For Sale. College Football Stadium on Old Airstrip

[WhereistheDove?]

Storrs Center is being built out. They are adding a ton of new professors and new students which will increase the population base by 10k to 20k. Eventually, they'll have to build regardless. UConn has an even better situation than PSU since PSU is 3 1/2 hours away from ANY nearby city. Go up early, make a day of it. Like they do EVERYWHERE else, not just Penn State.

We can't even sell out games in a much more central location to the non-student population. I just don't see how you think that an on-campus stadium would somehow make the fan base grow and become more motivated to go to games. PSU football is a major brand. It's literally the only thing to do around there. That is not at all the case for UConn and CT residents. I keep hearing people harping on UConn needing to push new roads into fairfield county. How would adding a huge amount of time to the drive help that?

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I don't think people realize that a football game at major schools is, as has been mentioned, an all day event. Tailgating, pre game, post game. It's an entire day commitment. Now it's one thing to say that the appetite for that type of commitment is not supported by the populace and hence it's silly to plan UConn football around that premise, but it's another to just say, "sitting in traffic is a deal breaker." And there is no better game day experience than at stadium where soon to be 24,000 undergrads can walk to. Atmosphere is huge at these types of events.

It's a combination of the two. Rentschler is very easy to get to for non-students (and not all that bad for students) and we still can't sell out games. The passionate fans would probably love this, but to the majority, who are casual fans, adding another couple of hours in travel time for a lot of them wouldn't do anything to make them show up more often. With this fanbase, I don't see how this is feasible without a huge infrastructure project.

 

[upstater]

We can't even sell out games in a much more central location to the non-student population. I just don't see how you think that an on-campus stadium would somehow make the fan base grow and become more motivated to go to games. PSU football is a major brand. It's literally the only thing to do around there. That is not at all the case for UConn and CT residents. I keep hearing people harping on UConn needing to push new roads into fairfield county. How would adding a huge amount of time to the drive help that?

As I said, not ONLY PSU. And the fans of PSU don't come from Centre Cty. No one lives in Centre Cty. They come mainly from the Philly and Harrisburg areas.

 

[upstater]

It's a combination of the two. Rentschler is very easy to get to for non-students (and not all that bad for students) and we still can't sell out games. The passionate fans would probably love this, but to the majority, who are casual fans, adding another couple of hours in travel time for a lot of them wouldn't do anything to make them show up more often. With this fanbase, I don't see how this is feasible without a huge infrastructure project.

Couple hours?? Wha!!!?

 

[Husky25]

I can't tell if you realize that it being completely cost prohibitive was the point I was making.

I was doubling down on your point.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I was doubling down on your point.

Ahh okay I was like 50/50 on whether you were agreeing or disagreeing with me lol

 

[Husky25]

Ahh okay I was like 50/50 on whether you were agreeing or disagreeing with me lol

Agreeing...

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Couple hours?? Wha!!!?

With moderate traffic it takes me an extra 30-40 minutes to Storrs from fairfield, than it does to get to Rentschler. Add on to that the extra traffic you'd get on 195 (conservatively I'd guess an average of 30 minutes average each way. God knows it can get that bad on move-in day). So instead of around 2 hours total travel for me to get to East Hartford and back, it'd conservatively be 4 hours total travel time. I didn't say everyone is going to have two hours added, but if you live farther away from UConn than East Hartford, yeah it would.

 

[upstater]

Get more students in the seats. When students walk to the stadium, especially in the planned expansion of students, you create the conditions to fill up a stadium. With bars, restaurants, events and such all over campus, people are much more inclined to make a day of it.

 

[BHusky]

As I said, not ONLY PSU. And the fans of PSU don't come from Centre Cty. No one lives in Centre Cty. They come mainly from the Philly and Harrisburg areas.

PSU has a single lane road to get into the University area, but the campus/State College is massive and there are many different ways to access the stadium without hours of traffic jams. Not to mention 1/3 of their fans live in town and walk and they allow RV's (another large portion of the fan base) to park on campus beginning on Thursday. So not quite apples to apples in any stretch currently or in the next 20 years.

