Future of the XL Center as a Home Site | Page 8 | The Boneyard

Future of the XL Center as a Home Site

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That’s a shame, because it made some sense and seemed relatively cost-effective. My assumption, and that’s all it was since there were never any interior renderings as far as I know, was that if you are installing an exterior concourse, a portion of the interior concourse could be used for seats.

For what it’s worth, Gampel is an iconic structure with the geodesic dome. Not that it ever produced the reported savings that a “modular” ceiling was supposed to produce, but it is unique. It would be a shame to see it taken down, in my opinion.

First, nothing is cost-effective on campus. Nothing. See Tuscano.

I don’t care what the thing looks like - the basketball facility on campus will always be iconic and there are designs that are less problematic than a dome.

But it doesn’t matter. There are no plans for anything past covering our eyes and pretending everything is fine forever.
 
XL is in a death spiral. It’s truly no one’s fault - it’s just that the economic realities of that type of facility do not support major investment in it.

Think about it - anyone who went to concerts at HCC back in the day….check out the concerts that are held there now. They simply cannot book those acts anymore. The economics of the building do not make sense for the promotions so those concerts go elsewhere now.

So if you are a pragmatist and not an idealist, you understand that we need to move past XL in the very near term.

We also have an aging facility on campus that will be difficult to expand. There was one plan to bump out the concourse, but that’s a bandaid in a state that absolutely loves bandaids in place of solutions.

We need a mid-term plan to replace Gampel. We will come to that conclusion probably about a ten years too late.
Allen Fieldhouse 17k
Rupp Arena 20k
Dean Smith Center 22k

UConn would absolutely fill a 16k on campus facility. Think about the students. Sure, we all know that game day was a big party. There are many students though who do squeeze a game in between studying. They can't do that when the game is in Hartford.

You've got me convinced. Storrs or bust.
 
It’s 10,000 seats. We sold 15,000 the other night.

The concourse project is DOA.

Lord, you people and your “near term” bandaids.

How many of them need to fail before the lightbulb goes off?
It was a mistake the day they opened it. Needed to have higher capacity, fewer expensive frills like the tiles and aluminum dome. The focused too much on impractical things rather than a facility that could last and age and remain useful.
 
How does Hartford Mayor fit into the equation? The University has a branch in the city -Would like to hear from Bronin on this
 
How does Hartford Mayor fit into the equation? The University has a branch in the city -Would like to hear from Bronin on this
He’s out… not running for re-election.
 
It was a mistake the day they opened it. Needed to have higher capacity, fewer expensive frills like the tiles and aluminum dome. The focused too much on impractical things rather than a facility that could last and age and remain useful.

I disagree to an extent - the design was fine. It’s a geodesic dome on a concrete plinth. It’s not exactly exotic. Looks good, though.

The capacity was intentionally limited to protect Hartford. UConn cannot build a facility that threatens Hartford in any sense. See the new hockey facility which is a ludicrous 2,500 seats….it opened at 8,000 seats and we instantly needed to expand it. (It expanded twice…once by 2,000-ish seats and a second time for something like 140 seats.)

So it was not a mistake…it was intentional.

How does Hartford Mayor fit into the equation? The University has a branch in the city -Would like to hear from Bronin on this

Who cares what he thinks about anything? He doesn’t matter.
 
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Neither more than 3, 4 tops in any given year. You’ve been shizzled. NO one in BigEast does what we do. Really no one in all of college basketball pays to play 1/2 their games and calls it “ home”

Yea. Except for the St. John’s breakdown I knew all that I just posed them as questions to him to be less rude lol
 
Let’s make the student section one sideline for XL games. We have a rabid student fan base that’s absolutely neutered by their hockey rink seats at XL.

Of course, I know this will never happen. But at least it might inject some life into the building.

