New Arena To Cost $45 Million

[brasssbonanzaa]

Benedict's follow-up interview with the Courant is even more embarrassing than this approval.

He claims part of the high cost is increasing the size of parking lots. It costs millions of dollars to cut down a few trees, put down asphalt and paint some lines?

He claims that this facility will be "the same, if not better than what our competitors have" Unless he's considering Merrimack as the "competitor" here, he's in the Twilight Zone if he thinks 2,000 bleachers and 500 chairbacks are going to hold a candle to QU, PC, BU, Lowell, BC, and UNH? Not to mention competing against Maine, NU, and UVM's old but charmingly attractive home venues.

 

[uconnphil2016]

If 2,500 seats meant that there were 2,500 chair backs and the arena was state-of-the-art, that would be one thing, but this is just the Frietas Ice Forum — capacity of 2,000 and deemed not fit for the men’s hockey team to compete at all — with 500 chair backs added in.

This. It's not that I'm against a more modest rink but it seems like compromise has produced a penny wise, pound foolish decision. The UConn Blog guys get it.



Sadly apparently the UConn BOT does not read the UConn Blog.

There's no way Freitas couldn't be expanded to fit 500 chair backs somewhere. Absolutely no way. It's such a criminal waste of money.

 

[zls44]

Benedict's follow-up interview with the Courant is even more embarrassing than this approval.

He claims part of the high cost is increasing the size of parking lots. It costs millions of dollars to cut down a few trees, put down asphalt and paint some lines?

His parking lot comment broke me. That was my breaking point.

 

[CL82]

There's no way Freitas couldn't be expanded to fit 500 chair backs somewhere. Absolutely no way. It's such a criminal waste of money.

This. I think the money is being spent in locker rooms and exercise equipment which is fine, but then it makes sense to just build them along side Freitas.

 

[browndog319]

I don’t know why I see this as some little flag saying we messed up with football and we’ll never be a football school. But maybe... we did it with basketball. And some of our other sports.

 

[Husk1881]

I don’t know why I see this as some little flag saying we messed up with football and we’ll never be a football school. But maybe... we did it with basketball. And some of our other sports.

What?

 

[superjohn]

What on earth are they doing??? 45 million for a 2500 person stadium with 500 seat backs they will only play lesser games in. This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. This is damn near criminally negligent.

 

[huskymedic]

Among the topics discussed:

• The timeline for construction
• The fate of the Freitas Ice Forum now that another on-campus facility is being built
• How the XL Center will continue to be utilized
• The impact a facility like this could have on coach Mike Cavanaugh’s ability to recruit
• How this all squares with UConn’s finances
• The potential for expansion (and more seats with backs)
• The general sense of dread that’s gripped a UConn fan base that’s also dealing with a revamped men’s basketball program and a down-and-out football program

 

[CL82]

Can't listen now, anyone have a synopsis?

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Dooley]

There are so many things UConn could do with $45,000,000 that could improve its profile. Building the smallest arena in Hockey East to play 3 games a year in front of 30 students is not one of them. Last minute reactive decision making at its finest!

 

[Husk1881]

There are so many things UConn could do with $45,000,000 that could improve its profile. Building the smallest arena in Hockey East to play 3 games a year in front of 30 students is not one of them. Last minute reactive decision making at its finest!

Students will go if it’s on campus. Look how many go to watch soccer consistently. People forget that student involvement is dying at at UConn not simply because of bad product but because students simply have no incentive to travel far. Not to mention the few games that manage to make it to storrs such as basketball are highlighted by big names such as USF, ECU and Tulane. I’m not against a small arena especially because students are financing most of this mess and at least the school is attempting (but failing) to build interest.

 

[huskymedic]

Can't listen now, anyone have a synopsis?

See topics discussed above - Mike Anthony does a nice job w/ his part (w/ the insight of someone who covered the team extensively in past).

It probably isn't going to completely change the opinions/cynicism of those who are dead set against it for whatever the variety of personal reasons/emotions are but would be helpful for someone who only gets their "news" from Twitter/Blogs..

