New Hockey Barn Concept Art/Floor Plan on Display?

[FDNY99]

I have heard that the new barn may be placed on the present site of the Field House.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I have heard that the new barn may be placed on the present site of the Field House.

That'd be an awesome location, in the heart of campus. What do they even use the Field House/Geyer for these days?

 

[Jarhead_1775]

That'd be an awesome location, in the heart of campus. What do they even use the Field House/Geyer for these days?

Indoor track.

 

[Sportsman5]

That'd be an awesome location, in the heart of campus. What do they even use the Field House/Geyer for these days?

also recreation use by students for basketball. However, if there is a new recreation center being built on campus, than there shouldn't be a need for the field house

 

[Jarhead_1775]

Jacobs gave us a snippet what 4 days ago? What's going on? I expected an announcement before now.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Jacobs gave us a snippet what 4 days ago? What's going on? I expected an announcement before now.

Hmmm, big announcement when people are planning to celebrate Independence Day, on vacation, etc. Nope, even Hathaway might not pull off such an ill-timed delivery.

 

[huskymedic]

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268748/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Xcln1HhJ

>>Manuel has been working with the school's new chief architect, Laura Cruickshank, who is preparing to present a master plan for entire campus, including the athletic facilities, in December to the Board of Trustees.

By that time, Manuel also hopes to have a better idea where the new hockey arena will be located. The school has considered the site of the current rink as well as other locations, he said. Officials even have looked into what it would take to retrofit Gampel Pavilion with an ice surface under the basketball floor. That does not appear to be the most viable option, he said.<<

 

[Dooley]

Interesting...

There are no plans and little legislative will to use public money for any of those projects.

"I'm sure (school officials) understand the economic realities of the state," said State Sen. Toni Boucher, a Wilton Republican and the ranking senator on the legislature's Higher Education Committee. "Right now, it would be very difficult for a request (for money) to get through."

There also has been talk of expanding to the school's 40,000-seat football stadium, Rentschler Field, in order to make UConn more attractive to one of the nation's top football conferences.

But Manuel said stadium size would not be a deal breaker for any conference and enlarging it won't make sense until the school can sell the existing seats.

"It's not about the size of stadiums; it's about what our fan base is," Manuel said. "It's about what we do. It's about academics. The stadium is just a piece of it."

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Interesting...

There are no plans and little legislative will to use public money for any of those projects.

"I'm sure (school officials) understand the economic realities of the state," said State Sen. Toni Boucher, a Wilton Republican and the ranking senator on the legislature's Higher Education Committee. "Right now, it would be very difficult for a request (for money) to get through."

There also has been talk of expanding to the school's 40,000-seat football stadium, Rentschler Field, in order to make UConn more attractive to one of the nation's top football conferences.

But Manuel said stadium size would not be a deal breaker for any conference and enlarging it won't make sense until the school can sell the existing seats.

"It's not about the size of stadiums; it's about what our fan base is," Manuel said. "It's about what we do. It's about academics. The stadium is just a piece of it."

Glad at least expanding the Rent has been discussed; but, I believe UConn has no choice with respect to a hockey arena as building an on-campus arena in the 3K to 5K range was part of the agreement to move to Hockey East. I just hope the politicians in Hartford are not hijacking UConn hockey to help push for a renovated XL Center.

 

[Adios]

They're pushing for a new arena in Hartford.

 

[Dooley]

They have been pushing for a new arena in Hartford since the 1990s. If there is one thing we can all count on from our state government, it's that they will continue to fudge any and all projects that have to do with sporting venues. If they hadn't dragged their heels in the 90s, Hartford would still have the Whalers and/or possibly the Patriots. The fact that the XL Center still looks exactly the same (inside the coliseum itself) as it did when the Whalers played there is just further proof that our politicians will never build a new arena. The renovated XL Center and its brand new spiffy "party deck" will have to hold the Connecticut sports fan for the next 30 years.

 

[TheDoggPound]

CRDA was given a deadline at the beginning of the year to come up with a replacement strategy for the XLC within 2 years. CRDA themselves have pushed up their own deadline and will have it be ready by the end of this year with it being presented Q1 2015. The purchase of the Church Street garage for $14M a couple months ago was to make room for a larger facility where the XLC sits. There is a new arena coming and it will be a major league facility.

The renovations at the XL Center by the CRDA's own admission are being done to make it - their words not mine - 'NHL-Ready'.

 

[DSquiz]

They have been pushing for a new arena in Hartford since the 1990s. If there is one thing we can all count on from our state government, it's that they will continue to fudge any and all projects that have to do with sporting venues. If they hadn't dragged their heels in the 90s, Hartford would still have the Whalers and/or possibly the Patriots. The fact that the XL Center still looks exactly the same (inside the coliseum itself) as it did when the Whalers played there is just further proof that our politicians will never build a new arena. The renovated XL Center and its brand new spiffy "party deck" will have to hold the Connecticut sports fan for the next 30 years.

