Naming Rights to the Rent?

[SonsOfNutmeg]

This may sound harsh, but based on the timing and the general renderings on the stadium, not sure how they could have generated any less interest in this story. Wow... From a marketing standpoint, its too bad a consumer product or services company didn't sign on (Dunkin Donuts, Insurance.co., etc...). A company that largely is a defense contractor gets nothing out of this but goodwill (maybe) for their workforce, and engines they sell to for-profit companies. Nothing here looks or spells big-time college football to me. I can't imagine the dollars here are anything huge either. What a wasted opportunity for the State of Connecticut.

 

[HuskyFan16]

This may sound harsh, but based on the timing and the general renderings on the stadium, not sure how they could have generated any less interest in this story. Wow... From a marketing standpoint, its too bad a consumer product or services company didn't sign on (Dunkin Donuts, Insurance.co., etc...). A company that largely is a defense contractor gets nothing out of this but goodwill (maybe) for their workforce, and engines they sell to for-profit companies. Nothing here looks or spells big-time college football to me. I can't imagine the dollars here are anything huge either. What a wasted opportunity for the State of Connecticut.

Pretty hot take for someone who likely knows none of the contract terms.

Also, I'm not sure "interesting" naming rights exactly spells out "big-time college football." Prestige and blue blood are not the first ideas to pop into my head when I think of a hypothetical Dunkin Donuts Field.

 

[Dooley]

Ask and you shall receive. How many spots? It depends, but somewhere between 135-165 per acre.

https://ag.tennessee.edu/cpa/Information Sheets/CPA 222.pdf

Thanks Chin! Let's just keep it as simple as possible because I sahq at math. 150 cars x 25 acres = roughly 3750 cars. When you figure that most cars have multiple people in them for tailgating, I'd say that the additional parking acreage was acquired to accompany around 10K additional fans. Hmmm...I wonder why 10K??

 

[Dooley]

This may sound harsh, but based on the timing and the general renderings on the stadium, not sure how they could have generated any less interest in this story. Wow... From a marketing standpoint, its too bad a consumer product or services company didn't sign on (Dunkin Donuts, Insurance.co., etc...). A company that largely is a defense contractor gets nothing out of this but goodwill (maybe) for their workforce, and engines they sell to for-profit companies. Nothing here looks or spells big-time college football to me. I can't imagine the dollars here are anything huge either. What a wasted opportunity for the State of Connecticut.

Sorry, but I could not possibly disagree more. This bit of news is probably the single biggest and most interesting bit of news to be announced by UConn for its football program since Pasqualoni was finally canned. The added parking acreage that could, potentially, provide room for an additional 10,000 fans points in the direction that UConn still believes in itself, its football program, and its chances at getting into a power conference. There is no need to expand the stadium while still playing in the AAC. The only reason to expand the stadium is if UConn gets into a power conference. The added land provided by UTC will now allow for the stadium to be expanded up to 50-55K.

 

[uconnphil2016]

If we want to have a spot in the Big Ten, Northwestern's stadium holds the smallest capacity at approx. 47k. Minnesota, Rutgers and Indiana are all somewhere between 50-53k which is where I'd imagine they'd like to see UConn at given the size of the university student body/alumni base. We may not have the demand for a 50k seat stadium at the moment, but that's kind of paradoxical in the first place because without a large enough stadium we won't be able to book serious P5 teams and thus generate consistent fan interest beyond die-hard season ticket holders. Building a larger stadium may very well drive ticket demand by bringing better opponents and HOPEFULLY a better conference to play in. With this conference schedule, UConn could go back to the 8-4 Edsall era days and still have a very hard time packing 40,000 people in to watch USF, Memphis, ECU, etc. I say we expand the stadium first and the benefits will come.

 

[Dooley]

If we want to have a spot in the Big Ten, Northwestern's stadium holds the smallest capacity at approx. 47k. Minnesota, Rutgers and Indiana are all somewhere between 50-53k which is where I'd imagine they'd like to see UConn at given the size of the university student body/alumni base. We may not have the demand for a 50k seat stadium at the moment, but that's kind of paradoxical in the first place because without a large enough stadium we won't be able to book serious P5 teams and thus generate consistent fan interest beyond die-hard season ticket holders. Building a larger stadium may very well drive ticket demand by bringing better opponents and HOPEFULLY a better conference to play in. With this conference schedule, UConn could go back to the 8-4 Edsall era days and still have a very hard time packing 40,000 people in to watch USF, Memphis, ECU, etc. I say we expand the stadium first and the benefits will come.

