It's tough to argue with UConn basketball Coach Geno Auriemma's observations Wednesday that the city's XL Center needs work — a lot of work — to make it a worthy off-campus home court of the country's two top college basketball programs.
Michael W. Freimuth, chief executive of the Capital Region Development Authority, doesn't even try.
"He's absolutely right, this building needs to get with it," Freimuth said. "We need this building to be a 2015 smart structure. That is unquestionably correct."
Freimuth said $35 million in state-funded upgrades are now underway and expected to be largely completed by October. And, on Friday, the CRDA, which oversees operations at XL, will begin seeking a consultant to determine if the existing facility on Trumbull Street can be transformed in the future into a next-generation venue or whether the best option would be to build a new arena.
On Wednesday, Auriemma hosted an afternoon show on WTIC-AM radio and discussed a variety of topics, including conditions at the XL.
"All I know is this: When you have the two best [college] basketball programs in America [playing in your facility] and someone were to go to the XL Center and walk around downstairs, down below where we play, and didn't know anything about who plays in that building and someone said, 'Hey, you know the two best basketball teams in America call this place home, you would be astonished at the [amenities] that we don't have that [UConn's basketball programs] need," Auriemma told listeners, in response to a question.
Freimuth said the locker rooms are "embarrassing. I don't defend them. They need to be ripped down to the bones, and that's what we're doing."
Four new locker rooms are being constructed for the AHL's Wolf Pack, the UConn hockey team, the UConn men's and women's basketball teams and visiting teams, Freimuth said.
http://www.courant.com/business/rea...pital-region-developm-20140612,0,229190.story
Michael W. Freimuth, chief executive of the Capital Region Development Authority, doesn't even try.
"He's absolutely right, this building needs to get with it," Freimuth said. "We need this building to be a 2015 smart structure. That is unquestionably correct."
Freimuth said $35 million in state-funded upgrades are now underway and expected to be largely completed by October. And, on Friday, the CRDA, which oversees operations at XL, will begin seeking a consultant to determine if the existing facility on Trumbull Street can be transformed in the future into a next-generation venue or whether the best option would be to build a new arena.
On Wednesday, Auriemma hosted an afternoon show on WTIC-AM radio and discussed a variety of topics, including conditions at the XL.
"All I know is this: When you have the two best [college] basketball programs in America [playing in your facility] and someone were to go to the XL Center and walk around downstairs, down below where we play, and didn't know anything about who plays in that building and someone said, 'Hey, you know the two best basketball teams in America call this place home, you would be astonished at the [amenities] that we don't have that [UConn's basketball programs] need," Auriemma told listeners, in response to a question.
Freimuth said the locker rooms are "embarrassing. I don't defend them. They need to be ripped down to the bones, and that's what we're doing."
Four new locker rooms are being constructed for the AHL's Wolf Pack, the UConn hockey team, the UConn men's and women's basketball teams and visiting teams, Freimuth said.
http://www.courant.com/business/rea...pital-region-developm-20140612,0,229190.story
