Expand the Rent.

[BoatShow]

Horsebarn Hill:

Seriously, there are miles and miles and miles of NOTHING on that side of 195. The Storrs Downtown area is coming together quite nicely and like others have said add some hotels and a couple larger family style restaurants. Allow visitor fans to get some "World Famous Wooster Pizza." The Dairy Bar(how is it possible they don't sell Dairy Bar ice cream at the Rent?). There is so much to offer for a gameday experience at UConn that there just isn't in East Hartford.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

We need to expand the stadium just for perception purposes. Until our stadium is 55K, it is hard to consider us big time. If Warde can schedule more big time opponents like Michigan etc, we should have no reason not to get better season ticket sales if we tie those marquee games to that.

We need to be proactive and expand the stadium. AAC would have been smart if they added a Western flank but they are not. We would be in better shape had Boise stayed etc. but they left. UCONN has to take care of ourselves and that means invest in football heavily going forward until the next realignment comes around.

 

[hthusky74]

I think $30 million is a reasonable estimate especially since the Rent was designed and built for easy expansion. Why 10k seats? It seems like 50k is the minimum size to be considered adequate for big time football. Both Rutgers and Louisville expanded from the 40s to above 50k.

As for attendance, I don't think being in the AAC should influence our need to build the fan base. We have to get more fans to the games. I also think we could have gotten close to 50k for Michigan and would do the same for Tennessee. Maybe Boise if they are top 10.

History repeats itself? Gampel was obsolete the day it was opened. They went with the bare minimum and were forced to expand a few years later. It should have been for about 12,ooo with a hockey rink as originally discussed. I'm not saying we should expand at this time. frankly as you've seen, there is no reason to in my mind. However, when the time comes to expand, let's do it right. You can't be pennywise and dollar foolish. In fact we are 10 years into this stadium. Maybe they wait 20 years and build a new one instead of expanding. Just a thought. In fact, after you make your big donation for it they just might name it "The UConn Jim Joint"!

 

[hthusky74]

Seriously, there are miles and miles and miles of NOTHING on that side of 195. The Storrs Downtown area is coming together quite nicely and like others have said add some hotels and a couple larger family style restaurants. Allow visitor fans to get some "World Famous Wooster Pizza." The Dairy Bar(how is it possible they don't sell Dairy Bar ice cream at the Rent?). There is so much to offer for a gameday experience at UConn that there just isn't in East Hartford.

Of course, East Hartford offers highway exits right next to the stadium so that it takes just a few minutes to get to your parking spots. Back ups on the highway a minimal at best. Let's be honest, what are 195 and 44 like before and especially after a 10,000 attendence basketball game? Can you even begin to imagine what it would be like after a 60,000 attendence football game? Yes I know that some people will tailgate for awhile (of course where is another issue), but still, it will be real ugly.

 

[Rumrunner]

You can't be serious, Just because you have lots of land, how do you think a stadium can be built there? For one, there's earth that has to be moved, utilities put in, there are no bathrooms in that picture. The nearest road is at least a dozen yards away.The grass is too green, the cows too friendly. What about people wanting to cross the street from towers? The crosswalk there can never accomodate thousands of fans. It also snows. Where will you put the snow?

Horsebarn Hill:

 

[Dooley]

Here is Penn State's gameday traffic and parking plans: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...13/misc_non_event/12_PreGame_Traffic_Flow.pdf. If Penn State can jam 100,000 people into some small podunk of a town in central PA, then I'm positive that UConn can figure out a way to get 60,000+ people into a small podunk town in eastern CT. Widen 195 and 44 by 2-4 lanes and have traffic flow one-way in 5 of 6 lanes (similar to Gillette Stadium) depending on if it is before or after the game. Instead of building hotels in East Hartford next to a Cabella's, build them in Storrs for visiting fans, conference centers, and campus activities.

Until then, UConn (or whoever manages the Rent) absolutely, positively MUST open a Dairy Bar stand this year. UConn pride!

