Demolish the XL center

[CL82]

UConn collects seat donations for two locations. Cancel out the XL and all that seat donation money goes away. I figure that's gotta be at least $1M a year for the $1,000 seats alone. So any discussion of finances without factoring in that money is just bad faith.

Thanks, I had forgotten about that. I strongly doubt it turns renting a half empty XL Center into a profitable activity for the school.

For what it’s worth, I would love for the athletics department to do a breakout of the expenses and revenues associated with having a game at the XL versus having it a Gampel. While there are non-financial reasons at play here, I suspect it contributes to the $40 million deficit we see annually.

 

[Waquoit]

No more Chuck’s or Margaritaville.

And the drinking age, I just remembered.

 

[CL82]

If you're interested, I made the spreadsheet editable, so feel to add to and use it.

Thanks. I love when an esoteric question gets asked The Boneyard in posters take the time to quantify it. Quality stuff.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Thanks, I had forgotten about that. I strongly doubt it turns renting a half empty XL Center into a profitable activity for the school.

For what it’s worth, I would love for the athletics department to do a breakout of the expenses and revenues associated with having a game at the XL versus having it a Gampel. While there are non-financial reasons at play here, I suspect it contributes to the $40 million deficit we see annually.

It is out there. I wish I had the breakdown handy, but did work on this maybe a decade ago. Warde Manuel hated going to Hartford, and I assume Dave Benedict is the same because it costs the school money.

Gampel is free to play in, and the costs are incredibly low to hold and event comparatively.

XL is one very expensive to open up. It's why almost all things non-uconn fail at XL without subsidy. You have to sell out that building for that event (between 9-15k depending on sport) to make money.

UConn with 10000 attendance? That's a money loser.

 

[CL82]

This is nonsensical unless the argument is allowing UConn to play all of the games in only one of Gampel or XL Center.

UConn has much more to gain into the future by playing half of its home games in a venue that holds 6,000 more fans in a centrally located part of the state than it does by playing a handful more games each season on campus.

There is a very limited chance that students are going to become "more fanatical" because they went to a dozen games at Gampel instead of a half-dozen in a given season. And in fact, many of these same students will settle in other parts of the state and only buy season tickets as alumni if Hartford is an option.

But there is evidence all over the state -- and this board -- of people who became UConn fans (and then UConn students and then UConn season-ticket holders) because they had the chance to attend UConn games as kids who would lose that opportunity if all games were played in a smaller venue farther from where they live.

Playing at the XL Center serves a very important role in making UConn Basketball the state's de facto pro team -- something Jim Calhoun often mentioned -- that is incredibly vital to the brand if you are willing to think of the future, just this one time.

I believe Calhoun also indicated that he preferred to play in Gampel. Really though, why wouldn’t you prefer to play on your on-campus facility.

As someone above noted, it doesn’t have to be either Gampel or the XL center. I do think that the 50-50 mix currently in use is ill-conceived. Limiting XL games to the “bigger” games that can take advantage of the six thousand extra seats there probably makes sense. 6000, or 8000, empty seats, really isn’t helping anyone.

 

[CL82]

Rupp Arena is not on the UK campus and is not owned or controlled by the University of Kentucky. But, it is right downtown lexington. Gotta be a 10 minute walk to the arena. But it doesn't have a campus atmosphere.

How much does it cost to rent Rupp Arena?

UK's new deal with the Rupp Arena was announced this past winter. Starting in the fall of 2018, the school will pay $1.9 million annually in base rent for Rupp Arena, with that number set to grow incrementally. Each year's new rate will be calculated as a 2.4 percent increase to the current rent minus $300,00

If anyone wants to build us a 23,500 seat capacity brandy new arena within 10 minutes of campus, I’d be all in for renting that.

 

[Big Loubowski]

UConn collects seat donations for two locations. Cancel out the XL and all that seat donation money goes away. I figure that's gotta be at least $1M a year for the $1,000 seats alone. So any discussion of finances without factoring in that money is just bad faith.

Not sure this would go away. The Ath dept would increase the seat donation in keeping with the number of additional games played at Gampel. There may however be a lot more season ticket holders in Hartford, which would be a loss of revenue for the people who did not also become season ticket holders at Gampel if all the games were played there.