Last I checked the state of CT has a shortfall of roughly $400M for the 2013 budget. Even if they could somehow sell the Rent to someon like NASCAR, good luck getting support to transfer that money to a new stadium closer to Storrs. Even though that is such a far fetched suggestion anyway.

Where would the Stadium go theoretically if they did get all the stars to align? The on campus location was the parking/woods area adjecent to Horsebarn Hill which is now the new Greek housing. That area is now developed and hell would freeze over before locals/school would allow anything to be built on Horsebarn Hill.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Not sure how this discussion fit into this thread but...Recruiting "older Canadian players" is not intrinsic to Quinnipiac. Take a peak @ most top hockey programs. You want to compete - necessary component. Almost - but not quite like bringing JUCO kids in for football.

Clearly based on sportsart's comment earlier in the thread suggesting UConn should hire a new hockey coach and reference to Quinnipiac's recent hockey success. Of course, some schools recruit older players. Pecknold's noted for it more than the averages ...
'

 

[Husky25]

How does that work for Boston College? Alumni and Conte are in the center of campus and its a ghost town unless the ice is exposed.

 

[CL82]

Eventually you of develop a sixth sense for the Westchester/Fairfield County traffic patterns. You learn to factor in the season, day of the week, hr of the day, whether school is in session or not, construction situation and weather before you decide to point your car down the highway onramp for the Merritt or I-95.

I used to have a very heavily travelled commute. You do learn all kinds of signs to optimize routes. Limo guys are great at this stuff. One guy looks up at a bridge overpass, notes that it is backed up and recomends changing our route, even though it was about 10 miles ahead of the back up that he was predicting. I asked him why that particular bridge would matter. His response was "Don't know, but it does." I've tested his theory both ways and d@mned if he wasn't right...every time.

 

[CL82]

Really doesn't matter if some people make a day of it and some people come from the game. Getting from the highway to UConn when there are 8-9k people coming for a men's game is terrible. Even if football games spread the travel time out over a slightly larger timeframe, it's still 30k+ coming down one lane. It would be terrible getting to the game, much less getting out of there afterwards when almost everyone is leaving at the same time. The amount of money the state would have to spend in infrastructure upgrades to make a project like this feasible is completely and totally prohibitive.

As I frequently note:

1. Other schools manage this successful without building a super highway to the front door of the stadium. It can be done.
2. Any buildout would not be a driveway for the school, it would be improving access to an under developed part of the state.
3. The state is investing in a technical/research park. Access makes companies utilizing that more attractive.
4. Spreading out entry/exit time is exactly how tailgating got started. Get there early and fire ou the grill. Stay late and BS about the game. Visit the campus. Visit restaurants.
5. Regardless, this ain't changing anytime soon. The Rent is decent facility and I am grateful to have it.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Get more students in the seats. When students walk to the stadium, especially in the planned expansion of students, you create the conditions to fill up a stadium. With bars, restaurants, events and such all over campus, people are much more inclined to make a day of it.

I'm sorry I just completely disagree that this could work without major infrastructure work. I don't care if people are making a day out of it or not. The bottom line is that you would have tens of thousands of people driving down a road that has trouble handling 7k people for a basketball game. And on top of that dealing with the campus traffic situation once you actually get to Storrs. This is not a strong fan base, so while moving it on to campus would get more casual student fans, there are going to be a lot of non-students who won't go because of the extra hassle.

 

[upstater]

PSU has a single lane road to get into the University area, but the campus/State College is massive and there are many different ways to access the stadium without hours of traffic jams. Not to mention 1/3 of their fans live in town and walk and they allow RV's (another large portion of the fan base) to park on campus beginning on Thursday. So not quite apples to apples in any stretch currently or in the next 20 years.

Last I checked the state of CT has a shortfall of roughly $400M for the 2013 budget. Even if they could somehow sell the Rent to someon like NASCAR, good luck getting support to transfer that money to a new stadium closer to Storrs. Even though that is such a far fetched suggestion anyway.

