Future of the XL Center as a Home Site

[krinklecut]

The “but the donations!” people are essentially making the argument that the rich UConn fans are actually fans of Hartford, not UConn.

 

[CaptainRon]

Psst, follow the people who control the money, the politicians… ill give you a hint, they aren’t in Storrs.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

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.

I’ve done a quick and dirty calculation and posted it here previously on a few occasions. Essentially UConn needs to have a sell out at the XL center to break even with playing in Storrs.

That quick and dirty computation did include ticket revenue, but did not include seat, donations, or “donations by the school by Hartford centric fans” because I don’t have access to those numbers. If you do, post them and I’ll incorporate them, otherwise, I’ll consider it a wash.

That's kind of your thing here. Make up numbers and pass off your results as conclusive facts.

 

[Waquoit]

I take it you're not a season ticket holder

Based on some of his comments in this thread, I don't even think he goes to games.

 

[CTBasketball]

Gampel, just like XL, is a dump. It’s just a smaller dump, with a better layout for basketball. It’s 30+ years old and feels like a high school gym when you walk in.

I’m all for a new on-campus arena, but that won’t happen until it’s desperately needed, and unless private funding pours in, the first I bet will not happen with our current deficit. Until then, play 4-5 timely games at XL and the rest at Gampel. But the lease deal needs to be reorganized.

And the President needs to be muzzled - she needs to pick her words. Everyone is laughing at her.

 

[krinklecut]

Based on some of his comments in this thread, I don't even think he goes to games.

I don’t even know what a basket balls is! Is that the orange round one ?

 

[krinklecut]

Can anyone point to any record of large dollar donors saying they would pull donations if UConn left Hartford? It’s been the argument for years, it should be pretty easy to produce a few donors saying on record they would pull their donations. Please send me a few. I’m happy and willing to be wrong about this if I am.

 

[John]

Can anyone point to any record of large dollar donors saying they would pull donations if UConn left Hartford? It’s been the argument for years, it should be pretty easy to produce a few donors saying on record they would pull their donations. Please send me a few. I’m happy and willing to be wrong about this if I am.

Are you familiar with the concept of seat licensing?

 

[gampelcrazies]

Gampel, just like XL, is a dump. It’s just a smaller dump, with a better layout for basketball. It’s 30+ years old and feels like a high school gym when you walk in.

I’m all for a new on-campus arena, but that won’t happen until it’s desperately needed, and unless private funding pours in, the first I bet will not happen with our current deficit. Until then, play 4-5 timely games at XL and the rest at Gampel. But the lease deal needs to be reorganized.

And the President needs to be muzzled - she needs to pick her words. Everyone is laughing at her.

In no way shape or form is Gampel a dump hahahaha. It's not a perfect arena but come on. It's bare basic but offers a better game day experience and better sightlines.

 

[Fishy]

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

UConn pays about $1.8M to play at XL.

They do not receive any money from concessions, parking, suites, etc.

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.

This.

 

[krinklecut]

Are you familiar with the concept of seat licensing?

I am! I covered the topic thoroughly earlier in the thread! In response to your comment!

 

[CTBasketball]

In no way shape or form is Gampel a dump hahahaha. It's not a perfect arena but come on. It's bare basic but offers a better game day experience and better sightlines.

You’re in denial, pampered by memories of old. It’s okay, I am too, I love Gampel. But Gampel is much closer to XL than it is to newer, state of the art arenas that others are building. 1990 is a long, long time ago in design and engineering. A classic place for sure, but a dump.

When the day comes to replace it, I have zero faith in the University to get it right either. It’ll end up a catastrophe like the rinky dink Ice Barn that we overpaid for. You could find more legit Pee Wee hockey arenas in Canada.

 

[krinklecut]

UConn pays about $1.8M to play at XL.

They do not receive any money from concessions, parking, suites, etc.


This.

Exactly right. $1.8m plus parking plus concessions plus merch more than makes up for the per seat donations we would lose.

 

[gampelcrazies]

You’re in denial, pampered by memories of old. It’s okay, I am too, I love Gampel. But Gampel is much closer to XL than it is to newer, state of the art arenas that others are building. 1990 is a long, long time ago in design and engineering. A classic place for sure, but a dump.

When the day comes to replace it, I have zero faith in the University to get it right either. It’ll end up a catastrophe like the rinky dink Ice Barn that we overpaid for. You could find more legit Pee Wee hockey arenas in Canada.

I'm not the one in denial lol. It's clean and has great sightlines. It's limited but not a dump. And I would bet some decent money they renovate it in the next few years which will only improve it.

