Demolish the XL center

[Ha Who]

A home court should be exactly that, a home court. The crowd was so quiet last night that I forgot it was a home game until I saw the Husky face at midcourt. I remember the Civic Center really rocking in 1990. Now it seems like an outdated, shabby facility with bad sight lines. I live 10 minutes from the XL Center and 35 minutes from Gampel. I'll gladly drive the extra 25 minutes to Gampel.

To those of you saying it doesn't matter which "home court" UConn plays on, I disagree strongly. I bet Hurley and most, if not all, of the players would choose to play all the home games at Gampel if possible. Home games should feel like home games, there are enough tough venues for road games.

The biggest problem is getting really good ball movement and good clean looks at the basket. That's a bigger issue than the home court venue, however, it is undeniable that Gampel provides more of a true home court than the XL Center does.

Same. I was home by 8:40 last night. At this point, it is time to move back home to Storrs The state and Hartford have it backwards. They moved the Hartford campus downtown to help bars and restaurants. They are 18 year old kids. They need a fake id for bars and I doubt they are eating at restaurants. Hartford needs businesses downtown. The place was dead before the pandemic. I saw a picture of the trolley days and it looked like a city. If there were businesses along with all the apartments I would feel different. Again, the team sucked last night which is a different story. Playing in an outdated NHL arena with fans who act like they are at a tennis match does not help

 

[UConnDad]

The poor shooting was (in part) due to the venue. 100% yes. There are data points to back up that we shoot worse at XL vs Gampel.

Does playing that at Gampel mean we win? No. But it removes a negative factor from the equation. A “home court” shouldn’t have a negative factor like the XL does.

The XL neutralizes our home court advantage because while it is a hard floor for our opponents to shoot on, it’s a harder (than Gampel) floor for us to shoot on too.

Why in the world do we want to play games in a stadium that makes it harder for us to score at?

We practice at Gampel. That’s where the players are most comfortable. That’s where they know the sight lines. That’s where they have an advantage.

How do people not see this as a problem?

How do you not see that our opponents shoot on the same court at the same baskets. I’ve played on hundreds of courts and the baskets, sight lines, etc. are the same for everyone.

 

[McLovin]

How do you not see that our opponents shoot on the same court at the same baskets. I’ve played on hundreds of courts and the baskets, sight lines, etc. are the same for everyone.

Right. And you continue to miss the point.

The point isn’t that it’s tougher for UConn than their opponent. It’s tough for both, I’ve said I agree with that.
The point is that the XL Center is a more difficult shooting environment (stats back that up) than Gampel for OUR OWN TEAM.

You really think it’s a good idea to neutralize ourselves by putting the team in an arena that makes it harder for them to score?

No other fan base in the country would advocate for neutralizing their own team on their own “home” floor.

The XL Center in a “home” floor in name only. We lose any advantage (i.e. playing in the same gym our team practices in daily, when the other team does not) by playing on a floor that makes it just a difficult for our players to adjust as it does the opponent.

If the XL Center was our on campus arena that we practiced at daily and became comfortable with the sight lines, then it would be a different story.

But it’s not. And you guys keep pretending like it makes no difference because both teams have to struggle shooting. That’s completely backwards way to think about a home court advantage.

And that 100% makes it harder for us to win those games. We should be doing everything possible to make it easier for the team to win, like every single other program in the country.

And then there is the crowd factor, but that’s already been covered in other posts.

 

[McLovin]

Now I know why Hurley wants to fight our fan base. A lot of you guys are denser than those bricks we threw up last night.

 

[Deepster]

Less about Covid IMO (PC sold out and Gampel has been full this season) and Hartford is probably more conveniently located in the state for most fans is assume.

Your second question is the root of the problem IMO. An older fan base that was spoiled with 25 insane years of top level basketball that included 4 championships. The general enthusiasm isn’t there for the average CT resident, but that doesn’t give the students a pass.

Although I will give them a slight pass for not wanting to bus to Hartford on a cold Tuesday night. Been there, done that. Would have much preferred to just walk from my dorm to Gampel. Although I always showed up at XL.

But let’s make it easier, not hard for the students to get enthused.

The UConn fan base is kind of like the Yankees fan base now IMO. Older fans who have become less enthused after the dynasty in the 90s. That attitude has seeped all the way to the ownership who seems just content “making the playoffs” every year.

It’s made it frustrating to be a Yankee fan. I really hope the administration stops that from happening to the UConn huskies too (although that ship may have sailed).

I think your comparison to Yankee fans has weight. I'd also say, my entire family was Sox fans and growing up, every picnic or BBQ had a passionate conversation about the Sox and if "this was the year". Being a Sox fan appears to be a lot more "fun" and a lot less live or die now, understandably so.