I guess the XL Center "unknown future" discussion could have been expanded but it would have been beating the proverbial dead horse and some of the "facts"/opinions presented can be debated but's worth the 37 minute listen...

(It even has a @Storrs South mention)

 

[huskymedic]

There is such a thing as bad publicity
U-Con

CHN Podcast discussion: UConn rink discussion starts @ 7:10-ish to 20:00-ish.
CHN'siders Podcast

No surprise on article writers opinion on Podcast... John Buccigross offers his opinion (not negative) and then talks a bit about the Connecticut "Beanpot" style tourney (Yale, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, UConn) moving forward.

 

[Adios]

Put the tournament in Bridgeport.

 

[nickp91]

if in 2025 the XL Center is closed and UConn Hockey is stuck playing in a 2500 seat barn on campus and forced to go back to the state for more money to add another 1500 seats.

 

[browndog319]

What?

I don’t know... it just made me think that when I read it. Feeling, not fact... but you read how competitively we recruit in hockey... and well, football not so much. And won’t.

 

[Adios]

If BC can recruit in football, so can we. One day.

 

[edsellout]

See topics discussed above - Mike Anthony does a nice job w/ his part (w/ the insight of someone who covered the team extensively in past).

It probably isn't going to completely change the opinions/cynicism of those who are dead set against it for whatever the variety of personal reasons/emotions are but would be helpful for someone who only gets their "news" from Twitter/Blogs..

I guess the XL Center "unknown future" discussion could have been expanded but it would have been beating the proverbial dead horse and some of the "facts"/opinions presented can be debated but's worth the 37 minute listen...

(It even has a @Storrs South mention)

It just makes no sense. Either build something worth building or don’t build anything at all.

When the XL Center is shuttered it’s going to look especially ridiculous.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

If BC can recruit in football, so can we. One day.

Unfortunately, BC is using that ACC money to catch-up. No more inflatable dome over Alumni Stadium. They now have a full-size, indoor practice facility (to be followed by a new baseball and softball field) across Comm Ave in the land they bought from the Catholic Church a few years back.

BC's New Indoor Practice Facility to be Named Fish Field House

 

[UCONNJACK]

Unfortunately, BC is using that ACC money to catch-up. No more inflatable dome over Alumni Stadium. They now have a full-size, indoor practice facility (to be followed by a new baseball and softball field) across Comm Ave in the land they bought from the Catholic Church a few years back.

BC's New Indoor Practice Facility to be Named Fish Field House

Baseball and softball fields were completed and utilized this past spring. Harrington Athletics Village - Facilities - Boston College

 

[AspyDad]

I wonder what Cavs really thinks abt this new "arena". With York seemingly at the end of his career at BC, Cavs would be a natural candidate. This does not help his retention but realistically who would pass up BC Hockey job. UCONN had a chance to be a top tier team in HEA; this doesn't help IMO

 

[huskymedic]

I'm not gonna start another thread on the topic but here is an Editorial by the Hartford Business Journal w/ why they think this is misguided: UConn hockey rink investment wrong-minded

>>At a time when Hartford officials and boosters are angling for as much as $250 million from the state for an XL Center renovation, the pending school/donor-funded investment by Connecticut's flagship university, which has been complaining about state funding cuts, is misguided.

UConn men's hockey already plays the majority of its games in Hartford and would likely continue to do so even after the new Storrs arena is built. Therefore, it would be wiser for UConn to co-invest in a renovated XL Center arena.

State lawmakers, which have so far rebuffed the XL Center renovation investment given Connecticut's fiscal crisis, will likely be even less inclined to foot that bill — particularly if Republicans take control of the House, Senate or governor's mansion — if UConn is building its own new, expensive hockey arena. <<

>>However, UConn and the state should have pushed harder to scrap the on-campus arena requirement altogether, and instead committed to renovating the XL Center into a top college hockey venue. UConn's co-investment in the XL Center could make it more palatable for lawmakers to finance a large-scale renovation. <<

>>I'm not saying UConn hockey or the Storrs arena are headed toward a similar fate (UConn says multiple other revenue-generating uses are planned for the facility). But Connecticut and its top state university should not invest in two separate facilities for the partial benefit of a college hockey team, even if being in the Hockey East conference means the school can attract more donor funds.