Where would the Stadium go theoretically if they did get all the stars to align? The on campus location was the parking/woods area adjecent to Horsebarn Hill which is now the new Greek housing. That area is now developed and hell would freeze over before locals/school would allow anything to be built on Horsebarn Hill.

1/3rd of 110,000 is 35,000 or so, so they still have 75,000 coming in from hours away. But yes, you're right, they can park anywhere and walk. They can park at their hotel. They can drive the RV in, etc. Va. tech used to have a 55k stadium. Blacksburg was no mecca. Fill that sucker up with 15,000 students (out of 30,000), then sell 40,000 seats (5,000 to the locals, 30,000 to the people in the Hartford area, 5,000 from the rest of the state).

 

[upstater]

I'm sorry I just completely disagree that this could work without major infrastructure work. I don't care if people are making a day out of it or not. The bottom line is that you would have tens of thousands of people driving down a road that has trouble handling 7k people for a basketball game. And on top of that dealing with the campus traffic situation once you actually get to Storrs. This is not a strong fan base, so while moving it on to campus would get more casual student fans, there are going to be a lot of non-students who won't go because of the extra hassle.

All I'm saying is that I've seen much much worse and it has worked.

 

[Doggie Style]

It's a combination of the two. Rentschler is very easy to get to for non-students (and not all that bad for students) and we still can't sell out games. The passionate fans would probably love this, but to the majority, who are casual fans, adding another couple of hours in travel time for a lot of them wouldn't do anything to make them show up more often. With this fanbase, I don't see how this is feasible without a huge infrastructure project.

It's called thinning of the herd! Let the 25k students along w/ the passionate fans go to the games and leave the casual fans behind, who needs em'? I'll take that set up all day long! It would only improve our situation!

 

[WhereistheDove?]

It's called thinning of the herd! Let the 25k students along w/ the passionate fans go to the games and leave the casual fans behind, who needs em'? I'll take that set up all day long! It would only improve our situation!

$

 

[BlueMAB]

All I'm saying is that I've seen much much worse and it has worked.

It works in other places because the culture is different.

The Rent is one of the easiest stadiums to get in and out of that you will ever find, and yet many of the fans will still leave competitive games 20-30 minutes before it's over in order to try and beat traffic.

The irony is, traffic is lighter 20-30 minutes after the game is over than it is 20-30 minutes before it's over.

You, HFD, and a few others can continue to ignore the very obvious cultural differences between nutmeggers and anywhere college football brings in 70,000+ fans, the rest of us understand that you're comparing apples to oranges.

 

[Dann]

getting casual fans to campus and going thru the college life every trip is how u turn them into diehards and familes into legacy and so on. its a major culture lacking here to the point where a lot of ppl can't even grasp it.

dad went to psu years ago. out of college moved to philly in a condo worked a nice it job. met his wife who went to psu 2 years later than him. they frucked, got a house 25 minutes outside phili and had 2 kids. every fall they go to campus 5 times on weekends for games. kid have been going since they were 2. they love it just like there parents. they meet old college friends and have huge tailgate and all that jazz. kids are now in hs. looking at schools is a joke. they apply to the phili schools and psu and pitt. get in everywhere but nova. doesn't matter, psu was the pick. they were comfortable there. been there 100 times. love the sports and college life and so on. kid goes to school. parents come up 5 weekends and theya ll party togetehr with more freinds of the kid now. the family of tailgating and just family overall grows by the year.

now translate that to uconn. add in the fact that we have a huge bball fanbase which is a huge jumping point to start with and add that fans will also be on campus for 40 home bball games between the 2 programs and puck/base/soc/lax. thats culture. familes on campus alot gets more book store sales and gear spread out quick. more donations and community service and participation. the towns around them become more populated as hartford is a short daily drive for jobs. u see where im going. the culture is so far upside down here that fans can't even grasp it becuase they look thru blue glasses and like how easy it is to get to hartford instead of a extra 20 minutes down the road. what uconn molded so far is a lazy crowd who likes to get things easy. students wont travel unless it s abig fball or bball game. theya re lazy so they wait for gampel games. same with older fans the opposite way. uconn molded a culture of lazy and also a culture of non campus life so alums and fans have no clue what uconn really is like curently becuase they dont see it enough. football games are all day things, the sun is out, fans and alum can sight see on campus. bball games are mostly dark night games and inside or cold out. not enough of a advantage. thats why fball is important on campus.