I can’t imagine there is a worse student experience in the country than xl center. If you are in the risers you spend the whole game ducking your head around people so you can actually see unless you’re super tall. The risers right behind the band idk how people actually sit there. Then you got the regular seats there that are decent seats but probably equivalent to the front of the upper level at gampel. And the rest sit up in the 200s. If not sideline give them both lower levels behind the basket. I’ll still rip them for not showing up more but there’s lots of issues with it beyond just being off campus
 
Allen Fieldhouse 17k
Rupp Arena 20k
Dean Smith Center 22k

UConn would absolutely fill a 16k on campus facility. Think about the students. Sure, we all know that game day was a big party. There are many students though who do squeeze a game in between studying. They can't do that when the game is in Hartford.

You've got me convinced. Storrs or bust.

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 disagree to an extent - the design was fine. It’s a geodesic dome on a concrete plinth. It’s not exactly exotic. Looks good, though.

The capacity was intentionally limited to protect Hartford. UConn cannot build a facility that threatens Hartford in any sense. See the new hockey facility which is a ludicrous 2,500 seats….it opened at 8,000 seats and we instantly needed to expand it. (It expanded twice…once by 2,000-ish seats and a second time for something like 140 seats.)

So it was not a mistake…it was intentional.



Who cares what he thinks about anything? He doesn’t matter.
Yes, I know it was intentional, I was a student while it was being built. But it was still a mistake. Meaning an error. Concourse area around it was inadequate as well, not much foresight. UConn wasn't given a choice, just like with the hockey facility (which is also a mistake, and needed to be bigger).
 
Yes, I know it was intentional, I was a student while it was being built. But it was still a mistake. Meaning an error. Concourse area around it was inadequate as well, not much foresight. UConn wasn't given a choice, just like with the hockey facility (which is also a mistake, and needed to be bigger).
The day a crane fell and bent in half over the top of the "plinth" was a sign. Like a "The Man With Two Brains" sign. Can't find a picture of it.


construction-fail-crashing-down.gif
 
I can’t imagine there is a worse student experience in the country than xl center. If you are in the risers you spend the whole game ducking your head around people so you can actually see unless you’re super tall. The risers right behind the band idk how people actually sit there. Then you got the regular seats there that are decent seats but probably equivalent to the front of the upper level at gampel. And the rest sit up in the 200s. If not sideline give them both lower levels behind the basket. I’ll still rip them for not showing up more but there’s lots of issues with it beyond just being off campus
You nailed so much. My parents seats they are in same equivalent row at Gampel as they are at XL. Same relevance in location. But the XL seats have to be like 100 feet further from the court . The more I think about this and the more we all talk about it makes me want to play ZERO games at XL
 
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Allen Fieldhouse 17k
Rupp Arena 20k
Dean Smith Center 22k

UConn would absolutely fill a 16k on campus facility. Think about the students. Sure, we all know that game day was a big party. There are many students though who do squeeze a game in between studying. They can't do that when the game is in Hartford.

You've got me convinced. Storrs or bust.
UConn has some disadvantages to those places. I'd go about 14k. I think 12.5 as @Fishy mentioned is below what we know we can sell for good opponents. 15k? Maybe. I think UConn would need to make other accommodations if they build such an arena. More parking. Improve 195. More restaurants or a major concourse with lots of food options. Maybe run shuttles from a lot at 195 and I-84. They'll need to be creative. It's what should happen though. I'm not convinced it should be where Gampel is either. That's now the densest area of campus.
 
Let’s make the student section one sideline for XL games. We have a rabid student fan base that’s absolutely neutered by their hockey rink seats at XL.

Of course, I know this will never happen. But at least it might inject some life into the building.
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.
 
You’re bringing up a number that you have zero idea of its impact. That’s the point. I could speculate that more games at Gampel would create more alumni donations to the University because they’re on campus. It’s an easy enough thing to do, but without any data, it’s meaningless.

None of that changes the fact that unless games at the XL Center are sold out, the school loses money versus playing at Gampel on a per game basis.

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.
 
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.
 
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!
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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