Empty promises and empty seats: After 15 years, Rentschler Field struggles to match expectations (Putterman) | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Empty promises and empty seats: After 15 years, Rentschler Field struggles to match expectations (Putterman)

This is a ridiculous conversation. The state of Connecticut subsidizes UConn on the order of $300M per year. The idea that UConn should turn around and stick the state with an empty stadium that it built expressly because UConn asked for it is absurd. If I was the legislature I'd just take the remaining cost of the stadium and any cost for its demolition out of that subsidy. UConn is struggling to hold on to what it already gets in a terrible budget climate. Screwing the state is not a very smart path at this time.
 
whaler11 said:
if you are going to make up a net number why not use something bigger than that
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Meh, it's the $1.5M UConn currently spends, plus the $2M-$3M additional revenue number you cited. That feels like it would support a significant amount of debt. I'm not ambitious enough to figure it out, but I feel like it is a number that you can ballpark off the top of your head given your background. It's fine if it isn't.
 
whaler11 said:
not to go full chief - but i pointed out the campaign started in the courant like 4-5 years ago and that the voices were going to grow and get loud very quickly.
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Yeah, I am aware. But the impetus for Putterman's article must have come from within UConn or people in politics. That is a first I think.
 
CL82 said:
Meh, it's the $1.5M UConn currently spends, plus the $2M-$3M additional revenue number you cited. That feels like it would support a significant amount of debt. I'm not ambitious enough to figure it out, but I feel like it is a number that you can ballpark off the top of your head given your background. It's fine if it isn't.
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I was including the rent in the new net revenue. Even if you get aggressive and say it’s 3 million in new revenue the cost of running and maintaining the place is going to eat most of that. They paid 700k in utilities in 2017 for example.
 
whaler11 said:
I was including the rent in the new net revenue. Even if you get aggressive and say it’s 3 million in new revenue the cost of running and maintaining the place is going to eat most of that. They paid 700k in utilities in 2017 for example.
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I'd like to look at hard at the XL and Rent costs and the whole AD budget for that matter. I'm guessing that there is a lot there that is either misrepresented and/or relatively easy to fix.

In any event it is an interesting thought experiment to look at the money we pay to the state to use its facilities coupled with the lost revenue and wonder if there is a more efficient way to do things.
 
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BlueandOG said:
I live about 10 minutes from Patriot Place, home of Gillette Stadium. It started with just the stadium, but now has a bunch of restaurants, bars, and stores - even a medical center. It is ALWAYS packed. And, it is about 20 minutes from a similar complex (without stadium) in another town. Never mind being 40 minutes from Boston and Providence. The Rent is an underutilized space - there is opportunity for a 365 day attraction for shopping, dining, and experiences.
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You would think, but the proposed outlets never got off the ground, so you have to wonder.
 
Pretty simple. Instead of looking around for a better deal, COMMIT to the AAC. It is a good FB conference. UConn needs to market the team. Having someone who does nothing but visit local schools and businesses every day. If not, drop FB and put the hoop team in the NEC and drop athletics.
 
Dooley said:
The state cut corners in building the Rent. It was supposed to be completely chair backed. Footings are in place to support 50K capacity. Ironically, if the state had followed through and spent the necessary money to build a 50K chair backed stadium, it might have helped our ACC cause. Good ol' Connecticut money mismanagement.
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Connecticut always tries to do things on the cheap. And they end up paying for it. The Yard Goats park is a perfect example. If they spent enough in the first place, they would have spent less. And the north end would be under development now.
 
zls44 said:
Can you also type it out in intelligent sentences that humans can understand?
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Simpletons take the personal attack mode. Taking your cue from ... Your an arrogant ah
 
Palatine said:
Or UConn vesus Michigan or Baylor and RGIII. Or Landon Donovan's last CAP as a member of the USMNT. Or Women versus Australia in the Tourney iof Nations. Or the Rolling Stones. They all have value. Even UConn versus ECU.

Anyone with a iota of understanding of the value of media would include these in the value of the stadium.
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lol yeah ‘value’.

can you point to it on the balance sheet so the luddites understand?
 
