Dave Benedict on future of XL Center

[Adios]

Do you really believe what you write?

This board is an alternate dimension.

 

[Chief00]

I think if you want to make the XL Center work the first step is to eliminate the CRDA non value added middlemen from the picture. That quasi public agency supplies jobs and sub contracts to former political hacks but little of anything resembling a professional service that an arms length entity could deliver. However, the card they hold is their connections with our political leaders - so UConn would effectively be held hostage to any state funding for the XL without CRDA.

 

[freescooter]

Chief
Somebody I’d going to have to own/run the place if it continues to operate. The City of Hartford owned it for its first 20 years or so. Now CRDA. No private company want it because arenas in midsize cities are very difficult to run in the black. CRDA is kind of like the NCAA. If you didn’t have it you would need something just like it.

 

[CL82]

Chief
Somebody I’d going to have to own/run the place if it continues to operate. The City of Hartford owned it for its first 20 years or so. Now CRDA. No private company want it because arenas in midsize cities are very difficult to run in the black. CRDA is kind of like the NCAA. If you didn’t have it you would need something just like it.

The difference is, of course, that the NCAA makes money. The XL is losing millions every year even though it is subsidized by the state directly and indirectly through the UConn leases. The CDRA isn’t good at what it does.

 

[freescooter]

The difference is, of course, that the NCAA makes money. The XL is losing millions every year even though it is subsidized by the state directly and indirectly through the UConn leases. The CDRA isn’t good at what it does.

Yeah, maybe but that is a different argument. What do you propose to run an arena that is outdated and in need of hundreds of millions in upgrades? Not really upgrades in many cases, more replacements for equipment and components that have reached poor exceeded their useful lives and modernization to make it attractive to new/modern users. And that is publicly owned btw? Add going on a year with zero activity thus effectively zero income. It is easy to bitch about CRDA but pretty difficult to think of how to replace it.

It is kind of like the NCAA if it’s main source of income was revenues from Division 3 cross country championships rather than The D1 basketball tourney.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Yeah, maybe but that is a different argument. What do you propose to run an arena that is outdated and in need of hundreds of millions in upgrades? Not really upgrades in many cases, more replacements for equipment and components that have reached poor exceeded their useful lives and modernization to make it attractive to new/modern users. And that is publicly owned btw? Add going on a year with zero activity thus effectively zero income. It is easy to bitch about CRDA but pretty difficult to think of how to replace it.

It is kind of like the NCAA if it’s main source of income was revenues from Division 3 cross country championships rather than The D1 basketball tourney.

I'd raze it and build something new. You hit the nail on the head that the "public", meaning CT residents and arena users, are going to have to spend money on it. I'd rather it be on something newer than on something delapidated.

 

[freescooter]

Just to clarify, first, UConn is not a small, urban catholic college like Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Xavier, etc. UConn is a State Flagship university and most of those peer schools are not in urban locations. Each has unique needs and that is why the 'old' Big East failed and likely why UConn is not the best fit for this 'new' Big East over the long-term, though it is a better short-term home than the American.

Second, yes, Kentucky and Louisville play at city-owned (though one can argue that each respective University owns its city, just look at the deal U Louisville created for itself with the Yum center the shaft that the city got in return) while Indiana has its own arena. But, its 27 miles from Babbridge Library to the XL Center while its 2.2 miles from the Young Library to Rupp Arena in Lexington (Kentucky) and 2.2 miles from Ekstrom Library to the Yum Center in Louisville. That's 'on-campus' for all intent.

As for the AD, I agree with him. There are folks in Hartford who believe one of UConn's key missiosn is to say Hartford, whether it be keeping the XL afloat or getting more folks on the street of downtown Hartford (UConn Hartford campus). That is not the University's mission and pulls focus and money away from what UConn should really be working on.

I agree with most of this and fundamentally it is what undergirds my dislike of the decision to rejoin the Big East. UConn might or might not be like an ACC. School, though I would argue that it is pretty Similar to NC State, Maryland ( I know they aren’t in the ACC anymore but where for many years), Pitt, Florida State. And in many ways we are closer in philosophy to UNC, Virginia and the rest. I dont know if John Silver has ever been to Storrs (joking John) but it isn’t Big City for sure. And that gets to the point. If you look for UConn’s peer institutions it is not the Big East. Those are largely urban, Catholic mid sized schools with modest graduate programs. Georgetown is 5he lone exception I think. UConn is a major flagship university which focuses on research and graduate studies. It has a medical school, a law school, several other professional graduate schools as well as significantly, major Doctoral programs. As a result the university has a significantly different worldview from the St Johns and Providences of the world.

This distinction is also why the Trinity is better than UConn argument is pretty silly. Trinity is a small liberal arts college that does its job very well. As do the rest of the NESCAC and other similar schools. UCONN and other major national universities have a different function. Education is part but so is research. And UConn offers a much wider range of educational opportunities that Trinity. How many engineers, or nurses or teachers graduate from Trinity each year? Undergraduate education is one function of a major national university, but arguably not even the most important. It is what most people think of but research and professional education are really the prime targets.

 

[CL82]

What do you propose to run an arena that is outdated and in need of hundreds of millions in upgrades?

 

[gampelcrazies]

 

[Minicoop69]

WOW!!!

 

[FatHank]

The Whalers leaving Harford was the beginning of the end for the Civic Center/XL Center. It was a sad and short-sited decision by people that did not understand what professional Hockey does for a city.

