For Sale. College Football Stadium on Old Airstrip | Page 2 | The Boneyard

For Sale. College Football Stadium on Old Airstrip

Status
Not open for further replies.
HuskyfanDan said:
key in this "for the state" not for uconn, for the state...
Expand ...

Rentschler is owned by the State, not UConn and the residents of Storrs/Mansfield will NEVER, in any iteration, allow a major stadium project to be built on campus, especially if it affects their front yards.

The state will not get behind any major campus stadium project because they have Rentschler. Is it state of the art? No. But it can be expanded and improved. TheState is not going to sell it either. They can get an MLS team to play at Rentschler, if available. NASCAR would sooner buy one of the speedbowls in Waterford or Stafford Springs. Even then, you're desire is to replace a stadium that is used about 10 days out of the year with a race track that is used twice?

Think before you type...and use a copy/paste function from a word processing program that fixes for proper capitalization and punctuation.
 
Excalibur said:
People from FC are experts on taking an hour to drive 2 miles.
Expand ...

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.
 
Husky25 said:
Rentschler is owned by the State, not UConn and the residents of Storrs/Mansfield will NEVER, in any iteration, allow a major stadium project to be built on campus, especially if it affects their front yards.

The state will not get behind any major campus stadium project because they have Rentschler. Is it state of the art? No. But it can be expanded and improved. TheState is not going to sell it either. They can get an MLS team to play at Rentschler, if available. NASCAR would sooner buy one of the speedbowls in Waterford or Stafford Springs. Even then, you're desire is to replace a stadium that is used about 10 days out of the year with a race track that is used twice?

Think before you type...and use a copy/paste function from a word processing program that fixes for proper capitalization and punctuation.
Expand ...

Aren't there any alumni living in Mansfield. Can't we get some on the boards and city council, and turn that around?
 
Eminent domain. But I think that would lead to complete lawsuit chaos in this case. Too many involved. I like the stadium being in East Hartford, personally. UCLA and USC have off-campus stadiums. Sure doesn't affect USC's recruiting. As others say, would be much better if they allowed us to tailgate for more time.
 
The Rent is massively underutilized, but field conditions should not be jeopardized just before or during the season. As much as some soccer supporters would like CT to have an MLS team and generating more revenue is appropriate, (East) Hartford is nowhere on the MLS wish list.
 
huskyjawz said:
Aren't there any alumni living in Mansfield. Can't we get some on the boards and city council, and turn that around?
Expand ...
As I said yesterday. They are a very NIMBY population.
 
.-.
sportsart said:
Quinnipiac has the number 1 ranked team in the country for hockey. UConn needs to fire their hockey coaches damn it. Just sayin'
Expand ...
Someone's not paying too much attention to UConn's current hockey coaching search. Maybe some also believe UConn should replicate Quinnipiac's recruitment of older Canadian players. Just sayin' ;)
 
Butch said:
Eminent domain. But I think that would lead to complete lawsuit chaos in this case. Too many involved. I like the stadium being in East Hartford, personally. UCLA and USC have off-campus stadiums. Sure doesn't affect USC's recruiting. As others say, would be much better if they allowed us to tailgate for more time.
Expand ...
The Government will not support eminent domain when it comes to a stadium project on campus, because they own Rentschler Field. AND they are not going to sell Rentschler just because HFD deems it not big time enough.

Regarding the MLS: Field turf would take care of the deterioration issue. Gillette (a $68,000 seat stadium) hosts the Revolution and they installed field Turf about 5 years ago. Trays of natural grass can be installed (Thinkthe Meadow ands) for FIFA friendlies.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
I'd spend significantly more time trying to get to campus and park from the highway than I would to get from ffld county to the actual exit. No one would come.
Expand ...

You assume everyone just wants to come for the game. People make a day of it.
 
Husky25 said:
The Government will not support eminent domain when it comes to a stadium project on campus, because they own Rentschler Field. AND they are not going to sell Rentschler just because HFD deems it not big time enough.

