Level-Headed Analysis - Stadium

[CONN78SEJ]

yep, that sounds about right.

That being said, the coliseum has an amazing history. but it's history.
The only thing notable about that stadium NOW, is the team playing in it. It was built long ago and has served its purpose, but take USC out of it, and it is an outdated dump. If you look at photos, the field isnt even symetrically placed on the pitch. it is closer to one end of the stands, leaving a very awkward open end of nothing on the far side. If you said the coliseum was the home of any of the low-tier FBS programs i mentioned, people would call it a dump.

It is due for a facelift that’s for sure.

 

[Windham4th]

using my computer:
Stamford to the Rent:
1 hr 17 min (77.9 mi) via I-95 N and CT-15 N

Stamford to UConn Storrs
1 hr 38 min (100.1 mi) via CT-15 N

Is the time difference that much?

The fact that you wrote "using my computer" makes me think I hope you dont usually calculate speed and distance manually... haha.

Your additional distance is 22 miles and the additonal time is 21 minutes. Which would equate to 60mph. The difference roadwise is partially freeway but also a long stretch of single lane country highway that all gameday attendees would be stuck on. No way someone would be doing 60 for that entire stretch.

Maybe check Waze or Google Maps this weekend when the kids are moving in. I remember it backing up quite a bit on move-in day so that might be a more accurate value to compare.

 

[huskymedic]

yep, that sounds about right.

That being said, the coliseum has an amazing history. but it's history.
The only thing notable about that stadium NOW, is the team playing in it. It was built long ago and has served its purpose, but take USC out of it, and it is an outdated dump. If you look at photos, the field isnt even symetrically placed on the pitch. it is closer to one end of the stands, leaving a very awkward open end of nothing on the far side. If you said the coliseum was the home of any of the low-tier FBS programs i mentioned, people would call it a dump.

It is due for a facelift that’s for sure.

Renovated Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Ready For 2019 Football Season - USC Athletics

The $315-million renovation of United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has been completed, maintaining the public stadium's historic eleme...

usctrojans.com

 

[WrenchFan69]

I take your level headed ask, and give you my 21st century plan to use an on-campus football stadium to take the blame for the necessary infrastructure spending and political ruthlessness needed to connect Storrs CT with the outside world and promote continued growth of the university.

View attachment 90948

Significantly better idea: expand the fastrak and run really frequent bus service. Highways suck

 

[BigTenFan]

I was in Columbus Ohio a few weeks ago- a city comparable in size to Hartford
Clearly Football is king there but they had back to back country concerts with 100k each night at Ohio State.
My point is - use the Rent for more than football.

 

[Jetskies]

You said you "did research." Did any of that research include the $300M USC put into renovating the building three or four years ago?

thank you

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I was in Columbus Ohio a few weeks ago- a city comparable in size to Hartford
Clearly Football is king there but they had back to back country concerts with 100k each night at Ohio State.
My point is - use the Rent for more than football.

It had Rolling Stones and Springsteen concerts in its early years. The neighbors were not amused. It is used for Christmas lights and a brew fest.

Columbus also only 800,000 or so more people than Hartford

 

[superjohn]

I disagree on the second part. I live in Newington and am down in Fairfield all the time, that drive sucks especially after 3pm on any weeknight. Hell I hit traffic on weekends too. Telling me I’d have to drive an extra 25-30 min to Storrs would turn off a lot of casual fans.

There’s a reason you see more Fairfield and Sacred Heart athletic advertising down there.

Another reason the state probably isn't ready for big time football.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I disagree on the second part. I live in Newington and am down in Fairfield all the time, that drive sucks especially after 3pm on any weeknight. Hell I hit traffic on weekends too. Telling me I’d have to drive an extra 25-30 min to Storrs would turn off a lot of casual fans.

There’s a reason you see more Fairfield and Sacred Heart athletic advertising down there.