Brass Bonanza Silenced: The Demise of the Hartford Whalers

Why did the Hartford Whalers leave the NHL, and why are they never coming back? THW looks back at the franchise's untimely demise.

thehockeywriters.com

I had many a good memory as a kid at Whalers games. In fact, I should go look for whalers tee right now.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Why don't they go to Gampel then? I went to a game there last year when the team was playing great and the place was half empty. So was the student section.

Was it vsTemple on a Wednesday at 9 pm? That may be why

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I do not mind the extra drive time out to Gampel for one second. I prefer Gampel 99% of the time, but with that said, I don't hate the XL. One solution that kind of meets in the middle is to just have less games in Hartford. Play all the games during winter break at the XL Center like you already do, and maybe two conference games per year. That would be about 6-7 games in Hartford instead of the 10 or 11 like it is now.

I like this idea. It also helps make XL games more of an “event” so to speak which UConn fans love to show out for (MSG, Fenway, Yankee Stadium,etc)

 

[Waquoit]

Was it vsTemple on a Wednesday at 9 pm? That may be why

Or versus USF on a Sunday afternoon with no FB.

 

[husky8273]

13 years later, the redevelopment plan still being debated

 

[CL82]

13 years later, the redevelopment plan still being debated

On the other hand, if this were the XL the state would’ve save $26 million, minimally.

 

[gampelcrazies]

Or versus USF on a Sunday afternoon with no FB.

Students only show up for winners. Don’t matter the venue. Also the USF game was not half full. The attendance was over 9k.

 

[Waquoit]

Students only show up for winners. Don’t matter the venue. Also the USF game was not half full. The attendance was over 9k.

The team was winning, Skeezix. I was there and I'm talking fannies in seats. There were virtually no students in the main upper student section. I know because that's where I moved. And no way the lower bowl was half filled. In both cases all those seats are reported as attendance. The true fans at Gampel sit in the upper bench seats, they always represent. The upper chairbacks opposite the good fans are as bad as their lower bowl brethren, attendance-wise. This same game at the same time during that winning phase has 13K in their seats at the XL, minimum.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Or versus USF on a Sunday afternoon with no FB.

Omg half full at that game ?? You’re insane

 

[John]

I like this idea. It also helps make XL games more of an “event” so to speak which UConn fans love to show out for (MSG, Fenway, Yankee Stadium,etc)

I think this is the best answer, but would argue it should be only 3-5 games at XL.

 

[DFW HOYA]

There are two related issues here: the viability of XL Center and the lifespan of Gampel Pavilion. At 30 years and counting, this is the time where arenas either go through a major renovation of sorts (e.g., Villanova) or are planned for obsolescence and replacement (e.g., Baylor's Farrell Center, a 10,000 seat arena with much the same architecture as Gampel). "Major" renovations could include new electrical, plumbing, infrastructure, etc. and not just the roof.

The athletic department also knows the state isn't funding two projects. Back in the day, the University of Alabama played most of its big football games at Legion Field in Birmingham, and not on campus at Bryant-Denny Stadium. After numerous expansions, Alabama came to the conclusion that it made more sense to play on campus than in a decaying Birmingham, and while there was much loyalty around the old stadium, the fan base learned to travel to Tuscaloosa going forward.

So...does the state place a $800 million bet on a new XL/Civic Center without an NBA/NHL anchor tenant, or a $200 million refurb of Gampel to set it up for the next generation?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

There are two related issues here: the viability of XL Center and the lifespan of Gampel Pavilion. At 30 years and counting, this is the time where arenas either go through a major renovation of sorts (e.g., Villanova) or are planned for obsolescence and replacement (e.g., Baylor's Farrell Center, a 10,000 seat arena with much the same architecture as Gampel). "Major" renovations could include new electrical, plumbing, infrastructure, etc. and not just the roof.

The athletic department also knows the state isn't funding two projects. Back in the day, the University of Alabama played most of its big football games at Legion Field in Birmingham, and not on campus at Bryant-Denny Stadium. After numerous expansions, Alabama came to the conclusion that it made more sense to play on campus than in a decaying Birmingham, and while there was much loyalty around the old stadium, the fan base learned to travel to Tuscaloosa going forward.

So...does the state place a $800 million bet on a new XL/Civic Center without an NBA/NHL anchor tenant, or a $200 million refurb of Gampel to set it up for the next generation?

But where will Monster Jam and American Idol on Ice go without the XL?

 

[John]

There are two related issues here: the viability of XL Center and the lifespan of Gampel Pavilion. At 30 years and counting, this is the time where arenas either go through a major renovation of sorts (e.g., Villanova) or are planned for obsolescence and replacement (e.g., Baylor's Farrell Center, a 10,000 seat arena with much the same architecture as Gampel). "Major" renovations could include new electrical, plumbing, infrastructure, etc. and not just the roof.

The athletic department also knows the state isn't funding two projects. Back in the day, the University of Alabama played most of its big football games at Legion Field in Birmingham, and not on campus at Bryant-Denny Stadium. After numerous expansions, Alabama came to the conclusion that it made more sense to play on campus than in a decaying Birmingham, and while there was much loyalty around the old stadium, the fan base learned to travel to Tuscaloosa going forward.

So...does the state place a $800 million bet on a new XL/Civic Center without an NBA/NHL anchor tenant, or a $200 million refurb of Gampel to set it up for the next generation?

out of curiosity, how many games does Georgetown play at the Capital One Arena?

 

[Waquoit]

Omg half full at that game ?? You’re insane

Name calling seems to all you have.

 

[Waquoit]

I think this is the best answer, but would argue it should be only 3-5 games at XL.

Weekday games should be at XL and weekends in Gampel. Done.