Future of the XL Center as a Home Site

[Chin Diesel]

It’s a 33 year old building that isn’t particularly nice or comfortable. And it was not about adding seats, so while common sense should have killed it, a broke-ass state of Connecticut killed it. (It was never actually on the schedule. It was a color-pencil sketch on a plan ten years ago.)

XL is not going to get better - it will simply get worse raster or slower, depending on what they do. Gampel is not going to get better - it’s just getting older.

We need a modern 12,500-15,000 seat facility. We can pretend we don’t, but do not be surprised when “game day” atmosphere kneecaps us again when realignment comes around again. Eventually, you all will figure it out.

that's where I'm at.

It's going to take a decade from the time they decide to do it until it is a done deal. By then Gampel will be well over 40 years old and the state will still be fumbling around what to do with XL.

Do it right with an on campus arena in that seating range.

Hartford should raze the XL and build a smaller venue or just give up on a civic center. Sure, a civic center is a source of civic pride but it also has to reflect the reality of the city. A smaller 6k-8k arena which can host hockey and other events is fine for Hartford. As others have said, Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift ain't playing Hartford ever again nor is any other headliner act. That model died 20 years ago.

 

[krinklecut]

They dont send enough to warrant that, thats the problem. They fill the baseline section and the sections above it were pretty full for Nova, but not for Butler or Marquette.

Okay, then you only need to make it two sections and you’ll piss off fewer of the elderly people everyone is so worried about losing!

 

[businesslawyer]

You're now switching the argument and moving goalposts.

In other breaking developments, the sun came up this morning.

 

[John]

Okay, then you only need to make it two sections and you’ll piss off fewer of the elderly people everyone is so worried about losing!

the "elderly people" who pay the freight.

 

[XLCenterFan]

Sorry I expect somewhere that hosts half of the home games the team plays to be a sort of hub for the team. Its totally excusable to be a capital city and have no downtown bars that are open and have the game on at noon on a weekend because checks notes...Parkville Market and the Bushnell exist, my bad, I was wrong

These Hartford bars and restaurants all rely on UConn basketball coming into town and providing them their busiest days of the year but do absolutely nothing to retain that business, nothing to keep that UConn support a part of Hartford. Host a game watch, have a post UConn Football game party, have one of coaches roadshows in Hartford, 10% of your meal with a ticket stub. If you want UConn to play half the games in Hartford, you have to make Hartford a Home for UConn. The fact that you deem it "Not Smart." to base my opinion on whether or not I think UConn should continue to go out of their way to play in Hartford on that factor, tells me more about your intellect than mine.

I'm fine with games being played at XL, I get it, its not my preference, but I get it. But the notion that Hartford has it going on, and any one who disagrees with you is "a snob who never goes into the city" is ridiculous.

Ok, ok. You make a good point about how the bars/restaurants downtown should make more of an effort to draw a game crowd during an away game. The marketing would be easy with fb/twitter/etc. Something like 10% off the bill with a UConn jersey on, or 5% off the bill with a stub (or screenshot from the game...only boomers have stubs nowadays) from the previous game. Blast it up on the social and see who comes. I just think that too many people enjoy having both venues to bail on Hartford. Check the poll I put up...it's basically even. I know that the people on the Yard are rabid fans, so it's not a random poll...but if I had to guess, the more casual fans would skew towards playing in both arenas. My "not smart" comment purely had to do with the fact that you suggested there is nothing to do in Hartford, not that you don't like games to be played in Hartford. They are not the same, and there is plenty to do in Hartford. It has been my experience that people (mostly white suburbanites/rural types) speak negatively about the city without ever checking out what it has to offer, or without even knowing what goes on there.

 

[krinklecut]

the "elderly people" who pay the freight.

I continue to see this said. I’ve yet to see anyone produce anything that confirms these people are donating tons of money. Can anyone produce an actual figure of estimated dollars of donations lost if we no longer play at the XL?

This has been the narrative for a decade but I’ve literally never seen a piece of evidence that this is true.

 

[John]

I continue to see this said. I’ve yet to see anyone produce anything that confirms these people are donating tons of money. Can anyone produce an actual figure of estimated dollars of donations lost if we no longer play at the XL?

This has been the narrative for a decade but I’ve literally never seen a piece of evidence that this is true.