How come I never hear UConn basketball fans (men’s game or women’s game) complaining about the drive to Storrs? As for football, two wrongs don’t make a right.

 

[Salty Dog]

Nothing wrong with the Rent, I think its a great venue.

That said, an on-campus stadium would be leaps and bounds better. As an alumni I always wish I could use football games as a way to get back on campus and reconnect with the University. East Hartford doesn't allow that and its a d@mn shame.

Let's get back to winning. The rest will sort itself out!

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Nothing wrong with the Rent, I think its a great venue.

That said, an on-campus stadium would be leaps and bounds better. As an alumni I always wish I could use football games as a way to get back on campus and reconnect with the University. East Hartford doesn't allow that and its a d@mn shame.

Let's get back to winning. The rest will sort itself out!

It would help the University and the football program immensely. The question is where, the design, and how big?

 

[CTBasketball]

How come I never hear UConn basketball fans (men’s game or women’s game) complaining about the drive to Storrs? As for football, two wrongs don’t make a right.

They complain or only go to select games. The reality of the situation is that I-95 in the lower portion of the state is one of the most congested highways in the country.

 

[RC111]

They complain or only go to select games. The reality of the situation is that I-95 in the lower portion of the state is one of the most congested highways in the country.

This. I go to games at Gampel and the Civic center. For some reason, a lot of people here have a hard time believing some prefer the Civic Center. It's great being back on campus, the energy is good, but when I'm attending a 7PM game on a Thursday after work, it's monumentally easier to get to Hartford and I never get stuck in traffic leaving. There's a place for both venues, so long as the buy games and cupcakes aren't put in Hartford. It needs big names to keep the energy up.

 

[RC111]

I've been to stadiums around the country and even the world. Tailgating is a pretty US thing, and we are spoiled for it by the rent. Great, spread out area and simple access roads. Also, great acoustics and good sight lines/ view from every single seat.

My only thought is we need a designated tailgate area for students. When I was a student, we always crashed my friend's parents' tailgate, and the students who had no one to visit sat in the stadium before the game and got stuck in traffic on the buses leaving. Give them a cool place with Cornhole, beer with wrist bands for 21+, and you'll have way better student attendance.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I've been to stadiums around the country and even the world. Tailgating is a pretty US thing, and we are spoiled for it by the rent. Great, spread out area and simple access roads. Also, great acoustics and good sight lines/ view from every single seat.

My only thought is we need a designated tailgate area for students. When I was a student, we always crashed my friend's parents' tailgate, and the students who had no one to visit sat in the stadium before the game and got stuck in traffic on the buses leaving. Give them a cool place with Cornhole, beer with wrist bands for 21+, and you'll have way better student attendance.

UConn’s main campus in Storrs and the surrounding area houses almost 20,000 students. Build a new 40,000+ on campus stadium and they will come. Planning for parking and tailgating for both students and non-student fans is critical though. The overriding reason for an on campus stadium is to improve the football team, make the coaches job easier in recruiting (for all sports), and helps in getting UConn a P5 invite. The Rent doesn’t have to die either, maybe have one home game at the Rent. The state could also use it for concerts, home games for Central, the high school state playoffs, other sports, etc.

 

[Robo03]

We all know UConn will always play games in the Hartford area, basketball and football. A new football stadium will not be built in Storrs by taxpayer money. I think we all know this no matter which side of the table you are on.

Personally, I could care less as Hartford and Storrs are about equidistant for me. I do think the only logical solution is to improve the transportation to and from Hartford to Storrs, which benefits football and basketball. Whether you do this by finishing 384, or continuing the fast track buses, building commuter rail (which I think should be done alongside all highways). Improving the transportation makes trips both ways faster and easier for students and fans, while possibly also making Storrs an easier destination for visa which could bring additional money to the community.

Just my two cents. Either way - Go Huskies & pack the Rent!

