Future of the XL Center as a Home Site

[CL82]

before you trash XL and our capital city, think about that.

I did think about it and concluded there’s not a shred of evidence that supports myriad of assertions in your statement. And now that I did think about it, let me say that the XL was an interesting concept that didn’t really pan out and long outlived its useful life to the point that pretty much the only glimmer of life there is holding UConn as a captive tenant, and an occasional Barney on Ice Spectacular.

 

[CL82]

. I only go to Hartford for UConn games. I did go there to protest the state income tax when it was proposed.

Please tell me you were part of the mob that chased little white car through the capital and out the emergency tunnel into Bushnell Park. I have never been more proud of my home state.

 

[nadav]

Just build a 15k seat arena on campus for 250 mil when we can’t fund a golf team.

 

[gampelcrazies]

For those here who are less concerned with the economics and more focused on the basketball brand, consider this: UConn basketball and the brand as we currently know it would not exist without the Hartford (now XL) Civic Center. The University would never have been invited to join the original Big East without the Civic Center, as the main idea of the original league was to get institutions with access to major markets and large arenas. You can also debate whether we would have been asked back into the New Big East if we were only playing at Gampel. So before you trash XL and our capital city, think about that.

Civic center served a purpose from it’s opening to around 2010ish. Not anymore. Either fix it or knock it down.

 

[Huskygrad88]

Horrible idea. Alienating half the fan base and capping the number of people who can go to games is not going to work out.

Did u really just write that a college asking to play most of its college basketball games on its college campus would be alienating to fans? Not sure if people actually are aware that many schools surprisingly pull this off.

 

[XLCenterFan]

Did u really just write that a college asking to play most of its college basketball games on its college campus would be alienating to fans? Not sure if people actually are aware that many schools surprisingly pull this off.

Our situation is different from most.

 

[John]

Exactly. UConns main campus is located in Storrs Connecticut. Why wouldn’t UConn be more concerned about the well being of their campus and college town? Unless the only reason the AD can run a massive deficit is an agreement to stimulate business in the state capital, but if that’s true, why is the school even pretending they have leverage?

Urban problems don't stop at urban borders.

 

[TheChamps990411]

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See, now that’s a little too heavy handed. Saying if you cut our budget, we won’t play Hartford has a little too much of an extortion feel. Instead, I would rather see her talk about the fact that the cost to UConn for the use of the facilities is dramatically above fair market, and in a climate where our budget is being cut, we really can’t afford it. It’s a little more subtle and less confrontational.
View attachment 83937
Lol, it’s like Stephanie has been reading my Boneyard posts. By the way I think she may be missing a facility fee as well.

This conversation is well overdue. Playing at the XL center is a money loser for us for all but the biggest games, and even those are only breakeven. If the legislature wants us to continue to play in Hartford, the lease deal needs to be re-negotiated. I wondered if that would be on the table once Toscano was built until we had a place to play our hockey games we really didn’t have much leverage. That’s changed now.

The CDRA continues to lose millions of dollars even with the $4 million a year the University provides to them. Charging exorbitant lease fees has only served to hide a portion of their ineptitude. It’s time for that to change.

The easy solution is to renegotiate the XL deal so that the university makes the same amount of profit whether games are held at Gampel or at the XL. Propping up the Hartford economy shouldn’t come out of the athletic department budget.

Have the women play all games at Gampel and keep the mens as is in hartford. That should save some money. 6 womens games saves the school $400k

 

[zls44]

While I’m not exactly an XL fan, I do believe in the value of having a modern arena in the capitol city as is done everywhere else in the country.

UConn currently has two arenas that are enthusiastic and loud…and operational nightmares on game day. It’s got to be fixed. But it also should not be at the end of a shotgun just to support Max downtown.

The terms UConn has are completely insane and unlike those anywhere else in the sport. They serve the CRDAs interest and hurt UConn, who is the only real tenant of note. It’s dumb!

 

[Chin Diesel]

Our situation is different from most.

Said every person in an unhealthy codependent relationship ever.

 

[CL82]

Just build a 15k seat arena on campus for 250 mil when we can’t fund a golf team.

Well, when 15,000 people are going to sit in the arena to watch people putt then maybe will be able to find funding for the sport.

 

[shizzle787]

Did u really just write that a college asking to play most of its college basketball games on its college campus would be alienating to fans? Not sure if people actually are aware that many schools surprisingly pull this off.

It absolutely would. We live in CT. People aren't driving 1.5 hours to go to a game. The current distribution of games is fair: half at Gampel, half at XL. Plenty of other Big East schools do this as well.

 

[storrsroars]

IIRC, chief00 has a term for those fans who would drive to Hartford but not Storrs...

 

[Palatine]

Why is it UConns problem if Bars in Hartford make money?

The point is that UConn basketball in Hartford is an economic driver. Bars pay taxes, restaurants pay taxes, UConn basketball has a multiplier effect that helps fill state coffers. Throw in seat fees, parking, concessions and more. Those businesses employee people, they create jobs, those people pay taxes. And in a deep drive, there are many other ways UConn filling downtown creates revenue for the state.

So the financial benefit is much greater than what UConn pays for the building to play. Taking UConn out of Hartford is a meaningful loss for the state. The prez is correct to make the case.