I take it you're not a season ticket holder

 

[krinklecut]

I take it you're not a season ticket holder

Both venues have about 45% of their capacity going to season ticket holders (gampel a tad more that XL). We already know that with season ticket sales included, games at XL break even, if that.

If you’re trying to tell me that the ~2,500 or so extra season ticket holders at the XL would make up for the revenue UConn makes from parking, concessions, and bookstore sales, I know a guy you should talk to about buying a bridge. It’s just not true, and this talking point is old and tired.

 

[huskymedic]

If anything… it was quite effective getting the issue out in front of people/fans.




Alternate access

 

[John]

Both venues have about 45% of their capacity going to season ticket holders (gampel a tad more that XL). We already know that with season ticket sales included, games at XL break even, if that.

If you’re trying to tell me that the ~2,500 or so extra season ticket holders at the XL would make up for the revenue UConn makes from parking, concessions, and bookstore sales, I know a guy you should talk to about buying a bridge. It’s just not true, and this talking point is old and tired.

so I was right, you're not a season ticket holder.

 

[uconnric]

Both venues have about 45% of their capacity going to season ticket holders (gampel a tad more that XL). We already know that with season ticket sales included, games at XL break even, if that.

If you’re trying to tell me that the ~2,500 or so extra season ticket holders at the XL would make up for the revenue UConn makes from parking, concessions, and bookstore sales, I know a guy you should talk to about buying a bridge. It’s just not true, and this talking point is old and tired.

UConn is not going to stop playing in Hartford, nor should they. We've only won 4 national championships splitting games between Storrs and Hartford, so that's proven to be a tremendous disadvantage. And I'm guessing that you aren't driving up to games from New Haven or Fairfield Counties.

 

[uconnfan68]

In other breaking developments, the sun came up this morning.

On what planet?

 

[Chin Diesel]

If anything… it was quite effective getting the issue out in front of people/fans.




Alternate access

Calling the university president's comments a mistake and then saying you went to one of her underlings to clear it up and then making this all public is crap.

 

[businesslawyer]

On what planet?

I said it came up. Not that we could see it. LOL.

 

[gampelcrazies]

I'm so sick of people whining about the distance/time it takes to get to Storrs to watch a game. Thats like me complaining about the Red Sox playing games in Boston. And people saying they would lose the "big time" donors if they stopped playing in Hartford have no idea what they are talking about.

 

[Fishy]

UConn is not going to stop playing in Hartford, nor should they. We've only won 4 national championships splitting games between Storrs and Hartford, so that's proven to be a tremendous disadvantage. And I'm guessing that you aren't driving up to games from New Haven or Fairfield Counties.

This is dumb.

XL had nothing to do with winning a title and winning another has nothing to do with XL.

UConn pays to play at XL and doesn’t realize any revenue at all until the numbers climb into the five figures. They make nothing from concessions, nothing from parking.

And now the arena is in disrepair.

If moving to Storrs means losing you because you can’t drive to Storrs, see ya.

 

[krinklecut]

so I was right, you're not a season ticket holder.

Sigh. The required donation for season ticket holders at the XL ranges from $35 to $5000 per seat this year. Most are closer to $35 than $5000, but let’s split the difference and say the average is $2,500 per season ticket seat, with about 2,500 more season ticket seats at the XL. That brings us to around $6m in donations on the season. Now, it’s not close to that as the average donation is closer to $300 per season ticket seat (it’s actually less but I’m gonna throw you a bone here), or a whopping $750,000 for those lost 2,500 over the course of a season.

If we increase all of the Gampel required donations by an average $100, we can make up $450,000 of that. Between concessions, parking, and merch, the additional $300,000 would be made back over the course of like 2 games.

Give me a break dude.

 

[krinklecut]

Sigh. The required donation for season ticket holders at the XL ranges from $35 to $5000 per seat this year. Most are closer to $35 than $5000, but let’s split the difference and say the average is $2,500 per season ticket seat, with about 2,500 more season ticket seats at the XL. That brings us to around $6m in donations on the season. Now, it’s not close to that as the average donation is closer to $300 per season ticket seat (it’s actually less but I’m gonna throw you a bone here), or a whopping $750,000 for those lost 2,500 over the course of a season.

