East Hartford’s Rentschler Field needs $63 million upgrade, new study says. ‘like walking into a time capsule’

[LoyalFanCT]

Nice write up, thanks. Let me rant a little bit about the Danbury line (first built in 1857) which went north up through Brookfield, New Milford, Kent, Cornwall and on up through Canaan CT and up to Pittsfield Mass, it used to be one of the most beautiful train rides in the state but was shut down for passenger service in the early 1970’s. There is a proposal in the state legislature to reopen it. I hope it happens.

A light rail service between Hartford's train station and Bradley Airport was proposed by Gov. Ella Grasso. Never got built. Much of the track is already there because of old freight line. Would cut down on traffic heading to airport.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I know almost with certainty UCONN will not build a stadium on campus. There is zero reason it shouldn't, but it won't. Colleges across the country of all shapes, sizes, locations, types, endowments, enrollments, they have found a way. UCONN will be forced to go the cheapest short-term route which is to renovate. I can't remember if there was a Big East minimum capacity requirement when we built The Rent but it is stuck with it. They should have built a new stadium where Memorial Stadium stood and it would have been a fine centerpiece for the athletics campus.

Buffalo built its 15,000 seat stadium for $23 mill and expanded it to 29,000 when it moved up to 1-A. It is now at 25,000.
" In October 2017, demolition work commenced on the northern endzones of the stadium in preparation for the program's new 92,000-square-foot (8,500 m2), $18 million field house."

You can make use of an on-campus stadium for many other purposes. Incorporate offices and training facilities into it. Concerts and rallies and ceremonies. When it's off campus, and especially in no man's land in East Hartford, there is no reason to make it anything more than a bunch of bleachers. It's just a stand-alone structure and really an inefficient use of resources. It would only make sense if it were in Hartford and shared with another pro team.

Only one reason they won’t build one on campus, they don’t have the money. However, if a donor or small group of donors came forward and said here’s $400 million, go and build an on campus stadium, they would do it in a heart beat.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Only one reason they won’t build one on campus, they don’t have the money. However, if a donor or small group of donors came forward and said here’s $400 million, go and build an on campus stadium, they would do it in a heart beat.

I'm guessing you didn't get Waq's 'Belling the Cat' reference.

That said, if there were donors willing to invest hundreds of millions for the purpose of improving what we have for football (and through the improvement in football, all sports) I have a strong suspicion that using those funds to set up a massive sports endowment would deliver far better short term results and, with those results, we would be in a position where having a serious conversation about putting a football stadium on campus would make sense.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

I also think the Hartford line and the fastbreak busways are terrific.

People hate infrastructure they won’t use.

This states thinks public transportation has to be profitable or break even. Like, our roads are essentially free and make no money. But they allow commerce and free movement. The train and busways do the same.

CT is a great state, but areas are isolated. The fastrak for people who take it in new Britain and Waterbury to Hartford love it. It connects Waterbury, new Britain and Hartford.

It is a bit too long to take fastrak if you don’t live near downtown NB or a station or pickup. They are working to fix that.

CT Rail is awesome. Taken from Berlin to New Haven multiple times. There is just some issues with getting out of union station to work in New Haven (used to work at long wharf), which makes you just drive.

They are working on that. Eventually, the businesses and the housing develop around the transportation. It is created to meet future needs.

State is almost there. We have Springfield to New Haven rail line that is good. A new stop going in for Bradley. There is also shuttles from union in new haven to Tweed and other places.

Fastrak from New Britain ti Hartford is a success. Just because you see an empty bus doesn’t mean anything. They run busses at off times because you need to build in capacity and I sure people can get home .

If they can expand fastrak to storrs on dedicated route that is a game changer. I would totally support a busway from Storrs to Hartford with stops in Coventry, Bolton Manchester and East Hartford.

That would I really connect the state.

'I also think the Hartford line and the fastbreak busways are terrific.'


original capital estimates for 'fastbroke?' way way off. prolly around a quarter billion dollars wrong.

original daily ridership projections? using widely available estimates from that time, say around 11,500 or so, and mostly paying customers from the then around 16,000 folks already using the existing bus system. today? still around 16,000 in that demand pool, with fastbroke ridership nearing 11,000. we'll get back to this.

original annual operating estimates with that paying customer thing?
wrong by half ($10m guess, then $20m soon after opening). today with that free ride thing? ur kidding, right? here's sum good beagling on this for why those estimates were a bold-faced lie.
Yearly Taxpayer Cost To Operate CTfastrak Jumps 75 Percent From Original Estimate

now, back to that 'ridership' thing. this one cracks me up.
'Ridership figures for April, 2015 should not be used in trend analysis due to the free trial period.' this one comes straight from the current State fastbroke ridership report.
CTfastrak Ridership
and yet, well,
CT Transit buses have been free since April 1. Ridership is now topping pre-COVID totals in some cities.

hmmm, 'free,' and yet the State's own report sez ''Ridership figures for April, 2015 should not be used in trend analysis due to the free trial period.'