BTW, Mansfield doesn't want more people. They would certainly be against 15-18,000 people coming to town 18 times a year. Hell, they didn't want a 2,500 seat arena on route 195. They spend most of their time fighting any UConn expansion.

 

[CL82]

The point is that UConn basketball in Hartford is an economic driver. Bars pay taxes, restaurants pay taxes, UConn basketball has a multiplier effect that helps fill state coffers. Throw in seat fees, parking, concessions and more. Those businesses employee people, they create jobs, those people pay taxes. And in a deep drive, there are many other ways UConn filling downtown creates revenue for the state.

So the financial benefit is much greater than what UConn pays for the building to play. Taking UConn out of Hartford is a meaningful loss for the state. The prez is correct to make the case.

BTW, Mansfield doesn't want more people. They would certainly be against 15-18,000 people coming to town 18 times a year. Hell, they didn't want a 2,500 seat arena on route 195. They spend most of their time fighting any UConn expansion.

If the state wants UConn to act as an economic driver for Hartford, it should lease the XL at rate that makes it economically desirable for the University to play there. What you’ve left out of your comment above is that it is prohibitively expensive to play at the XL center because the CDRA has no incentive to price it at market lease rates.

Fortunately, UConn already has an arena in Storrs. It doesn’t need Mansfield’s approval to play it’s games there.

 

[The Viking]

I wonder if UConn's decision to put their last five home hockey games (including playoffs) ONLY into a 2600 seat Toscano was a shot across the bow to the state.
Their decision basically cut off the hockey program from half the people who would normally go from Jan-March and I don't think they did that just to play in a shiny new arena.

 

[Hoophound]

I wonder if UConn's decision to put their last five home hockey games (including playoffs) ONLY into a 2600 seat Toscano was a shot across the bow to the state.
Their decision basically cut off the hockey program from half the people who would normally go from Jan-March and I don't think they did that just to play in a shiny new arena.

They probably did do it just to play in the new arena. Gotta use it this season to drive mega season ticket recenues for next season. That place is going to produce big ticket prices and lots of beer sales. I want to take the family there next season and I can’t help but wonder what it might cost me. I’ll try and do a Gampel game and a Freitas game in one weekend. I’m assuming the hockey tix will be tough to come by.

 

[gampelcrazies]

I’ll never ever ever get people hanging onto Hartford in it’s current state. It’s also comical that people think UConn wouldn’t draw well if every game was at Gampel.

 

[kemba]

It absolutely would. We live in CT. People aren't driving 1.5 hours to go to a game. The current distribution of games is fair: half at Gampel, half at XL. Plenty of other Big East schools do this as well.

Gampel has been full so getting people there is not a problem. Plenty of other big east teams evenly split the home games between 2 arenas? Which ones? Off the top of my head nova and St. John’s play in 2 arenas, pretty sure nova only plays a few games in Wells Fargo not sure what St. John’s split is like. How many blue bloods nationally split it down the middle?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

You guys are on here arguing things as inane as concession revenues for XL center hot dogs in the scheme of million and billion dollar budgets.

The state is UConn and UConn is the state - what is there not to understand here.

UConn posturing like they have any leverage is idiotic.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

If the State of Connecticut and the politicians want UConn to play in Hartford then they need find a solution to renovating the XL Center once and for all. Stop kicking the can down the road. It’s only going to get worse which is going to make these conversations even more difficult to have.

Also, to the state politicians and Hartford business leaders - stop thinking eight or so games at the XL Center is going to make Hartford. Find a way to incentive more businesses and corporations to move back Downtown which is the only way to create economic vitality. More jobs, more people will create more demand for other things (housing, retail, nightlife, etc.). It’s not going to happen any other way.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Will admit I was not at the game last night but the roar from the crowd on TV sounded fantastic... was that not the case in person? The roars were giving me goosebumps this morning watching the highlights... Will caveat that by saying the first half sounded fantastic and the second half not as good but thats obviously due to the situation of what was occuring in the game. Blowing out a team at home while fantastic, doesnt allude to the most raucous of crowds.

What roars?

 

[BigTenFan]

You guys are on here arguing things as inane as concession revenues for XL center hot dogs in the scheme of million and billion dollar budgets.

The state is UConn and UConn is the state - what is there not to understand here.

UConn posturing like they have any leverage is idiotic.

Yes- UConn is the state land grant school and we are the peasants that pay the taxes to keep the lights on. I think we all agree that academic and athletic excellence should be expected.

 

[UConnSwag11]

It was because of the flow of the game. If we made that comeback at XL it would have been equally as loud.

That makes no sense. For the crowd to be in it, we need to have home games like GTOWN? We had a top 10 at home. Is been like this all season

 

[CL82]

You guys are on here arguing things as inane as concession revenues for XL center hot dogs in the scheme of million and billion dollar budgets.

The state is UConn and UConn is the state - what is there not to understand here.

UConn posturing like they have any leverage is idiotic.

So you don’t think that park in revenue and concession revenue adds up over the course of the season?

Since “the state is UConn and UConn is the state” then we should just get to play in the XL Center for free right? The logic is exactly the same.