 

[UConnJim]

History repeats itself? Gampel was obsolete the day it was opened. They went with the bare minimum and were forced to expand a few years later. It should have been for about 12,ooo with a hockey rink as originally discussed. I'm not saying we should expand at this time. frankly as you've seen, there is no reason to in my mind. However, when the time comes to expand, let's do it right. You can't be pennywise and dollar foolish. In fact we are 10 years into this stadium. Maybe they wait 20 years and build a new one instead of expanding. Just a thought. In fact, after you make your big donation for it they just might name it "The UConn Jim Joint"!

Maybe I will! Bottom line, it seems the line between big time and small time is 50k. Adding 10k will suffice.

 

[Alum86]

We built it small time with the supposed capability to expand. Have not heard any talk of expanding. We are the AHL of the NCAA. Small time. How do we do this (expand the Rent) without a sugardaddy?

 

[UConnJim]

For those wanting multi year sellouts, etc., here is the recent history of Louisville's stadium:

2006: attendance 41,482, capacity 42,000
2007: attendance 39,881, capacity 42,000
2008: attendance 39,680, capacity 42,000
2009: attendance 32,450, capacity 42,000
2010: attendance 50,648, capacity 55,000
2011: attendance 48,654, capacity 55,000

Louisville expanded without a sold out stadium and they forced the athletic department to sell the new capacity, which they have with some success. And guess what? They got the ACC invite and UConn didn't.

Literally, we are talking chump change ($2 mill/yr.) to bring the Rent to a respectable 50k capacity and some people are wining and complaining. I would bet that everyone at Louisville is happy they expanded their stadium. Guys, we have to expand.

 

[CL82]

There you go again trying to be reasonable. Don't you understand that a good portion of the base is delusional?

Conspiracy Kitty says:
...or are they?

 

[CL82]

You can't be serious, Just because you have lots of land, how do you think a stadium can be built there? For one, there's earth that has to be moved, utilities put in, there are no bathrooms in that picture. The nearest road is at least a dozen yards away.The grass is too green, the cows too friendly. What about people wanting to cross the street from towers? The crosswalk there can never accomodate thousands of fans. It also snows. Where will you put the snow?

Dude! What the heck are you talking about?! You can't be serious!

Oh wait, you aren't...never mind.

 

[BoatShow]

Of course, East Hartford offers highway exits right next to the stadium so that it takes just a few minutes to get to your parking spots. Back ups on the highway a minimal at best. Let's be honest, what are 195 and 44 like before and especially after a 10,000 attendence basketball game? Can you even begin to imagine what it would be like after a 60,000 attendence football game? Yes I know that some people will tailgate for awhile (of course where is another issue), but still, it will be real ugly.

I've sat for long times on the off ramp at 384 exit 1. IT WILL BE WORTH IT BECAUSE THE GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY BETTER. Even if you don't tailgate after you can hang around campus, grab food at a place that isn't Kahoots or Margarita's.

 

[Adios]

On-campus might be reasonable when we start flying cars. I am content with the Hockey East for the time being. We have a 15 year window to get into the B1G. That's way too much time. Geno will very likely be the John Wooden of women's basketball very soon.

 

[lv99]

There are a lot of people here talking about stadium expansion in terms of how many seats are needed based on demand. That's not the way to look at it. Even if the seats aren't needed, we should still build. It doesn't take a lot to maintain a really big stadium compared to a small stadium. Think how awesome it would be to see that really big stadium. You could go up to the top and see for a long way.

We don't have to build the whole thing at once. We can just keep adding on and make it bigger and bigger. We don't have to tear down the old one and start new. We just add on.

I think we can add 20 to 30 thousand seats per year. To do this, we need the legislature to provide the funding. This is where Malloy needs to step in and provide some leadership for a change. He needs to get off his keister and get the ball rolling.

Right now, the Rent holds 40,000. So in 15 years when the Big 10 is ready to expand, we would have a capacity of 415,000 by my calculations assuming we add 25,000 seats a year.

Michigan has the biggest stadium at a capacity of 109,901. Ours would be 415,000. Our stadium would be 3.78 times as big as Michigan's. Think how awesome that would be. You would have different climate at the top. It might snow up there during the summer.

 

[Waquoit]

I've sat for long times on the off ramp at 384 exit 1. IT WILL BE WORTH IT BECAUSE THE GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY BETTER. Even if you don't tailgate after you can hang around campus, grab food at a place that isn't Kahoots or Margarita's.

