I'd like to see all the games at Gampel but if they continue to play in Hartford, they need to fix the Hartford situation. What's it worth to keep the Wolfpack in town? Either renovate XL to accommodate hockey and hoops or build a nice basketball arena. Even Wintrust Arena which only seats 10k cost $173 mill. So renovating XL seems to make the most sense keeping hockey in play, at any level.
Agree, no pernt whatsoever.
True. I've never been there personally. But if renovating the XL doesn't turn it into an incredible venue itself, then there's no pernt in doing it at all. That's the purpose of the renovation.
How does a UCONN event at the XL get us zero concessions money ?Private investor interested in contributing to XL Center renovations.
Long-elusive, big-ticket renovation of Hartford’s XL Center could get major boost from private investor
A break in a two-year logjam over using $65 million in state funds to finance a major renovation of downtown Hartford’s XL Center could come this spring, as the arena’s new management c…www.courant.com
More donations and more ticket sales. Nova game proved all that nonsense about a dead arena to be pure poppycock.
If this is true, you were never that loyal to the school anyway. Maybe you should just move on regardless?
Blah blah blah...
Sad but true, now if baseball cared about fan attendance which they don’t, they would have the Rays move to Hartford. Dunkin Donuts is an upgrade over the Trop as it is and you would draw way more fans, and put yourself in the middle of the Yanks and Sox rivalry, the Jays being a road trip away. Imagine how packed downtown Hartford would be if the Yanks or Sox were in town.
Not sure what an "incredible venue" even means. If we can get it modernized and more fan-friendly it would certainly be worth it.
You can't possibly know that a deal between UConn and the XL Center does or doesn't make sense without knowing how much of the state funding of UConn wouldn't be coming if the deal wasn't made. For the Athletic Department to refuse to absorb a few million dollar loss, if that is the case, and cost the university tens of millions in aid is what doesn't make sense.
So BL, given your background, do you think that today, not 35 years ago, if the University of Connecticut said, we are more than happy to play games in Hartford, however, the current terms are so significantly above market rate that we rarely if any make any money from holding games there that the legislature would say OK we’re cutting your aid then? Because that wouldn’t happen in New Jersey, but if it were to happen, the people involved would find themselves in an untenable position in fairly short order.
Yeah, the devil is in the details, right? It seems to me that the XL Center has been kept on life support with a series of slapdash, so not an expensive, short term remedies. So, yeah, if we could get a first class facility for a decent price I’d be all in, but if we can’t if all we can get is another coat of paint and some slightly less stinky fryer grease, it doesn’t seem worth the investment to me.
Hartford has no chance for the Rays. If anything, the Rays may wind up in Orlando.
I love, and will forever love, Tropicana Field
Ya I know its not feasible for Hartford but if it were that would be great for baseball and would draw a lot of new fans.
I would love the Rays move to Montreal. Great summer weekend road trip to Rue Crescent and a stop at Sir Winston Churchill, the Peel Street Pub on Rue Peel, and maybe a nice dinner at Gibbie’s in Old Montreal.
If you're asking do I think that the total amount of state aid that UConn gets is tied in to UConn being pliable as to the State's efforts to aid downtown Hartford, yes I do. Is it nearly as direct as "you sign this or we will cut $X from your budget?" No. But I do think OPM lets the University know that it views UConn's support of the XL Center as a "favor" that is in both side's interests.