How about convincing those donors to help rebuild XL Center instead?<<

More in article...

 

[CL82]

I'm not gonna start another thread on the topic but here is an Editorial by the Hartford Business Journal w/ why they think this is misguided: UConn hockey rink investment wrong-minded

>>At a time when Hartford officials and boosters are angling for as much as $250 million from the state for an XL Center renovation, the pending school/donor-funded investment by Connecticut's flagship university, which has been complaining about state funding cuts, is misguided.

UConn men's hockey already plays the majority of its games in Hartford and would likely continue to do so even after the new Storrs arena is built. Therefore, it would be wiser for UConn to co-invest in a renovated XL Center arena.

State lawmakers, which have so far rebuffed the XL Center renovation investment given Connecticut's fiscal crisis, will likely be even less inclined to foot that bill — particularly if Republicans take control of the House, Senate or governor's mansion — if UConn is building its own new, expensive hockey arena. <<

>>However, UConn and the state should have pushed harder to scrap the on-campus arena requirement altogether, and instead committed to renovating the XL Center into a top college hockey venue. UConn's co-investment in the XL Center could make it more palatable for lawmakers to finance a large-scale renovation. <<

>>I'm not saying UConn hockey or the Storrs arena are headed toward a similar fate (UConn says multiple other revenue-generating uses are planned for the facility). But Connecticut and its top state university should not invest in two separate facilities for the partial benefit of a college hockey team, even if being in the Hockey East conference means the school can attract more donor funds.

How about convincing those donors to help rebuild XL Center instead?<<

More in article...

It's not UConn's job to subsidize the XL Center.
--------
How have things turned out since then? Well, the team showed promise for a short stretch, sharing a Big East championship in 2010 and making it to a Fiesta Bowl game that same season. Since then, the Big East dismantled, UConn joined a subpar American Athletic Conference (largely because major college football conferences rebuffed the school's program) and the team is now barely beating second-tier schools in front of largely empty seats.

Uh, no.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

It's not UConn job to subsidize the XL Center.

Right, all the more reason to forget the XL Center for the hockey program completely and build a facility on campus that's used for all home games and all practices and is large enough to house the number of fans who'll want to come and the students on campus who'll join the fun...like nearly every hockey program in the country already does.

 

[The Viking]

I wonder what Cavs really thinks abt this new "arena". With York seemingly at the end of his career at BC, Cavs would be a natural candidate. This does not help his retention but realistically who would pass up BC Hockey job. UCONN had a chance to be a top tier team in HEA; this doesn't help IMO

His main concern was not about a 5K seat arena, it was about the amenities like clubhouse, coaches offices, training rooms, etc to meet what other HE schools are doing that he is recruiting against. At the very least it sounds like we are finally going to get that for him.
He actually likes playing at the XL in particular the double home game weekends where he can remove the kids from campus distractions and keep them downtown.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Honestly, my issue is more "how can $45 million get less than Bentley got for that amount in Boston" than anything else.

Even setting aside possible considerations at the bottom of this message, you pose a very fair and reasonable question. Along 128 in a relatively dumpy Boston 'burb, how the heck does Bentley's $45 million go so much further for a 2,000 seat arena than a projected $45 million, initial 2,500 seat arena expandable to 4,000 near downtown Storrs?

Private school Bentley's "... new multipurpose arena is part of the university’s comprehensive 10-year capital plan to modernize and expand the campus including renovating academic buildings and residence halls and building a new health and wellness center. Funding for Bentley's new arena came from a combination of private gifts and operating reserves."

versus

Public university UConn which inexplicably only began learning how to raise dinero in the last few decades (er, several years) with a clusterpharked state financial status, screwed up state approval hoops of fires, potentially lots of hands held out, etc?