 

[Urcea]

I’d put in the necessary money to fix the concrete, rust, etc, and once we make a P5 just expand to 50,000 as it is designed to do

 

[FfldCntyFan]

using my computer:
Stamford to the Rent:
1 hr 17 min (77.9 mi) via I-95 N and CT-15 N

Stamford to UConn Storrs
1 hr 38 min (100.1 mi) via CT-15 N

Is the time difference that much?

I’m going to preface my post with a few comments:

• I’ve had season tickets to the Rent since it opened and have missed very few games over the years. If they were to put a Stadium on campus I personally would attend those games without question or complaint about location but that may not translate to the entire fan base.
• While I fall into the category of one who views posted speed limits more as suggestions than out and out rules, I have often been on I-91 between New Haven and Hartford, felt I was driving too slowly (in comparison to the cars passing me) only to look at the speedometer and see I was moving ~75mph-85mph.
• With the exception of a few years in the mid 1990’s my permanent residence has always been in Stamford, I currently live close to the Parkway and prior to that had lived close to I-95.

There have been a few instances (primarily when we’ve had ~15k attendance) when I’ve gotten to the Rent in an hour and maybe ten minutes. Hopefully those days are over (attendance wise) but even with a full house (we have had those in the past) if the plan is to arrive with sufficient time to tailgate, the worst case scenario would be an hour and a half. Having attended plenty of men’s basketball games at Gampel over the past nearly three and a half decades, where likely a third of the vehicles that would travel to a football game would be going to Gampel, there is no way in hell that the time difference would be only twenty minutes. With the current infrastructure, an additional hour each way would be a very conservative estimate. Hell, going to a men’s basketball game on a weekend (weekday games are no longer feasible for me unless I’m willing to take two vacation days; game day & day after) for the privilege (at a time of year when days off are never a good idea in my field) it requires an additional hour each way due to traffic approaching the campus, again with likely one third the amount of vehicles approaching the school.

When the perceived support of the program over the first few years after the announcement that we were moving up to (then called) division 1-A football there couldn’t have been a better location than the Rent. Prior to the last half of the last season at Memorial it didn’t appear likely that we could put a presentable product on the field for years, if ever, so that we were able to fill (or almost fill) the Rent from day one was a monumental accomplishment. I am fully aware of the stories of the last few miles approaching Beaver Stadium (Penn St) along with the similar traffic jams that fans of other major college football programs endure. At the time the Rent opened (twenty years ago), with the size of our then dedicated fan base, we would have been lucky to break 10k in attendance if the Rent didn’t have the central location and convenience of highways approaching the stadium (more than sufficient tailgating space surrounding the stadium was an added bonus, people should see what some fan bases need to deal with when it comes to this).

We can add that the sightlines are incredible in comparison to may classic (older) stadiums and unlike some, we haven’t had expansions that included decreasing ‘seat size’ in bleachers from 12” to 10” to 8” to 7” to 6” (yes, there are a handful of stadiums where if you have a bleacher type seat with your season tickets you will be required to stand basically sideways if there is full attendance in your section).

The ‘difficulties’ that many fan bases have been willing to endure as part of the ‘traditional’ on campus, college football game day experience are among things that would have limited our (then) neophyte fan base tremendously as it would have alienated two thirds of them. If we reach the point where our attendance is consistent enough that we can believe the entirety would have zero problem relocating to Storrs, then the idea of an on campus stadium would make a ton of sense. Until then, we will be fine at the Rent.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[CONN78SEJ]

We all know UConn will always play games in the Hartford area, basketball and football. A new football stadium will not be built in Storrs by taxpayer money. I think we all know this no matter which side of the table you are on.

Personally, I could care less as Hartford and Storrs are about equidistant for me. I do think the only logical solution is to improve the transportation to and from Hartford to Storrs, which benefits football and basketball. Whether you do this by finishing 384, or continuing the fast track buses, building commuter rail (which I think should be done alongside all highways). Improving the transportation makes trips both ways faster and easier for students and fans, while possibly also making Storrs an easier destination for visa which could bring additional money to the community.