 

[krinklecut]

You’re in denial, pampered by memories of old. It’s okay, I am too, I love Gampel. But Gampel is much closer to XL than it is to newer, state of the art arenas that others are building. 1990 is a long, long time ago in design and engineering. A classic place for sure, but a dump.

When the day comes to replace it, I have zero faith in the University to get it right either. It’ll end up a catastrophe like the rinky dink Ice Barn that we overpaid for. You could find more legit Pee Wee hockey arenas in Canada.

I don’t know what Syracuse’s hockey program has anything to do with this

 

[jdb50]

Watching Big East BB how many buildings do you see like Gampel with the big sidewalk halfway up the arena? I do not know of one. It was always a terrible design. Not to mention no chairbacks for the entire arena. I do not think there is any fiscally logical way to fix it. The sidewalk is a waste of great seating space. I had proposed building a new arena for Hockey and BB in the past. The UMass model made sense. The hockey teams could practice in Freitas. The problem was/is they spent the $ on the Gampel roof renovation. Where to put a new arena? Musical University Presidents. No vision. The XL contract needs a major league change in favor of UConn. That is the bare minimum for moves at this point in time.

 

[husky8273]

There's likely no way to quantity the general donations, but center court lower bowl seat donations are as high as $800/per seat/season.

those lower bowl seat donations are now $1400 per seat after phase in

 

[Kolumbo]

UConn should be making boatloads by playing in Hartford. It makes no sense that it would lose money and if that's the case, people need to fix this. That's like some dive bar requesting, no demanding, that a legendary deadhead cover band play, and the band has to pay for the privilege. The entertainers get paid. Let the Dogfather speak.

 

[CTBasketball]

UConn should be making boatloads by playing in Hartford. It makes no sense that it would lose money and if that's the case, people need to fix this. That's like some dive bar requesting, no demanding, that a legendary deadhead cover band play, and the band has to pay for the privilege. The entertainers get paid. Let the Dogfather speak.

Don’t you let that deal go down!

 

[Fishy]

Okay, I have cracked it.

This is a 48,000 seat dome on campus with sufficient parking.

You might have some questions like, what happened to South Campus? Did you pave it over for parking? And where did the library go?

Those are stupid questions. I know what I’m doing.

 

[LBird33]

Way back in the day, I actually had a conversation about this with Jeff Hathaway. I think Tim White, (Pudge…rest in peace), was with me and we had asked why UConn never considered a 15,000 seat on campus arena. The answer was something like, we could park 12,500 fans but it got dicey over that - so that number always felt right-size to me.

But this is entirely an unemotional argument. I don’t mind Hartford, but I know what it would cost to replace XL ($700M) or reno it ($250M) and I know those numbers are not doable. The facility will not generate revenue and the deal will just get worse for UConn.

On-campus is the future. Short-term, no problem…we have Gampel. Mid-term, what do we do to plan for the future given that Gampel is 30+ years old? If there is a magic bullet of a plan that gets 12,500 seats without simply shrinking the current seating, great. If there’s not, well, time to start planning.

I think there’s more parking on campus now. Go. 15k

 

[Edward Sargent]

St John's Carnesecca Arena holds 5602 for seating. It looks like a high school gym and I could never figure out how the Big East allowed them to build such a small arena. Here is a picture:

Carnesecca Arena - St. John's University Athletics

Directions to Carnesecca Arena | Carnesecca Seating Chart | Guest Policy | Carnesecca Arena Photo Gallery | Summer 2019 Facility Upgrades Formerly known as A...

redstormsports.com

I don't know how many games are at the garden vs on campus.

Seton Hall?

 

[storrsroars]

Okay, I have cracked it.

This is a 48,000 seat dome on campus with sufficient parking.

You might have some questions like, what happened to South Campus? Did you pave it over for parking? And where did the library go?

Those are stupid questions. I know what I’m doing.

It could have two levels of suites, each built with murphy beds and desks that double as dorm rooms, sleeping four each. You give the students gift certificates for Ted's each game to get them out and fans take over the space.

 

[August_West]

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 don’t disagree with a lot of this, but you are in Florida and not flying up for home games.

 

[Storrs South]

Seton Hall?

I promise you, you do not want to model anything you are doing based on Seton Hall from an operations and facilities standpoint.

They have a high school gym on campus that has a stage at one of that gym used for all WBB games that is severely dated with minimal amenities.

Then MBB plays in what I experienced earlier this season as one of the more stale sports environments I've experienced in person at Prudential that they only use the lower bowl (curtain off entire upper deck) and the students are similarly situated as they are at the XL Center minus an upper deck.