 

[Dann]

It works in other places because the culture is different.

The Rent is one of the easiest stadiums to get in and out of that you will ever find, and yet many of the fans will still leave competitive games 20-30 minutes before it's over in order to try and beat traffic.

The irony is, traffic is lighter 20-30 minutes after the game is over than it is 20-30 minutes before it's over.

You, HFD, and a few others can continue to ignore the very obvious cultural differences between nutmeggers and anywhere college football brings in 70,000+ fans, the rest of us understand that you're comparing apples to oranges.

then take your signature out becuase hats never happening with your opinion being .00001% true.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

getting casual fans to campus and going thru the college life every trip is how u turn them into diehards and familes into legacy and so on. its a major culture lacking here to the point where a lot of ppl can't even grasp it.

dad went to psu years ago. out of college moved to philly in a condo worked a nice it job. met his wife who went to psu 2 years later than him. they frucked, got a house 25 minutes outside phili and had 2 kids. every fall they go to campus 5 times on weekends for games. kid have been going since they were 2. they love it just like there parents. they meet old college friends and have huge tailgate and all that jazz. kids are now in hs. looking at schools is a joke. they apply to the phili schools and psu and pitt. get in everywhere but nova. doesn't matter, psu was the pick. they were comfortable there. been there 100 times. love the sports and college life and so on. kid goes to school. parents come up 5 weekends and theya ll party togetehr with more freinds of the kid now. the family of tailgating and just family overall grows by the year.

now translate that to uconn. add in the fact that we have a huge bball fanbase which is a huge jumping point to start with and add that fans will also be on campus for 40 home bball games between the 2 programs and puck/base/soc/lax. thats culture. familes on campus alot gets more book store sales and gear spread out quick. more donations and community service and participation. the towns around them become more populated as hartford is a short daily drive for jobs. u see where im going. the culture is so far upside down here that fans can't even grasp it becuase they look thru blue glasses and like how easy it is to get to hartford instead of a extra 20 minutes down the road. what uconn molded so far is a lazy crowd who likes to get things easy. students wont travel unless it s abig fball or bball game. theya re lazy so they wait for gampel games. same with older fans the opposite way. uconn molded a culture of lazy and also a culture of non campus life so alums and fans have no clue what uconn really is like curently becuase they dont see it enough. football games are all day things, the sun is out, fans and alum can sight see on campus. bball games are mostly dark night games and inside or cold out. not enough of a advantage. thats why fball is important on campus.

Do you go to all home football games, 40 home bball games between the two programs and assorted other UConn teams?

 

[upstater]

It works in other places because the culture is different.

The Rent is one of the easiest stadiums to get in and out of that you will ever find, and yet many of the fans will still leave competitive games 20-30 minutes before it's over in order to try and beat traffic.

The irony is, traffic is lighter 20-30 minutes after the game is over than it is 20-30 minutes before it's over.

You, HFD, and a few others can continue to ignore the very obvious cultural differences between nutmeggers and anywhere college football brings in 70,000+ fans, the rest of us understand that you're comparing apples to oranges.

We're not ignoring anything. I understand why people would try to get out of the Rent ASAP too. Comparing the Rent to on campus stadiums? Now that is apples and oranges. It's not a great college football experience. An on campus stadium in a college town IS a college football experience. If you gave people a total college football experience, they wouldn't worry about the traffic because they wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

[BlueMAB]

then take your signature out becuase hats never happening with your opinion being .00001% true.

When you stop being this board's delusional drunken version of RutgersAl and show anything close to real life possible solutions for the problems this program faces, I'll change my signature to whatever you want. But that's never happening either.