 

[Big Loubowski]

What is the status of the plans to renovate the XL anyway? There was a lot of talk about a plan at some point but outside of discussions regarding the sports book, there hasn’t been anything on this for at least a year.

 

[Guapo]

It is out there. I wish I had the breakdown handy, but did work on this maybe a decade ago. Warde Manuel hated going to Hartford, and I assume Dave Benedict is the same because it costs the school money.

Gampel is free to play in, and the costs are incredibly low to hold and event comparatively.

XL is one very expensive to open up. It's why almost all things non-uconn fail at XL without subsidy. You have to sell out that building for that event (between 9-15k depending on sport) to make money.

UConn with 10000 attendance? That's a money loser.

Lol no people like that hate playing in Hartford because they know what the on campus college sports experience is like elsewhere.

Why doesn’t Auburn play home games in Atlanta?

Why doesn’t Michigan play home games in Detroit?

 

[CL82]

It is out there. I wish I had the breakdown handy, but did work on this maybe a decade ago. Warde Manuel hated going to Hartford, and I assume Dave Benedict is the same because it costs the school money.

Gampel is free to play in, and the costs are incredibly low to hold and event comparatively.

XL is one very expensive to open up. It's why almost all things non-uconn fail at XL without subsidy. You have to sell out that building for that event (between 9-15k depending on sport) to make money.

UConn with 10000 attendance? That's a money loser.

I’m speculating, but I suspect the 50-50 arrangement will probably be strongly reevaluated after the planned addition of the exterior concourse to Gampel. That should allow the addition of more seats where the existing concourse is, which, in turn will narrow the potential upside of playing in Hartford.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

This is true. Villanova has a train station in the middle of campus. It's easy for students to get on the train to go to Well's Fargo when they have games in the city.

Build a triangular-route high-speed/maglev rail connection between Hartford, Storrs, and Bradley...and allow cross-registration between campuses to increase access and educational opportunities...see if feeder spokes develop to meet demand for Worcester, Providence, and Springfield to tie in.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Thanks. I love when an esoteric question gets asked The Boneyard in posters take the time to quantify it. Quality stuff.

Even better that he was the one who posed the esoteric question.

 

[CL82]

Even better that he was the one who posed the esoteric question.

Ha ha, I didn’t realize that.

 

[Get a Job]

Even better that he was the one who posed the esoteric question.

While it's true that I did answer my own plea for computational assistance, I didn't come up with the experiment out of whole cloth. The conversation was already well under way, and I just wanted to bring it into the realm of objectivity, however flawed my first attempt at doing so may have been.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

If anyone wants to build us a 23,500 seat capacity brandy new arena within 10 minutes of campus, I’d be all in for renting that.

Build it at Depot Campus!

 

[husky429]

I was at Storrs from 2014-2018. I've had season tickets my entire life with my family. I've seen the shift in real time from a party school atmosphere to one that puts sports and fun dead last. I'm sure the nerds who need to study on a Tuesday night are realll big sports fans

Do you want your school to go back to being ranked 5000th in the country like it was 30 years ago? Is having smart students at a flagship state school a bad thing?

 

[BlueMAB]

It's generally clear who the UConn alum are and who aren't.

Many fans are UConn fans because they got to see the team in Hartford. I was able to go to Hartford games as a child. I didn't step foot in Gampel until I was an adult because tix were near impossible to get.

And it wasn't the drive, because we'd go to games at the Fieldhouse before Gampel, and we'd go to soccer games when Morrone was coaching.

this place greatly undervalues the impact playing in Hartford has had in helping UConn become the program it is.

Why doesn't Michigan play in Detroit? Culture for one. They are in an area of the country where people don't look down their noses at State U in favor of private schools. They take pride in their state school, and have a history of athletic excellence that predates the 80s and 90s. They weren't building a program in the 80s, they were already a major athletic department thanks to their football program and huge amount of alums. (Insert Auburn for Michigan and the argument is the same).

Put plainly, they never even had to consider doing that.

Why don't Seton Hall, Providence, and St. John's play all of their games on campus?

