Manuel comment on expanding the Rent

[Danzz]

Here is a Paul Doyle piece that sums up the situation for UConn post-Louisville. Nothing new for BYers who are following the story (and theories). At the end is a quote from Warde on expanding the Rent:


Nothing set in stone, but it supports the point that both the football product and the fan support need to step it up. We can have a chicken vs. egg argument but hopefully both to trend up... what's not explicit from that short quote is what kind of plan WM has and how he'll execute it, how long it could take. At the very least we can say it's on the radar rather than being a vague idea for after the bball facility is done (which in Hathaway's time was also a vague idea as far as fundraising and timeline).

... or am I reaching too far?

I think what he is really saying is that there will be no expansion unless it is required: conference affiliation or fan demand. No sense in expanding unless attendance picks up or new conference requiremnet.

 

[Chin Diesel]

so long as the stadium is away from the campus, uconn will not have a college game day experience, like those in the big ten, sec, etc. look at illinois. why don't they play in chicago. millions of people, hundreds of thousands alumni closer to chicago than urb-champ.

look at penn state. middle of nowhere. why not play in pitt or philly?

look at wisconsin, why play in madison, not milwaukee?

to sink more money into the rent, which isnt even owned by uconn is stupid. what's uconn next 10 yr capital athletic facility goal? bb facility, soccer/baseball will be done. why not start a capital campaign for an on campus stadium.

color. state is doing it, and laid out in excrutiating detail why a stadium needs to be on campus.

uconn has 19k undergrads at storrs. 10k student section is a given. nothing like 20% of your stadium filled without having to do an ounce of marketing.

Connecticut has a great game day experience at the Rent. I've yet to hear visiting fans or commentators say a bad word about the atmosphere around the Rent. To the contrary most people talk about a vibrant, fun atmosphere. My complaint would be that the Rent should open up Friday at 6:00pm and stay open until Sunday morning. Make it a destination. And I don't buy the crap about national security concerns of P&W. That is easily worked around.

An on-campus stadium isn't happening in the next 30 years. A 10K to 15K expansion is easy.

I do think the idea of building a 12K-16K XL center on the premesis to be intriguing. I don't have any idea of the politics or bonding capabilities, but there's merit to the thought.

 

[junglehusky]

The fact that yarders still argue about an on-campus stadium within our lifetimes (I'm planning on living another 40-50 years) shows how divorced from reality some of us can be. You think the State of Connecticut will be fine with one stadium for the price of two plus a new highway? How about how much would it cost to retrofit a football stadium into a bball arena?

 

[Dooley]

I don't care where the stadium is. I just want a 60,000 seat stadium to keep up with the rest of college football! They can build a new stadium in Yukon Alaska for all I care...I'll still have season tickets and go to every game.

 

[rich1122]

It's a traffic headache for 6 games per year. I went to the VA game a few years back. You actually have to walk through half mile of neighborhoods. There is no stadium parking.

In Ann Arbor the town was basically shut down.

I think they had figured out a way to accommodate the traffic, but then Pratt donated and it was suddenly moot. I honestly think that it was unfortunate that Pratt offered, because it would have come to fruition on campus.

The Rent must be paid for I would say. Anybody know. $90 Million

 

[rich1122]

Good Reading. Stadium Timeline. Campus is viable I think.

http://articles.courant.com/2012-08...uconn-and-villanova-uconn-athletic-director/2

 

[rich1122]

Oct. 14, 1997
The Courant reports that 100 acres on the north end of the UConn campus is emerging as the preferred stadium site. A public opinion poll indicates 48 percent of Connecticut residents want the stadium in Storrs, and 60 percent favor state funding.

Nov. 25, 1997
After virtually promising UConn it would have an on-campus stadium, Rowland announces he will not call a special session to approve finding for a $107 million stadium in Storrs. ``I'm sad for the university,'' Ritter says. ``This is going to be a day that we will regret for a very long time.'' Says Perkins: ``I think we've taken it as far as we can at this point. We've been talking about this thing five or six years now.''

 

[Rumrunner]

and 15 years later, it's not too late.

uconn can raise the money itself.

it raised $70m for fb and bb practice facilities.

why not at least resurrect the feasability studies, get some numbers crunchers to project what numbers need to be raised, and say it will be done in 5 years? the state of ct will have 15 plus years of uconn rent. it can figure out how to market the rent without uconn.

 

[huskymedic]

and 15 years later, it's not too late.

uconn can raise the money itself.

it raised $70m for fb and bb practice facilities.

why not at least resurrect the feasability studies, get some numbers crunchers to project what numbers need to be raised, and say it will be done in 5 years? the state of ct will have 15 plus years of uconn rent. it can figure out how to market the rent without uconn.

