Joe Markley: No More Public Spending on XL Center

[Drew]

http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-e...g-hartford-xl-center-0105-20160104-story.html


"Those who believe in big government solutions assume that if an initiative fails, more public money must be spent on it. The Capital Region Development Authority, which oversees such efforts in the area, has decided that the center needs at the least a $250 million renovation and expansion — or demolition and construction of a new arena, at a much higher cost"

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. He gives credit to Pratt Street, which is apparently thriving a mere block from the XL Center, but can't put 1 + 1 together to realize how being so close to the XL Center helps. Without it, there's no UConn, no concerts, no events, and I'm sure as heck not driving up to Hartford just to eat dinner at City Steam.

 

[FDNY99]

Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. He gives credit to Pratt Street, which is apparently thriving a mere block from the XL Center, but can't put 1 + 1 together to realize how being so close to the XL Center helps. Without it, there's no UConn, no concerts, no events, and I'm sure as heck not driving up to Hartford just to eat dinner at City Steam.

Same for the area over by the convention center...that project also done by the CRDA.

 

[TRest]

Same for the area over by the convention center...that project also done by the CRDA.

When I used to have a longer commute I would put WTIC on to get the traffic updates in the afternoon. Markley was John Rowland's favorite guest, as I guess he was the only elected Republican in the state that would still talk to him in public. Hey Joe, guess whopushed for the whole Adrien's Landing/Front Street development? Your boy Rowland.

 

[JSM1970]

Yes, because the $400M for the Convention center has had such the return on investment

I do agree, XL is a dump when you go to other more modern places. The idea of a renovation should be it's completely gutted and rebuilt. NHL team or not. Omaha, KC, Grand Rapids, Columbia SC have very modern arenas without some pro sports team requirement

Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. He gives credit to Pratt Street, which is apparently thriving a mere block from the XL Center, but can't put 1 + 1 together to realize how being so close to the XL Center helps. Without it, there's no UConn, no concerts, no events, and I'm sure as heck not driving up to Hartford just to eat dinner at City Steam.

 

[Dooley]

This kind of stuff really makes me wonder what the point of a two decade long "study" was to determine the viability of the XL Center. That in itself seemed like a waste of money to me. We all know the XL is an outdated dinosaur. We also all know there is zero incentive for people to go into downtown Hartford other than for work (and once 5:01 hits the clock, it empties quicker than a Rentschler Field parking lot).

Sports venues and the state of Connecticut go together like oil and water.

 

[NYUConn]

Joe Markley is like a single A version of Ted Cruz.

He is literally not worth the 1's and 0's being used to host this post.

 

[bobbyinaz]

This is a potential precursor for everyone on the BY who thinks we can just snap our fingers & the Rent will be expanded.

I know there are supposedly drawings somewhere. I know that the footing are already in place.

All of that means nothing when it comes time to get the voters in the state of CT to approve a potential $100MM expense.

 

[Drew]

This kind of stuff really makes me wonder what the point of a two decade long "study" was to determine the viability of the XL Center. That in itself seemed like a waste of money to me. We all know the XL is an outdated dinosaur. We also all know there is zero incentive for people to go into downtown Hartford other than for work (and once 5:01 hits the clock, it empties quicker than a Rentschler Field parking lot).

Sports venues and the state of Connecticut go together like oil and water.

The study was absolutely ridiculous and a complete waste of taxpayer money

Honestly if they're going to build a new arena they should put it in DoNo IMO but it won't happen due to the "save Hartford" sentiment


I agree with @JSM1970 that cities like Omaha, Grand Rapids, Columbia (SC) are great cities to model after for Hartford. Could add Greenville (SC), Kansas City, and a couple others to it as well. The one major difference with Omaha (Creighton) and Columbia (South Carolina) is their universities are in the city with which they reside and are full time tenants. Colonial Life Arena in Columbia is as close to on-campus as you can get without it actually being on campus. Omaha benefits from Creighton having a huge following- it would be like if Hartford basketball could sell out the XL Center (which obviously it never will). Also pretty sure that USC owns Colonial Life Arena.

 

[SubbaBub]

Joe Markley is like a single A version of Ted Cruz.

He is literally not worth the 1's and 0's being used to host this post.

He also loooooovvvvves seeing his name I'm print. He's just an idiot. You can be for or against public stadium funding for pro teams, but a city the size of Hartford needs an entertainment venue like the XL.

It really needs to be blown up and turned into a transportation hub, but that kind of money we don't have, so renovation is the way to go.

 

[Ha Who]

Idiot. Jacobs will be busy on two fronts

 

[Devland]

I have no problem with the XL center. I'm pretty simple. Give me a seat, a beer and a basketball court and I'm happy. I even enjoyed the pre video board days.

 

[gorskic]

Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. He gives credit to Pratt Street, which is apparently thriving a mere block from the XL Center, but can't put 1 + 1 together to realize how being so close to the XL Center helps. Without it, there's no UConn, no concerts, no events, and I'm sure as heck not driving up to Hartford just to eat dinner at City Steam.