'free' is supposed to end 12/1, like some other election gimmicks set to end after, ummmm, the election!
iffn we were told the truth at the beginning, including the free thing goal, im sure a lot of folks like me would have still supported it then if full disclosure for a reasonable operational cost was included, but we were'nt.
a 100% complete fraud, all around. no car traffic reductions, no change in existing ridership pool, none of that. all crap. 800 millions? who knows? the public info on this is now like the chinese government deciding recently to stop providing quarterly gdp reports, becuz they're sooo freakin bad. luckily, some of us knew this loong ago and made financial bets accordingly. with all that extra cash, i could eat at 5 guys or whatever, but i don't. i like mickey d's. (don't need their official baloney as there are lots of ways to figger it out, from other existing data that they are too dumb to understand tells the story.)

will they extend the free thing set to expire December 1, 2022?
the end of the covid free cash thing is really a tsunami wake-up call to government budgets all across the land. and oh, gas and diesel are way up in price, too. which reminds me, we have a pipeline from Alaska that has a 2 million bbl capacity, currently carrying only around 350,000 bbls.
madness all around. and, electricity in New England is around 50% generated from nat gas, yet we can't get a dang pipeline built from Pennsylvania, which our ancestors used to get to by horseback in mebbe two days hard ride. next door!

i really have no strong opinion on the stadium issue, and just hope that whatever State discussion could happen, it comes with full dose of honestly. prolly should repost that original tune now.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I'm guessing you didn't get Waq's 'Belling the Cat' reference.

That said, if there were donors willing to invest hundreds of millions for the purpose of improving what we have for football (and through the improvement in football, all sports) I have a strong suspicion that using those funds to set up a massive sports endowment would deliver far better short term results and, with those results, we would be in a position where having a serious conversation about putting a football stadium on campus would make sense.

I don’t read everything on this board, don’t have the time. I will though say that donors do not invest, they donate, and when they do donate it’s for a specific purpose like an on campus stadium or a state of the art indoor football complex.

 

[Patman]

I don’t read everything on this board, don’t have the time. I will though say that donors do not invest, they donate, and when they do donate it’s for a specific purpose like an on campus stadium or a state of the art indoor football complex.

i know this is a language argument but I'd say it depends what type of return you're looking for. Of course modern organizations and people want to use the term "invest" to give people a sense of ownership without actual ownership. In theory a donation does buy SOMETHING even if you can't control it or possess it.

Donation has other connotations but the key amongst them is lack of ownership.

Differences of perspective and why they're used, thats all.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I don’t read everything on this board, don’t have the time. I will though say that donors do not invest, they donate, and when they do donate it’s for a specific purpose like an on campus stadium or a state of the art indoor football complex.

Belling the Cat is an old fable (possibly Aesop) about a group of mice looking for a solution to a cat sneaking up and killing them. The solution proposed was to put a bell around the cat's neck so they could hear it coming. A wise member of then group then asked "how do we get the bell on the cat's neck?".

$400 million in donations would solve our problem (and as you astutely pointed out, it will be far easier to raise these funds if labelled as donations). As soon as you figure out how to raise it let the school know.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Belling the Cat is an old fable (possibly Aesop) about a group of mice looking for a solution to a cat sneaking up and killing them. The solution proposed was to put a bell around the cat's neck so they could hear it coming. A wise member of then group then asked "how do we get the bell on the cat's neck?".

$400 million in donations would solve our problem (and as you astutely pointed out, it will be far easier to raise these funds if labelled as donations). As soon as you figure out how to raise it let the school know.

I would say that there are between 15 and 20 alumni who could fund the on campus stadium all by themselves, and a couple hundred who could fund an appreciable chunk of the cost, and several of those (5 or 6) are UConn sports alums.

 

[LIUCHusky]

I would say that there are between 15 and 20 alumni who could fund the on campus stadium all by themselves, and a couple hundred who could fund an appreciable chunk of the cost, and several of those (5 or 6) are UConn sports alums.

Could and would are quie different.

 

[gampelcrazies]

I don’t think UConn would have any issues getting money to build a top of the line football stadium on campus. It’s the other BS that gets in the way.

 

[Waquoit]

I don’t think UConn would have any issues getting money to build a top of the line football stadium on campus.

You don't, huh?

 

[Patman]

I would say that there are between 15 and 20 alumni who could fund the on campus stadium all by themselves, and a couple hundred who could fund an appreciable chunk of the cost, and several of those (5 or 6) are UConn sports alums.

you're missing the point. Nobody wants to be the first. Further in the cat story nobody wants to be the one that dies for the cause. There's a reason its very hard to do these things.

It is also why revolutions are hard. Critical mass and a group of people willing to go in on something is hard. Nobody wants to spoil their resources whether its a pile of cash or their very life.