Most enlightening quotes are here:
“We’re part of the state, and we’re the flagship of the state,” athletic director David Benedict said. “So there is certainly an appreciation for how we are helping the state and a lot of people in downtown Hartford by playing there. … I’m not sure that it necessarily helps UConn athletics or UConn basketball as much as it does a lot of other entities.”
UConn pays a per-game rent of $40,500 for men’s and women’s basketball and $20,500 for men’s hockey, plus $20,000-$30,000 in facilities fees for each event. The CRDA also collects a $3 surcharge per basketball ticket (up to 12,450 tickets) and a $2 surcharge per ticket for hockey tickets (up to 4,600)
Benedict said attendance must be “well north” of 10,000 for UConn to avoid operating at a loss at the XL Center on a given night. And by playing in Hartford, revenue potential built into events at Gampel is sacrificed. UConn takes no money from XL concessions or parking. It does control sponsorship signage revenue for Hartford games, but not suite or loge seating. Cost and lost opportunity adds up to several millions of dollars, annually.
“There is a comfort level with Gampel that you don’t have with XL,” Benedict said. “And then you add the fact that, aesthetically, it’s not necessarily exciting for our kids to play down there. A lot of Big East members play in off-site facilities, so this isn’t necessarily unusual. But look at those facilities. Most of them are NBA or NBA-like facilities. Everybody knows, factually speaking, the building is old and it needs a major renovation. There’s nothing necessarily about that building that is a pro right now for anybody, whether it’s our student-athletes and the amenities they have there, or our fans.”