And look past the location of Hartford and into why people would go to that location. Look at the Yard Goats park. What are we now? 6 years in and not a single new business within a block or two radius. The people who make decisions for the City of Hartford could screw up making a jam sandwich.

 

[UconnU]

The UConn fan base is kind of like the Yankees fan base now IMO. Older fans who have become less enthused after the dynasty in the 90s. That attitude has seeped all the way to the ownership who seems just content “making the playoffs” every year.).

Much of that base, the older guys who sat in the lower level, are now retired living in Florida watching the games on TV. Need to create new fans.

 

[8893]

Look at the Yard Goats park. What are we now? 6 years in and not a single new business within a block or two radius. The people who make decisions for the City of Hartford could screw up making a jam sandwich.

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[CV1]

Less about Covid IMO (PC sold out and Gampel has been full this season) and Hartford is probably more conveniently located in the state for most fans is assume.

Your second question is the root of the problem IMO. An older fan base that was spoiled with 25 insane years of top level basketball that included 4 championships. The general enthusiasm isn’t there for the average CT resident, but that doesn’t give the students a pass.

Although I will give them a slight pass for not wanting to bus to Hartford on a cold Tuesday night. Been there, done that. Would have much preferred to just walk from my dorm to Gampel. Although I always showed up at XL.

But let’s make it easier, not hard for the students to get enthused.

The UConn fan base is kind of like the Yankees fan base now IMO. Older fans who have become less enthused after the dynasty in the 90s. That attitude has seeped all the way to the ownership who seems just content “making the playoffs” every year.

It’s made it frustrating to be a Yankee fan. I really hope the administration stops that from happening to the UConn huskies too (although that ship may have sailed).

Great post. Agree with the comparison to being a Yankees fan. For the XL problem, the other difference now is having phones. 20 years ago we didn’t have this distraction so the casual fans were forced to watch the game. In the most crucial moments of the game last night, I saw a lot of people glued to their phone and I wanted to give them a lifetime ban

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I have no idea whether they would have won if the game was at Gampel, but from the perspective of someone watching from 3,000 miles away it looked like they were playing in a freaking morgue last night.

I know that the early bird special crowd doesn't like hearing that and they'll talk about how loud the Syracuse game was 30 years ago but they might as well have been on the road last night.

 

[uconnfan68]

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Harford? Doesn't anyone read what they post, before posting?

 

[8893]

Harford? Doesn't anyone read what they post, before posting?

?

 

[Kolumbo]

I can't believe I got sucked into this argument.

My two questions are:

1) How much of the current XL environment is the further decline (COVID and generally speaking) of Hartford and people just not being in the city nearly as much for anything?

2) How much of it is a fan base that is made up of a) older fans that saw 4 titles and are a little less "enthused" than they were 20 years ago and b) younger fans that just aren't as rabid a fan or been used to the consistent excellence of the program and Big East?

It's half 1. half 2a. half 2b. and half weekday scheduling.

 

[bendm]

Texas vs Texas tech. That is a home
Court advantage. Place is nuts.

after flipping on the texas v. tech and bama v. auburn games i thought i was watching a different sport the crowds were so much better

 

[Get a Job]

Can someone with an insane amount of time on his or her hands please do the following: Find the average shooting percentage for UConn for each of the past 10 seasons at each venue. Find the average shooting percentage for opponents for each of those seasons, at each venue. Subtract opponents' shooting percentage from UConn's for each venue in each season. We would then have a better, though still not perfect, measuring stick to find out if UConn really shoots better at Gampel compared to XL.

I doubt anyone will have the time or will to do this, which is understandable, but short of this type of analysis, I haven't seen any actual evidence to support the claim that UConn shoots more poorly in Hartford compared to Storrs. To be clear, my "feeling" is that the team does perform better in Gampel for sure, but I like data and hate feelings.

All that said, for a hundred other reasons, I don't think UConn should play games at the XL Center, with the possible exception of one marquee matchup per season, when students are on break.

 

[CL82]

A really interesting unstated point is the fact that we pay a premium to play in an out of date, dilapidated, off-campus arena. If the place isn’t at or near capacity, I’m pretty sure it’s a money loser for us. Probably a significant money loser.

For those of us who are old enough to remember, the Hartford Civic Center was an attractive home court destination when the alternative was playing at the Fieldhouse which had a capacity of 3600, give or take. Once Gampel arena was built, playing all but the biggest games in Hartford ceased to make financial sense. But in the land of steady habits, “we’ve always done it this way” is a good enough reason to keep doing things that don’t make sense. So we end up with the CDRA’s showing a smaller loss than their true financial loss because they’re subsidized by UConn men’s basketball women’s basketball and hockey. Likewise the UConn athletic department shows a higher loss because it gets paid by the university which gets paid by the state to subsidize a state owned venue.