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noeynox said:
You would think, but the proposed outlets never got off the ground, so you have to wonder.
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nobody has to wonder. just look at the dumb springfield casino.

wishcasting is not a business strategy.

there might be nothing this country needs less than more retail space.

look at how walmart and target are stating the value of their real estate and what the malls look like and are selling for.
 
Palatine said:
Connecticut always tries to do things on the cheap. And they end up paying for it. The Yard Goats park is a perfect example. If they spent enough in the first place, they would have spent less. And the north end would be under development now.
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Hard to justify spending any money there. It's not like anyone would go see a baseball game in Hartford. Too much crime.
@Deepster
 
RSTuthill said:
Nothing less than the first salvo in the campaign to de-emphasize FB. I talked to someone from the UConn Foundation a couple nights ago. I was shocked to hear this person say with conviction that UConn was, "NOT a FB school!! We are a BB school!!"
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whaler11 said:
not to go full chief - but i pointed out the campaign started in the courant like 4-5 years ago and that the voices were going to grow and get loud very quickly.
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Look, not saying this is the truth or not but if it is, why are we wasting any more money? If people in the university and foundation believe this FB is crap and should go away mantra then do it. Stop throwing money we don't have down the drain. It'll be the end of my UConn days but whatever. It is stupid to continue this facade that we care about football when behind the scenes, many people at this university don't. If they won't support it, just be done with it.

I didn't read the article so I don't know if there are any ramifications for UConn if we abandon the Rent, but screw the state. Enough. Let that stadium rot if UConn won't support it's own football team.
 
UCFBfan said:
Look, not saying this is the truth or not but if it is, why are we wasting any more money? If people in the university and foundation believe this FB is crap and should go away mantra then do it. Stop throwing money we don't have down the drain. It'll be the end of my UConn days but whatever. It is stupid to continue this facade that we care about football when behind the scenes, many people at this university don't. If they won't support it, just be done with it.

I didn't read the article so I don't know if there are any ramifications for UConn if we abandon the Rent, but screw the state. Enough. Let that stadium rot if UConn won't support it's own football team.
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I think most of the people who get it agree with you.

When your head coach is paying an assistant oop clearly you dont have the institutional will to compete - and its pretty stupid to do it halfway.

Maybe with AAC TV deal in next couple of weeks we’ll understand more.
 
UCFBfan said:
Look, not saying this is the truth or not but if it is, why are we wasting any more money? If people in the university and foundation believe this FB is crap and should go away mantra then do it. Stop throwing money we don't have down the drain. It'll be the end of my UConn days but whatever. It is stupid to continue this facade that we care about football when behind the scenes, many people at this university don't. If they won't support it, just be done with it.

I didn't read the article so I don't know if there are any ramifications for UConn if we abandon the Rent, but screw the state. Enough. Let that stadium rot if UConn won't support it's own football team.
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This is spot on.
 
whaler11 said:
I think most of the people who get it agree with you.

When your head coach is paying an assistant oop clearly you dont have the institutional will to compete - and its pretty stupid to do it halfway.

Maybe with AAC TV deal in next couple of weeks we’ll understand more.
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Amen.

If the head coach giving up salary to retain an assistant didn't set off alarm bells in Husky Nation, I don't know what will...
 
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not to mention that with PWA being a prime military target, the likelihood that the Rent escapes a direct PWA hit is doubtful
THIS IS A JOKE - had to shed some lightness on such a depressing subject
This state and it's government is a joke second only to the UConn administration and its athletic department
 
Article was just the usual nonsense. Rentschler was never sold as a big economic development tool. Although at the time Pratt &Whitney envisioned development of the property that had been the airport as a major retail complex. They brought in a retail guy to oversee its development and worked a deal with Honest Johnny Rowland to get the necessary access and utilities brought into the site in exchange for land for a stadium. But at heart the stadium project had 2 goals. First to allow UConn to upgrade its football program and second to protect the basketball program. Allowing P&W to proceed with their plan for the property was only a side benefit. And reality is that East Hartford was only look warm to the project. I love how now the stadium was a failure because it didn’t accomplish what it wasn’t intended to accomplish. That’s like saying Geno has been a failure because his teams have never won an NCAA Cross Country title. While it is true that they haven’t, he wasn’t hired to do that.