... and is Ritter not still on the BOT?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

and 15 years later, it's not too late.

uconn can raise the money itself.

it raised $70m for fb and bb practice facilities.

why not at least resurrect the feasability studies, get some numbers crunchers to project what numbers need to be raised, and say it will be done in 5 years? the state of ct will have 15 plus years of uconn rent. it can figure out how to market the rent without uconn.

IIRC, a huge chunk of what went to the Burton & Schenkman facilities (~2/3) came from UConn 2000.

 

[Rumrunner]

$20m from donors went to burton/sh complex. courant art ommitted eqip/art gifts
$35-40m from donors for bb practice facility (final #'s seem to fluctuate depending upon who is talking)
$7m raised for baseball/soccer

$67m raised.

a stadium will sell luxury box/psl's, not available in the above fundraising. so if uconn can raise close to $70m for the above a stadium is not only doable, it's a must

 

[ConnHuskBask]

This idea of building an on-campus stadium when he have a decade old stadium already is so mind numbingly stupid I would have thought it came from Warde Manuel himself.

 

[Rumrunner]

The idea of building an on-campus stadium when UConn currently rents a stadium 30 miles from its campus, where the idea needs to be planned, fundraised, and built- perhaps a 7-10 year timeframe-is so startingly a good representation of strategic long-range thinking, i'm sure warde won't pursue it. or perhaps when you wrote "we have a decade old stadium" you were using "we" as a collective noun for the citizens of connecticut. because uconn doesn't have a stadium.

This idea of building an on-campus stadium when he have a decade old stadium already is so mind numbingly stupid I would have thought it came from Warde Manuel himself.

 

[uconnbill]

Not going to happen anytime soon unless a Boone Pickett type steps up to fund a stadium on campus. The state is in dire needs financially and UConn is in the process of building a basketball facility, upgrade baseball, soccer and other things on campus.

I would love a 50 thousand seat on campus stadium but that won't happen in my lifetime more than likely

 

[FfldCntyFan]

$20m from donors went to burton/sh complex. courant art ommitted eqip/art gifts
I thought it was about $15mm (which would have been about 2/3 of the $45 mm cost).
$35-40m from donors for bb practice facility (final #'s seem to fluctuate depending upon who is talking)
We've raised that much already? I believe that you are looking at where we need to be.
$7m raised for baseball/soccer

$67m raised.

a stadium will sell luxury box/psl's, not available in the above fundraising. so if uconn can raise close to $70m for the above a stadium is not only doable, it's a must

It took how long to raise the funds for the hoops facility (which hasn't yet been fully funded and is less than half the price of building the Rent a decade ago (when concrete was far cheaper than it is today)?

If all other items have been fully funded it would still take a decade to raise the money necessary to build an on campus football stadium. I would not be surprised if this happens somewhere in the future but it will not happen in my lifetime (I recently turned 52).

I see the tech center as a huge step towards what we will need. This (see the Palo Alto research center in the 1960's) will go a long way towards bringing business and industry to that part of the state, leading to considerable development (including transportation infrastructure) which will make transportation to and from the campus on football Saturdays somewhat feasible. One thing the state should have considered about a decade or so ago (when the economy was moving and this would not have drained the state's budget) was clean up Willimantic (similar to what Stamford is now doing with their old industrial south end), in the process giving businesses (preferably tech companies) some incentives to locate offices there. While not ideally located, Willimantic is close enough to the school where having businesses that could benefit the school (and benefit from our students), something Mansfield can never be.

 

[CTMike]

We have SO MANY OTHER PRIORITIES to deal with at the moment to even spend an OUNCE more energy on this on-campus stadium fantasy.

 

[huskymedic]

A public opinion poll indicates 48 percent of Connecticut residents want the stadium in Storrs, and 60 percent favor state funding''

Outside of the BY - I'm not sure this poll would end up the same, especially the 60% favoring state funding.

 

[uconNYC]

For all the pluses of having an on campus stadium there are plenty of minuses in leaving the Rent. Plenty of empty seats at Gampel these days. It's not like an on campus stadium will cure all our current ills.

 

[Bootsthemonkey]

Let me get this straight. CT taxpayers ante up nearly $100 million for a stadium in East Hartford. They are then expected to be ok with the abandonment of said stadium so they can pony up another $100 million or so for another stadium in Storrs? That's insane.