Exponentally better because you can grab food? That better be some pretty great food to make up for the extra hours and gas you will have to waste being stuck in traffic for miles and miles.

 

[SubbaBub]

Here is Penn State's gameday traffic and parking plans: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...13/misc_non_event/12_PreGame_Traffic_Flow.pdf. If Penn State can jam 100,000 people into some small podunk of a town in central PA, then I'm positive that UConn can figure out a way to get 60,000+ people into a small podunk town in eastern CT. Widen 195 and 44 by 2-4 lanes and have traffic flow one-way in 5 of 6 lanes (similar to Gillette Stadium) depending on if it is before or after the game. Instead of building hotels in East Hartford next to a Cabella's, build them in Storrs for visiting fans, conference centers, and campus activities.

Until then, UConn (or whoever manages the Rent) absolutely, positively MUST open a Dairy Bar stand this year. UConn pride!

As someone who knows a little about PSU's and Uconn's TMP (traffic management plans) this is an excellent example for comparison.

PSU:Storrs

Capacity 100k+:~50k assumed
Access points 4:1
No drive 20k:7k tops
Direct interstate exits within 1/2 mile of the stadium 2:0

There is also the matter of the towns. State College can absorb a several thousand cars and can the academic campus itself. Mansfield can't. In recent years PSU has converted former stadium parking to academic buildings and an arboretum and traffic has actually improved. They have way more capacity than Storrs.

Bottom line is there are severe infrastructure problems with a campus stadium. They can be overcome with a lot of $$$ and some really large changes to the campus. Having the land for the stadium isn't enough.


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[TouchdownHusky]

If we ever get into the b1g why not play a Michigan in Gillette or MetLife or Yankee stadium. Same for Ohio st.

Once maybe. Beyond that. . . big time schools play home games at . . . well, home.
Better solution . . . expand the Rent into a big boy stadium (at least 60K). If you play in a small stadium, you look small time. If you look small time, you're perceived as small time and you'll recruit small time. If you recruit small time then you'll probably Win/Lose more small time than not. Then you're view as small time, etc. etc. Go Big or Go Home.

 

[Waquoit]

Bottom line is there are severe infrastructure problems with a campus stadium. They can be overcome with a lot of $ and some really large changes to the campus. Having the land for the stadium isn't enough.

We're talking at how much money, a billion dollars? So a couple of guys can enhance their gameday experience?

 

[pj]

To have a campus football stadium, they should build a 4-lane limited access freeway (think the Merritt) from one of the exits 68-71 on I-84 to the north side of campus, and extend I-384 to the south side of campus.

They should do at least one of those even without a football stadium.

Realistically, the Rent is in a great location. It is highly accessible to both New England and New York. The B1G is thinking about alumni access to games; it wants to tie its New York and New England alumni closer to the universities. Don't underestimate the logistical barrier of having to learn how to navigate Storrs. People will be comfortable going to a stadium right off a freeway they've driven many times.

 

[CL82]

As someone who knows a little about PSU's and Uconn's TMP (traffic management plans) this is an excellent example for comparison.

PSU:Storrs

Capacity 100k+:~50k assumed
Access points 4:1
No drive 20k:7k tops
Direct interstate exits within 1/2 mile of the stadium 2:0

There is also the matter of the towns. State College can absorb a several thousand cars and can the academic campus itself. Mansfield can't. In recent years PSU has converted former stadium parking to academic buildings and an arboretum and traffic has actually improved. They have way more capacity than Storrs.

Bottom line is there are severe infrastructure problems with a campus stadium. They can be overcome with a lot of $ and some really large changes to the campus. Having the land for the stadium isn't enough.


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False comparison. Think Rutgers. They manage their stadium traffic on roads that slow to a crawl during the work week. They do it by making two lane roads one way for exit traffic. Getting out of there is pretty easy. You could do that with Gurleyville Road to Route 198, Storrs Road to Route 44 North and South Eagleville Road to the south to Route 32. Keep in mind that Rutgers stadium is not on campus, so their isn't the feathering that you'd have in Storrs with some staying on campus. Are you saying they can do things better in Jersey?