Just my two cents. Either way - Go Huskies & pack the Rent!

Why not??? Aren’t tax payers by and large paying for running the University system now? Aren’t they paying for Mora, Hurley and Geno’s salaries now? Recruiting trips, plane tickets, and god knows what? The state IS wasting taxpayer money IF they don’t build an on campus stadium, it’s money well spent. Besides a lot of money generated for an on campus stadium would be generated from wealthy benefactors and alumni. Do you know how many billionaires graduated from or have ties to UConn?

 

[RC111]

UConn’s main campus in Storrs and the surrounding area houses almost 20,000 students. Build a new 40,000+ on campus stadium and they will come. Planning for parking and tailgating for both students and non-student fans is critical though. The overriding reason for an on campus stadium is to improve the football team, make the coaches job easier in recruiting (for all sports), and helps in getting UConn a P5 invite. The Rent doesn’t have to die either, maybe have one home game at the Rent. The state could also use it for concerts, home games for Central, the high school state playoffs, other sports, etc.

I agree with all of this. I'd enjoy an on-campus stadium, it's just not something I'm desperate for. That being said, if it's going to happen in a decade, planning would need to start now.

 

[Redding Husky]

Coming from Danbury, I’d rather go to East Hartford than Storrs. Although I love the idea of an on campus stadium. I say spend a ton of money to upgrade the Rent.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I’m going to preface my post with a few comments:

• I’ve had season tickets to the Rent since it opened and have missed very few games over the years. If they were to put a Stadium on campus I personally would attend those games without question or complaint about location but that may not translate to the entire fan base.
• While I fall into the category of one who views posted speed limits more as suggestions than out and out rules, I have often been on I-91 between New Haven and Hartford, felt I was driving too slowly (in comparison to the cars passing me) only to look at the speedometer and see I was moving ~75mph-85mph.
• With the exception of a few years in the mid 1990’s my permanent residence has always been in Stamford, I currently live close to the Parkway and prior to that had lived close to I-95.

There have been a few instances (primarily when we’ve had ~15k attendance) when I’ve gotten to the Rent in an hour and maybe ten minutes. Hopefully those days are over (attendance wise) but even with a full house (we have had those in the past) if the plan is to arrive with sufficient time to tailgate, the worst case scenario would be an hour and a half. Having attended plenty of men’s basketball games at Gampel over the past nearly three and a half decades, where likely a third of the vehicles that would travel to a football game would be going to Gampel, there is no way in hell that the time difference would be only twenty minutes. With the current infrastructure, an additional hour each way would be a very conservative estimate. Hell, going to a men’s basketball game on a weekend (weekday games are no longer feasible for me unless I’m willing to take two vacation days; game day & day after) for the privilege (at a time of year when days off are never a good idea in my field) it requires an additional hour each way due to traffic approaching the campus, again with likely one third the amount of vehicles approaching the school.

When the perceived support of the program over the first few years after the announcement that we were moving up to (then called) division 1-A football there couldn’t have been a better location than the Rent. Prior to the last half of the last season at Memorial it didn’t appear likely that we could put a presentable product on the field for years, if ever, so that we were able to fill (or almost fill) the Rent from day one was a monumental accomplishment. I am fully aware of the stories of the last few miles approaching Beaver Stadium (Penn St) along with the similar traffic jams that fans of other major college football programs endure. At the time the Rent opened (twenty years ago), with the size of our then dedicated fan base, we would have been lucky to break 10k in attendance if the Rent didn’t have the central location and convenience of highways approaching the stadium (more than sufficient tailgating space surrounding the stadium was an added bonus, people should see what some fan bases need to deal with when it comes to this).

We can add that the sightlines are incredible in comparison to may classic (older) stadiums and unlike some, we haven’t had expansions that included decreasing ‘seat size’ in bleachers from 12” to 10” to 8” to 7” to 6” (yes, there are a handful of stadiums where if you have a bleacher type seat with your season tickets you will be required to stand basically sideways if there is full attendance in your section).