At the very least, it is easier to tell Jim Delany and B1G leaders that we can expand the stadium by 10-15,000 seats when we now have the land needed to accompany the parking traffic (to go with the pre-constructed footings already put in place at the stadium itself to handle an expansion). This is exciting news indeed.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Selling naming rights after the worst attended season in the stadium's history seems...questionable.

Agreed, but I'm guessing the move is rooted in financial desperation rather than a lack of business savvy. The Rent has been bleeding money for years and probably aren't in a financial position to wait for the revenue from naming rights.

 

[uconnphil2016]

At the very least, it is easier to tell Jim Delany and B1G leaders that we can expand the stadium by 10-15,000 seats when we now have the land needed to accompany the parking traffic (to go with the pre-constructed footings already put in place at the stadium itself to handle an expansion). This is exciting news indeed.

Oh, for sure. It's a good thing any way that you cut it (besides the lame corporatization of college sports and the dreadful stadium names that come along with it). All I'm saying is that while winning will certainly bring more fans to the games, we're going to have issues filling the stadium like we did when we were a winning team playing a Big East schedule. The best remedy for that IMO is to expand the stadium in hopes of attracting solid OOC opponents and a ticket to the ball with the Big 10 or ACC (not a Big 12 fan, personally, so I won't include them in my wish list. We're one Texas-to-the-SEC/PAC 10 away from a Big East-esque catastrophe all over again if we get involved in that conference imo).

 

[Bonehead]

View attachment 10016

Chandler sighting!!

 

[Johnny Mac]

Pratt and Whitney Stadium = PAWS
at Rentschler Field = ARF

Seems appropriate.

 

[Dooley]

Pratt and Whitney Stadium = PAWS
at Rentschler Field = ARF

Seems appropriate.

^ Awesome. Please send that to UConn marketing people. Or to the Humane Society.

 

[CL82]

List found on Manuel's desk:

My "Big" to do list:

1. Improve research profile of the university - check
2. Improve endowment - check
3. Hire promising up and coming assistant Coach to replace Jim Calhoun- check
4. Show presence in NYC by having a good turnout for MSG NCAA games - Double check Baby!
5. Win another Men's basketball natty - check
6. Get rid of Pasqualoni, fire if possible, hire hitman if needed - check
7. Hire promising up and coming assistant to replace that old goat. - check
8. Upgrade hockey to Hockey East, hire promising up and coming assistant to coach- check
9. Show intention and capability to expand Rent if demand warrants -check
10. Lose that stupid dog eye helmet - check
11. Acquire land for expanded parking at the Rent - check ....

"Heh, heh, heh... It's all coming together, heh, heh, heh..."

 

[junglehusky]

This may sound harsh, but based on the timing and the general renderings on the stadium, not sure how they could have generated any less interest in this story. Wow... From a marketing standpoint, its too bad a consumer product or services company didn't sign on (Dunkin Donuts, Insurance.co., etc...). A company that largely is a defense contractor gets nothing out of this but goodwill (maybe) for their workforce, and engines they sell to for-profit companies. Nothing here looks or spells big-time college football to me. I can't imagine the dollars here are anything huge either. What a wasted opportunity for the State of Connecticut.

Well if Dunkin Donuts or The Hartford were the sponsor there'd be somebody here complaining about how those are too small time (similar to Providence, Yard Goats stadiums) or boring (Dan Shaughnessey's "File Cabinet of America" line) the sponsors were.

 

[FDNY99]

They subcontract to Global Spectrum. I don't think the hate for CRDA is warranted, they've been a great asset for the entire region.

The CRDA is another point you and I will agree to disagree on.

 

[Chin Diesel]

My own number has always been 57,500-60,000 final build out.

 

[jostar1]

Saw this photo

Note the lack of class tweet by Leigh Torbin, the Assistant Media Relations Director for the Athletic Department of Notre Dame.

How the hell does a guy who represents Notre Dame get away with that? He should be sacked (fired).

 

[Pudge]

Gotta love it...the ONLY reason that stadium is there is because of UCONN football....the state taxpayers paid for it...AND now the CRDA runs it...charges the State a rental fee per game...and can't even get things right to manage it.

I've pointed this out several times.