Pratt Street is "thriving"? Could have fooled me, what with all those shuttered storefronts and everything...but what do I know?

 

[CL82]

This is a potential precursor for everyone on the BY who thinks we can just snap our fingers & the Rent will be expanded.

I know there are supposedly drawings somewhere. I know that the footing are already in place.

All of that means nothing when it comes time to get the voters in the state of CT to approve a potential $100MM expense.

And where, exactly, are you getting that $100M number from? It should be far lower than that.

In the end, you want ROI for your capital expenditures. I'm not seeing it for the XL renovations, unless you give credence to the CRDA's vague references to a multiplier effect. On the other hand, if a P5 conference makes expansion of the Rent a condition of admittance to their conference, the math is easy to see ROI based upon the $25m + increase to UConn, annually.

 

[FDNY99]

This is a potential precursor for everyone on the BY who thinks we can just snap our fingers & the Rent will be expanded.

I know there are supposedly drawings somewhere. I know that the footing are already in place.

All of that means nothing when it comes time to get the voters in the state of CT to approve a potential $100MM expense.

A $100 million price tag...what do you think they are doing tearing down the Rent and rebuilding it...or better yet building a 65K seat stadium, on campus? I would say 1/3 of that figure TOPS.....the add on will be modular..brought in and installed..

 

[SubbaBub]

My assumption would be that they are gutting the entire interior. Seats are seats, but the configuration of the behind the scenes stuff and revenue generators requires a new arena platform.

That's just a guess on my part, but if not then why do anything. Structurally it's probably sound, but I doubt it has the technology to put on modern events. So this is more than just the scoreboard and bar area type upgrade.

 

[Slasher]

A $100 million price tag...what do you think they are doing tearing down the Rent and rebuilding it...or better yet building a 65K seat stadium, on campus? I would say 1/3 of that figure TOPS.....the add on will be modular..brought in and installed..

As an FYI it cost Cincinnati $84M to add 5k seats to Nippert...

 

[NYUConn]

As an FYI it cost Cincinnati $84M to add 5k seats to Nippert...

Nipper renovation was more than adding seats. They had to excavate part of the stadium and do major work to the foundation since it is 100 years old.

Completely different than what would be needed to upgrade the Rent.

 

[Slasher]

Nipper renovation was more than adding seats. They had to excavate part of the stadium and do major work to the foundation since it is 100 years old.

Completely different than what would be needed to upgrade the Rent.

I don't think there was an excavation but they did have demolish the old press box. Still I would think it's going to cost a lot more than 30M to add 25K seats.

 

[NYUConn]

I don't think there was an excavation but they did have demolish the old press box. Still I would think it's going to cost a lot more than 30M to add 25K seats.

Really it depends on how UConn does it. If we simply want to add 5-10,000 permanent seats we can do that very cheap by wheeling them in under the stadium scoreboard on the promenade like we did against Michigan when we put in 5K temporarily.

However, where the price tag goes through the roof is if we start adding corporate boxes and luxury seating.

Nippert added luxury seating and club boxes in addition to their other work to get to 40K and the price tag was $86 million.

Similarly, Rutgers spent $102 million renovating High Point in 2009 going from 41,500 to 52,500, but an entire level of luxury boxes and suites were added in the process.

So really if UConn were to do a basic expansion to get butts in the seats it can be done for cheap. However, if we want to get fancy and upgrade the amenities, then yeah the bill is going to get higher and higher very quickly.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't think there was an excavation but they did have demolish the old press box. Still I would think it's going to cost a lot more than 30M to add 25K seats.

You do know that the place was designed to be expanded, don't you. All they need to do is pretty much plop a new section on top of what exists. I admit that's a big plop, but its not like they need to pay for design work and excavation and the like.

 

[SAMCRO]

Pratt Street is "thriving"? Could have fooled me, what with all those shuttered storefronts and everything...but what do I know?

I gave you a like for your avatar.

 

[MASSconn]

Hartford needs a master plan. What is the economic incentive to a new arena, when you can hardly produce an active city center, and have bad crime, crap neighborhoods. There are enough companies in Hartford, enough potential foot traffic, that could produce a decent enough city.

Hartford truly stinks. Sorry to those offended. UCONN grads are moving to West Hartford instead of Hartford. That really says it all.

Look at Providence, it's about 20 times nicer than it was in the 70's-80's. Thats with shoddy government too.

 

[NYUConn]

Hartford needs a master plan. What is the economic incentive to a new arena, when you can hardly produce an active city center, and have bad crime, crap neighborhoods. There are enough companies in Hartford, enough potential foot traffic, that could produce a decent enough city.

Hartford truly stinks. Sorry to those offended.

Look at Providence, it's about 20 times nicer than it was in the 70's-80's. Thats with shoddy government too.

Look man, we can't all be the Paris of Southeast New England.

 

[Waquoit]

Let's use important metrics. Springsteen is playing just 21 cities and Providence isn't one of them.