Regarding the MLS: Field turf would take care of the deterioration issue. Gillette (a $68,000 seat stadium) hosts the Revolution and they installed field Turf about 5 years ago. Trays of natural grass can be installed (Thinkthe Meadow ands) for FIFA friendlies.
Expand ...

The Revolution though are looking at tracts in Somerville for a new stadium.
 
upstater said:
The Revolution though are looking at tracts in Somerville for a new stadium.
Expand ...
That's not happening anytime soon. In fact, the last time it was mentioned was 2010 and there are still other sites in the running for a soccer only stadium.
 
upstater said:
You assume everyone just wants to come for the game. People make a day of it.
Expand ...

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.
 
.-.
WhereistheDove? said:
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.
Expand ...
If you need to get a feel for what this is like, leave Pocono Speedway after a Nascar race.
 
Da_Aisijimo_Gou said:
Someone's not paying too much attention to UConn's current hockey coaching search. Maybe some also believe UConn should replicate Quinnipiac's recruitment of older Canadian players. Just sayin' ;)
Expand ...

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.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
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.
Expand ...

Penn State had a 30 mile single lane road for 110,000 fans.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
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.
Expand ...

IF this awas even a possibility, they would have to widen the road to accomodate wider breakdown lanes. Then, similar to Route 1 in Foxborough, three lanes would enter campus with one leaving. The opposite after the game.

Do you understand how much money that would cost the State for the 7-mile portion of SR-195 from Exit 68 to campus? How about the traffic comming in from Willimantic? How about from I-384? This state just jerryrigged a solution to a $415 million budget deficit with creative accounting. Eminent domain requires actual cash money.
 
upstater said:
Penn State had a 30 mile single lane road for 110,000 fans.
Expand ...

Since when are we Penn State?! This team can't see out the Rent, which is incredibly easy to get to. What makes anyone think that adding a huge hassle to the process would make things go any better?
 
The over-arching point is that UConn should be planning for an on campus stadium, now, even if the stadium isn't built for 30 years.

The Rent won't be new forever. UConn has the land. Lots of land. It's the Land of Land up there. Infrastructure to accommodate 8-10 events a years is not insurmountable, to suggest otherwise is like saying that we have forgotten how to build roads and bridges.

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.

Minnesota was forced to build an on-campus stadium by the Big Ten.

Colorado State is moving to an on-campus stadium.

UNLV is planning to build an on-campus stadium.

Having a stadium in East Hartford that is owned by the state is not in UConn's best interest. The State of Connecticut has now gotten 10 years of rent from UConn, and conservatively, will get at least 5 years more. At what point has UConn fulfilled its commitment to the state of Connecticut?

Look at a school like Arkansas. It ;plays some games in Little Rock. There is no reason that UConn can't do something similar.
 
.-.
WhereistheDove? said:
Since when are we Penn State?! This team can't see out the Rent, which is incredibly easy to get to. What makes anyone think that adding a huge hassle to the process would make things go any better?
Expand ...

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.
 
Husky25 said:
IF this awas even a possibility, they would have to widen the road to accomodate wider breakdown lanes. Then, similar to Route 1 in Foxborough, three lanes would enter campus with one leaving. The opposite after the game.

Do you understand how much money that would cost the State for the 7-mile portion of SR-195 from Exit 68 to campus? How about the traffic comming in from Willimantic? How about from I-384? This state just jerryrigged a solution to a $415 million budget deficit with creative accounting. Eminent domain requires actual cash money.
Expand ...

I can't tell if you realize that it being completely cost prohibitive was the point I was making.
 
upstater said:
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.
Expand ...
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?
 
Rumrunner said:
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.
Expand ...

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.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
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?
Expand ...

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.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
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.
Expand ...

Couple hours?? Wha!!!?
 
.-.
upstater said:
Couple hours?? Wha!!!?
Expand ...

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.
 
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.
 
upstater said:
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.
Expand ...

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.
 
.-.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,349
Messages
4,566,505
Members
10,469
Latest member
xxBlueChips


Top Bottom