Playing in Hartford makes zero sense, financially or athletically, for UConn, but it will continue to be supported by people who talk about how convenient it was for them to drown their sorrows after the game.

I just felt like the finances needed to be talked about in this thread

 

[Icehawk]

I'm pretty sure I didn't hear a single "Defense" chant or the like during that match, need fans to do more than cheer dunks.

 

[skisafari]

You understand that game had been marked in the calendar for a year now after Chris Beard left Texas Tech to become the Longhorns head coach. Every tech fan wanted to give him and the Longhorns hell and never let him forget about leaving there

Yes.

 

[Get a Job]

I'm pretty sure I didn't hear a single "Defense" chant or the like during that match, need fans to do more than cheer dunks.

Although there was that one moment where the entire arena was chanting, "Let's go Huskies!" That was pretty goosebump-inducing. Should be like that through most of the match during a big game.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I have no idea whether they would have won if the game was at Gampel, but from the perspective of someone watching from 3,000 miles away it looked like they were playing in a freaking morgue last night.

I know that the early bird special crowd doesn't like hearing that and they'll talk about how loud the Syracuse game was 30 years ago but they might as well have been on the road last night.

Morgue is absolutely the correct description. That word kept popping in my head throughout the game.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

I agree the problem is the team, not the building. We can win in XL Center. But there is no denying Gampel is better. We are more comfortable there. You get the true college basketball feel on campus. Hartford feels too corporate. Overall I believe we would have a better home court advantage if all our games were played in Storrs. Only thing that may help this team feel more at home at XL is maybe try to hold one full practice per week at XL.

 

[coachn]

I agree the problem is the team, not the building. We can win in XL Center. But there is no denying Gampel is better. We are more comfortable there. You get the true college basketball feel on campus. Hartford feels too corporate. Overall I believe we would have a better home court advantage if all our games were played in Storrs. Only thing that may help this team feel more at home at XL is maybe try to hold one full practice per week at XL.

It's on the team leadership and coaches to correct the problem by playing better basketball. Can't bring it just sometime.
Calhoun would light a fire under this teams asses. Hurley at this moment is no Calhoun.
Someone better find out how IW shot lights out last nite after prior poor shooting.
Cole can't be the only player we can count on. Defense usually bails us out. We didn't have defensive intensity last niight.
How do we allow freshmen guards to do that to us.
Coaches and senior players better make sure this is a learning experience.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

It's on the team leadership and coaches to correct the problem by playing better basketball. Can't bring it just sometime.
Calhoun would light a fire under this teams asses. Hurley at this moment is no Calhoun.
Someone better find out how IW shot lights out last nite after prior poor shooting.
Cole can't be the only player we can count on. Defense usually bails us out. We didn't have defensive intensity last niight.
How do we allow freshmen guards to do that to us.
Coaches and senior players better make sure this is a learning experience.

Our defense was ok. It’s what kept us in the game. And their freshman didn’t really do much to us. Their senior leader Ryan Hawkins killed us with his shooting, which included two very lucky three pointers that bounced in as the clocked expired. Our shots were not falling, that was the game. I am not worried at all defensively with this team. Our offense is very inconsistent. This is a mentally fragile team and that will not take us far in March. We need to shake that negative mentality if we are not making shots. Great shooters have a short term memory and just keep shooting. We second guess ourselves too much on offense. If we can just relax and just go out there and let the game come to us we will be fine.

 

[freescooter]

I don’t know whether it is COVID, or that UConn fans only want to play teams from the real Big East or what, but the crowds seemed pretty sparse at our last 2 games, one at Gampel and one at XL. Someone told me Gampel was a sell out, and that may be technically true, but if so, lots of people dressed as empty seats. Clearly there were plenty os seats available for. the Creighton game. Note also that the 6:30 start to accommodate tv isn’t that helpful to those who have jobs and need to travel any distance. Of course, in the brave new world of college athletics, giving A darn about the fans is pretty low on the priority list.

 

[John]

we play half off our scheduled games on a uncomfortable opponents court. If we dont take advantage of all the advantages we could get, we wont be playing in March.

How'd we use to shoot in the field house? Maybe we need to move back in there.

 

[freescooter]

I think your comparison to Yankee fans has weight. I'd also say, my entire family was Sox fans and growing up, every picnic or BBQ had a passionate conversation about the Sox and if "this was the year". Being a Sox fan appears to be a lot more "fun" and a lot less live or die now, understandably so.

And look past the location of Hartford and into why people would go to that location. Look at the Yard Goats park. What are we now? 6 years in and not a single new business within a block or two radius. The people who make decisions for the City of Hartford could screw up making a jam sandwich.

Um, have you looked at what is going up across the street from the baseball park?