I was involved in some of the early planning for the project and this will be a great economic development tool said no one.
 
Palatine said:
Or UConn vesus Michigan or Baylor and RGIII. Or Landon Donovan's last CAP as a member of the USMNT. Or Women versus Australia in the Tourney iof Nations. Or the Rolling Stones. They all have value. Even UConn versus ECU.

Anyone with a iota of understanding of the value of media would include these in the value of the stadium.
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Stop living in the past:

UConn vs. Michigan - 2013
UConn vs. Baylor - 2008
The Police - 2007
Rolling Stones - 2005
Bruce Springsteen - 2003

Rentschler Field is sorely underutilized. Concerts have been non-existent for 12 years. We all know big time football hasn't existed at The Rent for the past 8 years. One big time soccer match per year does not a venue make.

There's precious little media value if there are no big name events.

There's money to be made at stadiums, and Rentschler Field could be an asset for the State instead of a liability. Sadly, the State of Connecticut and Spectra have no vision when it comes to Rentschler Field.
 
So, in a 20-mile span, there's going to be:

-new soccer stadium on campus
-new soccer stadium in Hartford
-The Rent

...what? How does this make sense to anyone? Stop having 5000 venues for one sport over and over again, maybe you'll save some freaking money.
 
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Uconnalliance said:
Gotta wonder what other earth shattering news is being kept from Husky nation after reading this
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Wow, front page headline, an entire page inside of what everyone already knows drivel. The Hartford Courant sad to say has reached the point of misery loves company.
 
freescooter said:
Rentschler was never sold as a big economic development tool....although at the time Pratt &Whitney envisioned a major retail complex.
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BlueandOG said:
I live about 10 minutes from Patriot Place.The Rent is an underutilized space - there is opportunity for a 365 day attraction for shopping, dining, and experiences.
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Whether the Rent wasn't originally envisioned for economic development, it better be so now. The best hope for getting the most out of the Rent would be putting in a Patriot Place type of development around it. Some multi-use gathering of restaurants, entertainment venues (Kings Bowling?), and shops could change the character of the Rent property as a desired destination. Then if you want to attract concerts and other sporting events to the Rent you have something else to sell-- places for the people to go without the inconvenience of traffic jams and moving their cars. Sometimes you have to create demand with an imaginative project--see Market Street in Lynnfield MA, others like it in Watertown, MA, Dedham, MA and Manchester, CT (Evergreen). I don't know why the outlet mall project failed to materialize but it was a dumb idea to begin with. That's not the type of project with the highest accretive value for the stadium. A Patriot Place concept would be. It would take a developer with some deep pockets and some vision. Maybe we can get Bob Kraft to massage the idea.
 
I would absolutely love for the new school President to come in and just say F it, we're bonding out $250M and building a 45K completely chair-backed and (now with wifi!!) on-campus football stadium. Give the Rent and its land back to UTC/the state free of charge. Maybe the state turns it into a site for a new arena or strip off the upper deck and turn it into a soccer stadium or they just abandon it and let it crumble in the harsh northeast climate. Whatever. Put football games on-campus and build up a loyal diehard fanbase of students/alumni. In 20 years, maybe alumni will share old war stories about waking up at 11:59AM and stumbling into the stadium still drunk to watch us lose 70-6...and now look at this place completely full and playing against Clemson! Woooo nelly!

And before you quote this and get all upset that this will never happen, I know full well it won't happen. It's just a wish and we can leave it at that. :)
 
How about getting a team from the new Alliance of American Football. They should expand if
it works.
 
Well, whatever goes in on land around the Rent -- or not -- one has to keep in mind that UTX owns all that land and that UTX is not in the development business. So any development that happens is going to come from proposals to UTX for ... development, by developers. I would be surprised if there are any brick and mortar developments being built in the nation right now. The malls in Enfield are dead men walking, ready to expire. Sears is an anchor store at Buckland Hills and they will close. Macy's is on its last legs. If both ends of Bucklands close the place will implode. Evergreen Walk appears to be doing OK but even they could get knocked out by lack of traffic. And everyone here is talking about new development at the Rent? We will be lucky if the Cabelas store stays open.
 
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