 

[Rumrunner]

i hope this doesn't come across as a wise- remark, because i don't intend it to be so. if uconn won't show such an initiative-we're talking a feasability study-then uconn will be cemented further into being a mid-major. and don't delude yourselves, uconn is a mid-major right now, and while we have inordinate strengths, there is a much higher chance that uconn remains a mid major then gets rescued. if the acc survives, you think uconn's on deck? hello cincy,temple (philly),usf.ucf.

as for the big 10 look at what the big 10 did to practically force minnesota to build an on-campus stadium.

remember that minnesota was already a big 10 member. pretend uconn's folder makes its way to the big 10 presidents' table . it then gets to minnesota's president, what the do you think minnesota's vote will be? and could you blame them?



http://m.lvsun.com/news/2012/jul/15/minnesota-new--campus-stadium-proves-game-changer/

Sun, Jul 15, 2012 (2 a.m.)
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For 25 years, students at the University of Minnesota boarded shuttle buses on football game days and rode 15 minutes off campus to watch the Golden Gophers play at the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

While a stadium on-campus in Storrs sounds great, it will not happen because 1) the land targeted for the stadium is now part of the Tech Center development, 2) the roads around Storrs cannot handle traffic to/from Gampel, which holds roughly 10,000, never mind a 50K stadium, 3) the state pumped millions into the rent less than 15 years ago, 4) the state is really bad financial shape and will continue to be so for a while, 5) and an on-campus stadium may draw less non-students due to #2 and because it if 30 minutes farther from Fairfield County.
I honestly do not think a 40K stadium is a major road block to joining the ACC or (praying to whatever deity works) the BiG. As long as UConn has passion, i.e. can sell it out, which is not the case today, and focus on football (practice facility good, PP as coach bad), The Rent can be expanded down the road when sell-outs become an issue.

 

[Chin Diesel]

While a stadium on-campus in Storrs sounds great, it will not happen because 1) the land targeted for the stadium is now part of the Tech Center development, 2) the roads around Storrs cannot handle traffic to/from Gampel, which holds roughly 10,000, never mind a 50K stadium, 3) the state pumped millions into the rent less than 15 years ago, 4) the state is really bad financial shape and will continue to be so for a while, 5) and an on-campus stadium may draw less non-students due to #2 and because it if 30 minutes farther from Fairfield County.
I honestly do not think a 40K stadium is a major road block to joining the ACC or (praying to whatever deity works) the BiG. As long as UConn has passion, i.e. can sell it out, which is not the case today, and focus on football (practice facility good, PP as coach bad), The Rent can be expanded down the road when sell-outs become an issue.

I agree with every thing above and don't think it's worth anyone's time at Uconn to figure out how to build a stadium in Storrs.

The part of your post where you mention the location within the state as being a factor (ie Storrs vice E Hartford) is laughable to the rest of the country.

You can get from Point A to Point B anywhere in the state of Ct in under 2 1/2 hours. Saying Storrs vs E Hartford matters for whether a fan from Fairfield County would attend is very sad.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The part of your post where you mention the location within the state as being a factor (ie Storrs vice E Hartford) is laughable to the rest of the country.

You can get from Point A to Point B anywhere in the state of Ct in under 2 1/2 hours. Saying Storrs vs E Hartford matters for whether a fan from Fairfield County would attend is very sad.

This will not be an issue once the football program has become entrenched in the mindset of the residents of the state (perhaps a decade or so from now if we are lucky) but today this is a huge deal.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I agree with every thing above and don't think it's worth anyone's time at Uconn to figure out how to build a stadium in Storrs.

The part of your post where you mention the location within the state as being a factor (ie Storrs vice E Hartford) is laughable to the rest of the country.

You can get from Point A to Point B anywhere in the state of Ct in under 2 1/2 hours. Saying Storrs vs E Hartford matters for whether a fan from Fairfield County would attend is very sad.

No argument from me that it is sad; but, somewhat true. Everybody I know complains about the drive from NYC to the Adirondacks (3 to 5 hours) or Boston (4 hours) or wherever while I have relatives in Minneapolis who think nothing of driving the 6 hours to Chicago for a weekend trip or driving all the way (18 hours) to NJ for the holidays.
The drive from NJ is OK with me, just tough on the games I bring my oldest son with me who is only 6 and hates the car and night games as there is no way to make it to E Hartford for an 8 PM game in traffic without having to take a ½ off from work.
I am looking forward to taking over the Rock in February when UConn takes in Hall in hoops.

 

[Adios]

The Rent's accessibility is amazing. Men's bball play half their games at the XL. Women's bball play at the XL. UConn hockey will soon play more at the XL.