 

[UCLJ0211]

I don’t think we’ve ever gotten a bounce in the XL center as good as either of the ridiculous bounces Creighton got tonight.

Those 2 bounces (6 pts) were the difference between winning and losing.

 

[Get a Job]

Can someone with an insane amount of time on his or her hands please do the following: Find the average shooting percentage for UConn for each of the past 10 seasons at each venue. Find the average shooting percentage for opponents for each of those seasons, at each venue. Subtract opponents' shooting percentage from UConn's for each venue in each season. We would then have a better, though still not perfect, measuring stick to find out if UConn really shoots better at Gampel compared to XL.

I doubt anyone will have the time or will to do this, which is understandable, but short of this type of analysis, I haven't seen any actual evidence to support the claim that UConn shoots more poorly in Hartford compared to Storrs. To be clear, my "feeling" is that the team does perform better in Gampel for sure, but I like data and hate feelings.

All that said, for a hundred other reasons, I don't think UConn should play games at the XL Center, with the possible exception of one marquee matchup per season, when students are on break.

OK, so I did the last 5 years, but ignored last year because we didn't play at XL.

O. M. G. The effect expected by this board is real, and it's huge (at least over the 4 seasons analyzed)!

	Gampel FG delta	Gampel 3P delta
2021-2022	.100	.057
2019-2020	-.005	.000
2018-2019	.060	.087
2017-2018	.067	.153
Mean	.056	.074

Over the aforementioned seasons, UConn's average FG% advantage at Gampel was 5.6% better than at XL. Their relative 3P% advantage was 7.4 percent better! I am completely shocked at how stark this difference is. Granted, this doesn't say anything necessarily about wins and losses, but damn!

I am not an expert in statistics, so please feel free to critique my method. The link below will bring you to the spreadsheet I created and used for the analysis. Let me know if you have any questions regarding the methodology.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1026LdhrZANJ2AxJJm1FhuEb1qHts-FGmUEgt1qzJ9cA/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Kolumbo]

Not much substance but timely.

XL Center GM Weiss reflects on ownership change, pandemic, sports betting and future of Hartford events

Ben Weiss — general manager of the Hartford Wolf Pack, XL Center and Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford — has been places. He started with his current employer […]

www.hartfordbusiness.com

"There has been at least one silver lining: Pratt & Whitney Stadium, the often underutilized and money-losing home of UConn football, may be in the midst of its busiest fiscal year ever in terms of bookings thanks to demand for outdoor events.

How important is a large-scale renovation to the future of the XL Center?
I think the XL Center is critical in terms of bringing in non-9-to-5 activity to the city. And I think a renovation is important.
We are at that critical point. We need to improve our offering to our customers, whether that be on the premium seats side, in terms of suites, clubs or food and beverage options, or getting more restrooms in here and expanding the concourse to make it more comfortable when you come into the building.
There are daily challenges here, things we fight constantly just from plumbing and electrical issues. It’s time for the building to be renovated.

How much investment does the building need to remain competitive?
I don’t have a price tag but I think it can be done in phases.
You could throw out a price tag of hundreds of millions of dollars if you wanted to do it in one fell swoop, but it’s more realistic to do it in parts. Moving forward with the sports betting facility is a good start."

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Some students are likely going to the games and making a night of it and some students actually go back home to study if they need to. The latter are more likely to go to a game at Gampel and study immediately afterward. Drive to Hartford which requires a 4-5 hour block of time, minimum? Probably not. Again, this isn't difficult. The only university in the country which believes games need to be off campus.

I got curious about your final sentence, so I took a quick look that might be incomplete.

Somebody had mentioned Villanova earlier.

Does any other team besides St John's play in two arenas?

Seton Hall, DePaul, Georgetown all play in off-campus arenas that are beyond walking distance, and more than a 10-minute drive.

Maybe there's others. But I don't disagree with your overall point.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

OK, so I did the last 5 years, but ignored last year because we didn't play at XL.

O. M. G. The effect expected by this board is real, and it's huge (at least over the 4 seasons analyzed)!

	Gampel FG delta	Gampel 3P delta
2021-2022	.100	.057
2019-2020	-.005	.000
2018-2019	.060	.087
2017-2018	.067	.153
Mean	.056	.074

Over the aforementioned seasons, UConn's average FG% advantage at Gampel was 5.6% better than at XL. Their relative 3P% advantage was 7.4 percent better! I am completely shocked at how stark this difference is. Granted, this doesn't say anything necessarily about wins and losses, but damn!

I am not an expert in statistics, so please feel free to critique my method. The link below will bring you to the spreadsheet I created and used for the analysis. Let me know if you have any questions regarding the methodology.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1026LdhrZANJ2AxJJm1FhuEb1qHts-FGmUEgt1qzJ9cA/edit?usp=sharing

Post/handle?
Kudos in any case.