.

Otherwise I don't see it flying.

I don't remember where I heard this from but I believe plans were made for the stadium to be built on Horsebarn hill then the traffic issue that has been talked about caused them to build it in East Hartford. If the traffic issue could be solved having a stadium on Horsebarn hill overlooking campus would be amazing.

 

[Doggie Style]

I don't remember where I heard this from but I believe plans were made for the stadium to be built on Horsebarn hill then the traffic issue that has been talked about caused them to build it in East Hartford. If the traffic issue could be solved having a stadium on Horsebarn hill overlooking campus would be amazing.

I remember this as well!

 

[Dooley]

I don't remember where I heard this from but I believe plans were made for the stadium to be built on Horsebarn hill then the traffic issue that has been talked about caused them to build it in East Hartford. If the traffic issue could be solved having a stadium on Horsebarn hill overlooking campus would be amazing.

If our state can waste hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a stupid bus route for pimps and drug dealers, I'm pretty confident that they can figure out how to connect Storrs with the rest of the state for 6 or 7 weekend games a year.

 

[Rumrunner]

so long as the stadium is away from the campus, uconn will not have a college game day experience, like those in the big ten, sec, etc. look at illinois. why don't they play in chicago. millions of people, hundreds of thousands alumni closer to chicago than urb-champ.

look at penn state. middle of nowhere. why not play in pitt or philly?

look at wisconsin, why play in madison, not milwaukee?

to sink more money into the rent, which isnt even owned by uconn is stupid. what's uconn next 10 yr capital athletic facility goal? bb facility, soccer/baseball will be done. why not start a capital campaign for an on campus stadium.

color. state is doing it, and laid out in excrutiating detail why a stadium needs to be on campus.

uconn has 19k undergrads at storrs. 10k student section is a given. nothing like 20% of your stadium filled without having to do an ounce of marketing.

 

[Dooley]

I'd be cool with transforming the Rent into a new XL Center and building a new on-campus 60,000 seat football stadium. Go old school and make it a retro bowl style stadium like the Big House to keep costs down (I imagine it would be cheaper to construct a bowl stadium but I have no idea). We can always add decks and additional seating later when there's money in the budget and we are locked into the B1G Conference!