The ‘difficulties’ that many fan bases have been willing to endure as part of the ‘traditional’ on campus, college football game day experience are among things that would have limited our (then) neophyte fan base tremendously as it would have alienated two thirds of them. If we reach the point where our attendance is consistent enough that we can believe the entirety would have zero problem relocating to Storrs, then the idea of an on campus stadium would make a ton of sense. Until then, we will be fine at the Rent.

Did you ever stop to think that a prospective recruit might read your post and it might help him to make up his mind against playing for Jim Mora at the Rent and commit instead to Rutgers or Syracuse? I might add Rutgers has a beautiful 55,000 seat on campus stadium, and if you still think The B1G invited them because of tv eyeballs only, think again. My goodness, did the New Jersey taxpayers pay for it????

 

[Redding Husky]

Connecticut and New England are different than the rest of the U.S. The Patriots are about 25 miles from Boston and the Huskies are about 20 miles from Storrs. Both are fine where they are. If that freaks people out in Atlanta or Chicago, so be it. Visiting teams should be happy East Hartford is closer to the airport than Storrs.

 

[Nostical]

I’d put in the necessary money to fix the concrete, rust, etc, and once we make a P5 just expand to 50,000 as it is designed to do

You can’t just fix concrete and rust. There have to be visible improvements for fans and taxpayers to see—such as completing the ribbon scoreboard the entire way around the stadium—perfecting the sound system, etc.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Connecticut and New England are different than the rest of the U.S. The Patriots are about 25 miles from Boston and the Huskies are about 20 miles from Storrs. Both are fine where they are. If that freaks people out in Atlanta or Chicago, so be it. Visiting teams should be happy East Hartford is closer to the airport than Storrs.

If every player and coach on the Patriots were working to get their degree at Boston College and they played their games 25 miles away in Foxboro, do you think there might be an issue? Or more realistically what if the Boston College BOT voted to tear down Alumni Stadium because it was too expensive to maintain, but the BOT signed a long term agreement with the Patriots to play on Saturday in Foxboro. Do you think the fans, students and alumni would like that?

 

[uconnfan68]

It had Rolling Stones and Springsteen concerts in its early years. The neighbors were not amused. It is used for Christmas lights and a brew fest.

Columbus also only 800,000 or so more people than Hartford

Area of Columbus is > 226 sq miles. Area of Hartford < 18 sq miles.

Columbus is 32nd in DMA, Hartford is 34th. Add New Haven to Hartford and it’s 30th.

 

[Redding Husky]

If every player and coach on the Patriots were working to get their degree at Boston College and they played their games 25 miles away in Foxboro, do you think there might be an issue? Or more realistically what if the Boston College BOT voted to tear down Alumni Stadium because it was too expensive to maintain, but the BOT signed a long term agreement with the Patriots to play on Saturday in Foxboro. Do you think the fans, students and alumni would like that?

You want a campus stadium? Ok, go for it. Let’s see how far you get.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Did you ever stop to think that a prospective recruit might read your post and it might help him to make up his mind against playing for Jim Mora at the Rent and commit instead to Rutgers or Syracuse? I might add Rutgers has a beautiful 55,000 seat on campus stadium, and if you still think The B1G invited them because of tv eyeballs only, think again. My goodness, did the New Jersey taxpayers pay for it????

WTF are you talking about?

 

[uconnbill]

Did you ever stop to think that a prospective recruit might read your post and it might help him to make up his mind against playing for Jim Mora at the Rent and commit instead to Rutgers or Syracuse? I might add Rutgers has a beautiful 55,000 seat on campus stadium, and if you still think The B1G invited them because of tv eyeballs only, think again. My goodness, did the New Jersey taxpayers pay for it????

They were invited because of the NYC market and recruiting grounds, that is it