 

[BlueMAB]

Why doesn’t Auburn play home games in Atlanta?

Probably because it's 1) in a different state, 2) in a different time zone, and 3) just under a 2 hour drive (without Atlanta traffic)

 

[Guapo]

Probably because it's 1) in a different state, 2) in a different time zone, and 3) just under a 2 hour drive (without Atlanta traffic)

Still the closest city where a bunch of alumni are.

Why do state lines matter? We have people in here who routinely call for UConn to play home games in Boston and New York.

 

[Guapo]

It's generally clear who the UConn alum are and who aren't.

Many fans are UConn fans because they got to see the team in Hartford. I was able to go to Hartford games as a child. I didn't step foot in Gampel until I was an adult because tix were near impossible to get.

And it wasn't the drive, because we'd go to games at the Fieldhouse before Gampel, and we'd go to soccer games when Morrone was coaching.

this place greatly undervalues the impact playing in Hartford has had in helping UConn become the program it is.

Why doesn't Michigan play in Detroit? Culture for one. They are in an area of the country where people don't look down their noses at State U in favor of private schools. They take pride in their state school, and have a history of athletic excellence that predates the 80s and 90s. They weren't building a program in the 80s, they were already a major athletic department thanks to their football program and huge amount of alums. (Insert Auburn for Michigan and the argument is the same).

Put plainly, they never even had to consider doing that.

Why don't Seton Hall, Providence, and St. John's play all of their games on campus?

Seton Hall and Providence don’t have Gampel and St John’s should play more games on campus

 

[Kathy]

I still don't get how not having every game at Gampel keeps a student from being a big fan. It wasn't the case for me. I loved Hartford games when I was at Storrs. And I'm pretty sure more students have cars now then back then. I didn't have one. What's changed?

We played the first game in Hartford in "75. When I started buying season tickets in I think '82 we had games there and the field house. Not having all the games on campus did not deter me from from bleeding blue and white. Hartford actually gave me the opportunity to turn my nephews from St. John's fans to UConn fans - which they still are today. UConn grads settle all across the tri-state area. Although I personally preferred Gampel over Hartford I think the fan base would suffer if not given the opportunity to go to a game in Hartford - for kids and adults.

 

[aburks41]

Do you want your school to go back to being ranked 5000th in the country like it was 30 years ago? Is having smart students at a flagship state school a bad thing?

I don't care about UConn's academics anymore, I already graduated. I care about basketball. They already got my tuition money, now they get my donations for basketball. I want to see the university do more to support the program. I'm not saying they are doing a bad job, but they can be so much better.

Why is it UConn's responsibility to give dying Hartford a lifeline? Why is UConn always on the losing end of every single sports related decision?

 

[BGesus4]

This makeup of this thread gives a lot of insight into the question itself. Most posters here would be super enthusiastic about never seeing the inside of the xl center again. There are about 2 posters who are complaining about the implications if we nix the xl center but they’d probably still ending going to games in Gampel if that was the only option.

Would be interested to know the age demographic of those who are all in on the Hartford.

 

[SCNCHuskie]

Home games need to be on campus.

I’ve been saying that for 20 years. It seems you lose home court advantage when you play at a venue almost an hour away from campus. Most of us have seen games at both places and there’s absolutely no comparison between the two. Duke can play right down the street at the Greensboro Coliseum if they just wanted to sell more tickets. I can’t ever imagine them doing that. There is something unique and intimidating about playing on a on campus venue.

 

[Greedo]

I don't care about UConn's academics anymore, I already graduated. I care about basketball. They already got my tuition money, now they get my donations for basketball. I want to see the university do more to support the program. I'm not saying they are doing a bad job, but they can be so much better.

Why is it UConn's responsibility to give dying Hartford a lifeline? Why is UConn always on the losing end of every single sports related decision?

Eh, your point would stand if you said "I'm retired." I care about UConn's academic reputation because it's on my resume. But, that being said, there are plenty of universities with better academics than UConn with rabid fan bases. Michigan and Notre Dame for example, and a big chunk of the B1G. I don't buy the "nerds in the library" don't care about basketball argument.