Michie Stadium at West Point is another example. They move people through check points to get on campus and still it is manageable. Parking is pretty far away and people either take shuttle busses or walk through campus. If you arrive early and stay late, something that we struggle to do, the drive is easy.

So figure 15k cars over three routes 5k each. Spead that out over an hour (and the smarter ones would wait longer.) You are looking at @417 cars on any exit route over any five minute increment. It would probably be easier to get out of Storrs after football game with well managed traffic plan than after a basketball game. It is completely manageable. It also is a fantasy in the near term.

 

[HuskyHawk]

1) We would need state money to expand a stadium that the state owns.

2) Naming rights can be sold after 2018, but it's the state that would sell them - UConn would have to get a cut and the state would also have to make sure that the naming rights deal squares with the tax-exempt status of the bonds.

3) It is worth expanding the stadium? Unless we think that the Big 12 is going to call, conference realignment is over for the foreseeable future and likely will not need an extra 10,000 seats for Tulane and SMU.

I'd rather let the Rent be and look into the (probably unlikely) possibility of building something on campus down the road.

Fishy, you're being logical, since when has that ever been well received here. Agree that the Rent is fine for where we are now. If the B1G or Big 12 called and conditioned entry on expansion of the Rent, we do it. If no call comes for the next 10 years, on-campus is the way to go.

 

[hthusky74]

Maybe I will! Bottom line, it seems the line between big time and small time is 50k. Adding 10k will suffice.

No the difference between small time and smaller time is 10,000

 

[hthusky74]

I've sat for long times on the off ramp at 384 exit 1. IT WILL BE WORTH IT BECAUSE THE GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY BETTER. Even if you don't tailgate after you can hang around campus, grab food at a place that isn't Kahoots or Margarita's.

Get used to the idea that it won't be built in Storrs. At least not in the next 30-40 years or more. Go back and read up on why it was built in East Hartford. Those same reasons were valid then and they are valid now. As a UConn alum my heart says the stadium should be on campus, but my brain says otherwise. I used to love living in Eddy Hall and on football Saturdays we would leave the window open. As soon as we heard the marching band start playing the National Anthem, we would grab our bottled "water" and walk to Alumni Stadium just in time for the kick-off. Unless we went up on the hill and grabbed some beer from the guys with the kegs in their vans and watched the game from there. Sadly, it just isn't feasible to be built on campus in the near ot even midterm future.

 

[Dooley]

This is the reason why I wish I would win PowerBall already. My very first phone call would be to Storrs to see what they need to either expand the Rent or build an on-campus stadium. I don't care if I build them a 70,000 seat stadium and they curtain off the top 2 decks for games against Memphis and Tulane for a few years. I want that stadium ready to go for when we're AAU and Delany realizes that Rutgers alone can not deliver NYC (and he wants a huge slice of New England too!).

 

[TouchdownHusky]

This is the reason why I wish I would win PowerBall already. My very first phone call would be to Storrs to see what they need to either expand the Rent or build an on-campus stadium. I don't care if I build them a 70,000 seat stadium and they curtain off the top 2 decks for games against Memphis and Tulane for a few years. I want that stadium ready to go for when we're AAU and Delany realizes that Rutgers alone can not deliver NYC (and he wants a huge slice of New England too!).

Exactly! The saying was never "If they come, then you should built it". Get a big time stadium in place.

 

[SubbaBub]

We're talking at how much money, a billion dollars? So a couple of guys can enhance their gameday experience?

Roadways, Stadium, Parking, Water is probably close to $300 Million give or take. The campus expansion to fit 35,000 students puts it over $1B.


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[Waquoit]

Roadways, Stadium, Parking, Water is probably close to $300 Million give or take. The campus expansion to fit 35,000 students puts it over $1B.

You can't even get the stadium for 300M.

 

[spsct]

Not exactly something to brag about. It just means everyone else found a home.

Exactly what I thought when I read that.

 

[Adios]

All the schools that are part of "major" conferences now have been playing FBS level football since before we won a title in basketball. Are we supposed to demand an invite to an upper-tier conference when every other school has been serving time at the FBS level far longer than we have?

We became relevant recently. Get used to it.

 

[Atross]

The fights by different towns along the way would be intense. I can't see people putting up with the kind of traffic that would result if an on campus facility were built. The access is too limited.