Geno praises Webster Bank Arena

[pap49cba]

John Altavilla ‏@jaltavilla 1h
.@genoauriemma says he doesn't know if there are any plans to more games at @Webster_Arena in the future

John Altavilla ‏@jaltavilla 1h
But it is a beautiful building. I wish we had something like this on campus says @genoauriemma #UConnwomen #BleedBlue

 

[jsloanjr]

What Geno wants Geno gets.............Gampel needs a super facelift with Luxury Boxes, more seats and better food restaurants on or near campus.......

 

[HoopsFan21]

What Geno wants Geno gets...Gampel needs a super facelift with Luxury Boxes, more seats and better food restaurants on or near campus..

Maybe something like the Yum! Center with a Geno's Grille restaurant? Storrs is a tough place because getting in and out of there is a pain compared to Hartford.

 

[machusky67]

Compared to all the arenas I've gone to following the UCONN Women , Gampel and XL are dumps !!!!!

 

[ctfjr]

Compared to all the arenas I've gone to following the UCONN Women , Gampel and XL are dumps !!!!!

Ya know, if they only fixed the way the ceiling looks it would make a 1000% improvement.

 

[pap49cba]

I don't understand why they won't update/refurbish Gampel. It is one of the most important - and visible - buildings on the entire campus.

 

[UcMiami]

Ultimately it should probably be torn down and a new facility built somewhere easier to access. With the way they have closed off campus the feeder roads are so small and limited. I would bet that debate is going one now within the admin - spend a lot of money to refurbish and upgrade or just start over. Once the practice facility is open they do not need the venue to be in the middle of campus - they moved the football way off campus so maybe they are thinking of something like that?

 

[Icebear]

I really believe that basketball should stay on campus and part of the community connected to the students.

 

[Biff]

I really believe that basketball college sports should stay on campus and part of the community connected to the students.

My Version.

 

[Icebear]

I agree, Biff, but it is too late for football at UCONN. But I believe you have the right idea.

 

[HoopsFan21]

UConn playing its football and basketball games off campus is a mistake I think. Not many schools do that. Geno complains about attendance, but how does he expect the students to get to Hartford for games?

 

[UcMiami]

I really believe that basketball should stay on campus and part of the community connected to the students.

In principle I agree with this, but there are limitations to what you can do on some campuses and Uconn as currently configured is one of those. Especially with where the athletic complex is located, getting to it is very difficult. Even with Gampel which is now a moderate size facility getting 7,000 people to the parking areas involves miles of winding residential streets with the best road 195 being the one where you have to navigate getting across campus with most of the former access roads now shut down to traffic. There is no way that they could have rebuilt the football stadium where it used to be with the expectation of D1A type crowds. If they built a new basketball arena in Storrs, it would probably be best to try and locate it directly off 195 - say near the dairy bar or even better near the junction of 44 and 195 or 44 and 32 to at least have two decent feeder roads. That is about a mile off campus, but on the campus bus route so it should be fairly easy for students to reach and the traffic and parking issues could be eased. The 44/32 intersection also has a large state owned section of land (part of the old Mansfield Training School complex) so it would not involve eminent domaine issues and a lot of tear downs.

 

[triaddukefan]

You guys are making me check out the storrs area and campus on google earth

 

[MilfordHusky]

You guys are making me check out the storrs area and campus on google earth

Lots of hills, trees, and little ponds. Under the snow cover.

 

[Icebear]

In principle I agree with this, but there are limitations to what you can do on some campuses and Uconn as currently configured is one of those. Especially with where the athletic complex is located, getting to it is very difficult. Even with Gampel which is now a moderate size facility getting 7,000 people to the parking areas involves miles of winding residential streets with the best road 195 being the one where you have to navigate getting across campus with most of the former access roads now shut down to traffic. There is no way that they could have rebuilt the football stadium where it used to be with the expectation of D1A type crowds. If they built a new basketball arena in Storrs, it would probably be best to try and locate it directly off 195 - say near the dairy bar or even better near the junction of 44 and 195 or 44 and 32 to at least have two decent feeder roads. That is about a mile off campus, but on the campus bus route so it should be fairly easy for students to reach and the traffic and parking issues could be eased. The 44/32 intersection also has a large state owned section of land (part of the old Mansfield Training School complex) so it would not involve eminent domaine issues and a lot of tear downs.

UCONN is in a far better situation than PSU and everything is on campus there. Thing is you have to have a vision for developing it that way. This includes buying land, getting support from the state for highway development. Storrs is vastly better situated than State College, CT is a much more economically gifted state than PA, UCONN's facilities largely do not compare to PSU's. It is very possible the largest errors at UCONN were made 30 years ago developmentally.

 

[cabbie191]

You can have a beautiful arena on campus and still have terrible access, especially if you don't use law enforcement to help move traffic. Case in point is the basketball facility on URI's campus in Kingston. Went there a couple of years ago for the NCAA tournament games. It took us way too long to get out of there after the games were over. Took 40 minutes in fact to even get out of the parking lot after we beat Kentucky.

 

[Icebear]

You can have a beautiful arena on campus and still have terrible access, especially if you don't use law enforcement to help move traffic. Case in point is the basketball facility on URI's campus in Kingston. Went there a couple of years ago for the NCAA tournament games. It took us way too long to get out of there after the games were over. Took 40 minutes in fact to even get out of the parking lot after we beat Kentucky.

That's why you build roads which is what PA has been doing to State College for 50+ years. They, also, up-scaled the runways at the airport when they joined the Big Ten as part of the deal. One thing the skyboxes and suites do is get the corporate sponsors up into those places and leave the floor seats for people who buy them and show up.

 

[barbrox]

Today was my first visit to Webster Bank Arena. Loved the variety of concessions.Even Mohegan Sun could learn from that. Also XL an Gampel. Did not care for the $20 parking fee, but they were really efficient in getting us out of there. They announced that today was the largest crowd that they have had for any sporting event. Somehow that doesn't seem right. More than at the mens game??Overall I totally enjoyed the day.

 

[mcs333]

Same as the men.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Today was my first visit to Webster Bank Arena. Loved the variety of concessions.Even Mohegan Sun could learn from that. Also XL an Gampel. Did not care for the $20 parking fee, but they were really efficient in getting us out of there. They announced that today was the largest crowd that they have had for any sporting event. Somehow that doesn't seem right. More than at the mens game??Overall I totally enjoyed the day.

Today's attendance was one less than capacity. It tied the men's game held there a couple weeks ago for biggest crowd.

 

[pap49cba]

Today's attendance was one less than capacity. It tied the men's game held there a couple weeks ago for biggest crowd.

Okay, which one of you decided to bag the game?????