There is a HUGE advantage to having the Ownership of the Stadium structured as a Public Authority. Given just basic attendance - and certainly far more when we were selling out in Mid - Edsall - we easily have a financing structure to expand the Stadium just on a refinance of the original Authority. Needless to say ... our Net Income is certainly exceeding the projections done in 2001/2002 and Interest rates are down = therefore you can raise more dollars than you did in 2001/2002.

The dollars for the expansion have always been easy. The Will? Whenever they wanted to do it.

 

[Dooley]

Saw this photo

Note the lack of class tweet by Leigh Torbin, the Assistant Media Relations Director for the Athletic Department of Notre Dame.

How the hell does a guy who represents Notre Dame get away with that? He should be sacked (fired).

What a d0uche. I like the responses he's gotten so far.

 

[Dooley]

I couldn't care less if the stadium was named "Dooley Has A Small Pen1s Stadium at Renstchler Field". As long as it is seen as a viable stadium to host power conference football games, they can name it whatever they want. Adding enough land to accommodate an additional 10,000 fans + pre-installed stadium footings = a venue that can do just that.

 

[rich1122]

This may sound harsh, but based on the timing and the general renderings on the stadium, not sure how they could have generated any less interest in this story. Wow... From a marketing standpoint, its too bad a consumer product or services company didn't sign on (Dunkin Donuts, Insurance.co., etc...). A company that largely is a defense contractor gets nothing out of this but goodwill (maybe) for their workforce, and engines they sell to for-profit companies. Nothing here looks or spells big-time college football to me. I can't imagine the dollars here are anything huge either. What a wasted opportunity for the State of Connecticut.

Don't have to pay taxes on 25 acres.

 

[ucinnc]

Saw this photo 621762028718411776 Note the lack of class tweet by Leigh Torbin, the Assistant Media Relations Director for the Athletic Department of Notre Dame. How the hell does a guy who represents Notre Dame get away with that? He should be sacked (fired).

Not sure if this will make a difference for you, but he used to work at UConn. Also, he kind of has a point.

 

[ScottBonz]

Saw this photo

Note the lack of class tweet by Leigh Torbin, the Assistant Media Relations Director for the Athletic Department of Notre Dame.

How the hell does a guy who represents Notre Dame get away with that? He should be sacked (fired).

He delete the tweet. I can't seem to see it anymore. What did he say?

 

[formerlurker]

Taxpayer Field

 

[Dooley]

He delete the tweet. I can't seem to see it anymore. What did he say?

He wrote something along the lines of not using a picture of our QB about to be sacked. A few of us took exception, thinking that he was taking a dig at UConn, and posted some pics/videos in reply. He later tweeted that he used to work at UConn and didn't mean anything by it. It's all good now, especially if he deleted the tweet. We UConn fans are a sensitive bunch.

 

[jostar1]

He delete the tweet. I can't seem to see it anymore. What did he say?

It's still there. Click on "View Photo". I see he answered.

Leigh Torbin ‏@LTorbin 5h5 hours ago
@FieldRentschler Do you have a photo where UConn’s QB isn’t about to get sacked? #GoHuskies

Leigh Torbin ‏@LTorbin 50m50 minutes ago
@hancox_uconn Sorry folks, wasn’t taking a shot at UConn. I worked there for six years. Still love it. Just disappointed at photo choice.

 

[Jimdish255]

Yeah he was pretty accurate there. Just a sore spot for us lately and not a great picture choice.

 

[CTMike]

Not trying to be a downer - but a wise man once said "let's not start s-- each other's d---'s just yet".

This deal is a good thing, and I'll leave it at that. Any further implications are... Tenuous.

 

[gopher2]

Hookers at Rentschler? that might work!

or maybe BJs at Rentschler Field?

Maybe someone already suggested that.

 

[Waquoit]

A company that largely is a defense contractor gets nothing out of this but goodwill (maybe) for their workforce, and engines they sell to for-profit companies.

You do know that this isn't the only D-1 stadium where UTC has the naming rights, don't you?

 

[Waquoit]

Pretty hot take for someone who likely knows none of the contract terms.
Also, I'm not sure "interesting" naming rights exactly spells out "big-time college football." Prestige and blue blood are not the first ideas to pop into my head when I think of a hypothetical Dunkin Donuts Field.

I agree. The stadium of the team that took our spot in the ACC is named after a doosh bag. Didn't seem to be an issue. I don't know the terms, but as far as just the name goes it's great. A world acknowledged leader in their industry sponsors a stadium in their same town is a problem, how?