If we increase all of the Gampel required donations by an average $100, we can make up $450,000 of that. Between concessions, parking, and merch, the additional $300,000 would be made back over the course of like 2 games.

Give me a break dude.

And of course, none of this is factoring the amount we pay XL to play there.

 

[uconnric]

This is dumb.

XL had nothing to do with winning a title and winning another has nothing to do with XL.

UConn pays to play at XL and doesn’t realize any revenue at all until the numbers climb into the five figures. They make nothing from concessions, nothing from parking.

And now the arena is in disrepair.

If moving to Storrs means losing you because you can’t drive to Storrs, see ya.

Very funny.

 

[Tuna]

And people saying they would lose the "big time" donors if they stopped playing in Hartford have no idea what they are talking about.

oh really?

 

[CL82]

A seat donation is part of the season ticket package what are you talking about it has nothing to do with ad hoc donations. As noted the lower bowl around mid court go for $800 a season. The donation goes down as the seats get worse obviously, but it's non zero. That's a big part of this picture that is ignored.

You're now switching the argument and moving goalposts. Nobody is arguing that they take home is less at the civic center than Gampel. My position is that the school isn't public with the full picture and that being in Hartford has other benefits that serve to benefit UConn.

I’ve been entirely consistent, but you’ve meandered a bit moving from unquantified political considerations to unquantified economic considerations to unquantified savings earnings to the University.

It may be a typo, but you said no one is arguing that they take home less at the Civic Center than it Gampel. I am, that’s exactly the issue.

I haven’t said that seat donations are irrelevant, I just don’t have the numbers. Without them, I can’t comment on the meaningfully. That hasn’t stopped you referencing them vaguely, and that’s fine, but there’s no way for me to account for them one way or the other. As I’ve offered to repeatedly, if you can actually get that info, I’ll work it into my calculations and whatever they say, they say. But right now, it’s all speculative.

I’m pretty confident the school is relatively transparent with this information. You would just have to do a deep dive through the financials if you really that interested in it.

Oh, there’s not a doubt in my mind that there are some, currently unquantifiable, intangible benefits to playing in Hartford. There is also no doubt in my mind that there are some, currently unquantifiable, benefits, to playing in Storrs. Weighing the pros and cons of them is a practical impossibility until the unquantifiable becomes quantified. The fact that you “believe” that the value of being in Hartford outweighs, the value of playing in Storrs is all well and good, but just not particularly meaningful to this conversation.

All that said, somehow you’re locked in to the notion that the university must pay a premium to rent the XL Center. That is not etched in stone. There’s not a reason in the world why a quasi public entity should be price gouging the University and nothing that you’ve said is a valid argument for why it should.

At this point, it’s kind of pointless for you to reply back to say “But but but there are numbers that I don’t know that I’m sure would make a difference if I knew them but I don’t, but if I did, they would help support the meandering point I’m trying to make.” But if you want to feel free. I won’t respond because it’s readily apparent that this back-and-forth is going nowhere.

 

[gampelcrazies]

oh really?

You think someone who is giving big time money is going to stop because 8/9 more games are being played on campus??? Don’t think those people have to worry about getting out of work early to make the games

 

[UConnDad]

There should be no seat donation at XL for that crappy arena. Double the seat donation at Gampel to make up the difference.

 

[CL82]

There should be no seat donation at XL for that crappy arena. Double the seat donation at Gampel to make up the difference.

That’s the obvious answer, isn’t it? Double the games, double the donation.

 

[hardcorehusky]

It’s a 33 year old building that isn’t particularly nice or comfortable. And it was not about adding seats, so while common sense should have killed it, a broke-ass state of Connecticut killed it. (It was never actually on the schedule. It was a color-pencil sketch on a plan ten years ago.)

XL is not going to get better - it will simply get worse raster or slower, depending on what they do. Gampel is not going to get better - it’s just getting older.

We need a modern 12,500-15,000 seat facility. We can pretend we don’t, but do not be surprised when “game day” atmosphere kneecaps us again when realignment comes around again. Eventually, you all will figure it out.

Horse is partially out of the barn on this one. Even Massachusetts got it right with the Mullin Center. We should have built a new on campus facility that was the home to hockey and basketball and seats 12K. Multi purpose, modern, could have taken the money dumped into the Toscano Center and merged it with the new place. Additionally, it would have gotten UConn much more money in naming rights as well.