The recent renovations were to extend the life of the XL another 10 years while they plan the replacement and in all likelihood begin building. It will not be 30 years.

 

[TheDoggPound]

The recent renovations were to extend the life of the XL another 10 years while they plan the replacement and in all likelihood begin building. It will not be 30 years.

The plan is already in place, the main obstacle will be funding. The renovations are meant to extend the XLC for 5 years contrary to what is said or printed.

Suzanne Hopgood, chairwoman of the CRDA on replacing the XL Center:

"I think it's important to understand what CRDA is doing as it relates to the XL Center. 1. The Venue Committee is working through determining if a. part of the existing facility can be used for a new XL Center and b. if a new state of the art facility can fit on the existing site - to that end CRDA is purchasing the Church St. Garage to ensure expansion space since today's arenas are shaped differently. 2. A new arena won't be operational for several years. In the meantime, the XL Center has tenants whose requirements need to be addressed: UConn Hockey, NCAA championship Men's and Womens' UConn basketball and AHL Wolfpack. The A/C system can't be relied upon to maintain hard ice, for instance. Those are the repairs and the renovation which are ongoing right now. They are necessary to keep the facility running at a standard that is necessary to accommodate the tenants. In addition to the above the XL hosts 180+ events/year, some of which are multi-night and total 600,000+ attendees /year. Separately the purchase of the Church St. Garage will allow the XL to sell tickets and parking simultaneously, if desired. CRDA will deliver a recommendation for the new arena to the state and city in Q1 of 2015 with financials and analyses that will have to match the proposed investment. The CRDA board will insist on a thorough analysis. CRDA invited and voted the city COO, Darrell Hill onto the Venue Committee in order to encourage city participation."

 

[UConn98]

So ... I guess the open-air arena won't be coming back?

I understand progress and all that, but I still would be amazed to see them knock down Freitas to build a new arena. That one was constructed a scant 16 years ago.

 

[huskypantz]

Does it make sense to try to create an entertainment district with the XL and baseball stadium, the hooker brewing co and whatever else they can dream up all in the same area?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

So ... I guess the open-air arena won't be coming back?

I understand progress and all that, but I still would be amazed to see them knock down Freitas to build a new arena. That one was constructed a scant 16 years ago.

I'm still amazed that a scant 16 years ago they built a hockey arena with a capacity below 2,000 that couldn't be expanded. They were basically saying "we have no intention of ever attempting to compete at the highest level in men's ice hockey" a sport that we naturally should be among the best in the country in.

 

[Husky Pete]

I'm still amazed that a scant 16 years ago they built a hockey arena with a capacity below 2,000 that couldn't be expanded. They were basically saying "we have no intention of ever attempting to compete at the highest level in men's ice hockey" a sport that we naturally should be among the best in the country in.

Sounds like another Jeff Hathaway debacle.

 

[FDNY99]

So ... I guess the open-air arena won't be coming back?

I understand progress and all that, but I still would be amazed to see them knock down Freitas to build a new arena. That one was constructed a scant 16 years ago.

I wouldn't be surprised to see them keep Freitas...turn it into the Women's Hockey team/practice facility and/or use it for public skating, intramural's, club sports, rental ice. It would definitely be worth it if the ice making system is still good. Practice time would be a non-issue (which they just solved for basketball).

 

[FDNY99]

I'm still amazed that a scant 16 years ago they built a hockey arena with a capacity below 2,000 that couldn't be expanded. They were basically saying "we have no intention of ever attempting to compete at the highest level in men's ice hockey" a sport that we naturally should be among the best in the country in.

HATHAWAY!!!!!

 

[dbmill]

I'm still amazed that a scant 16 years ago they built a hockey arena with a capacity below 2,000 that couldn't be expanded. They were basically saying "we have no intention of ever attempting to compete at the highest level in men's ice hockey" a sport that we naturally should be among the best in the country in.

It doesn't seem that college hockey was as big a sport 16 years ago as it is today. Besides, in the late 1990's UConn athletics had all it could handle transitioning to Division 1-A football, and at the time it seemed that UConn athletics could only take on one sizable project at a time. For instance, they were talking about a new soccer facility at that time, and that still hasn't come to fruition.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

While Hathaway was an employee of our athletic department at that time, shy of actual evidence I don't see how the blame can fall on him for the size of Freitas.

What I was getting at was more the lack of foresight than anything else. It would not have been all that difficult to build Freitas with the ability to add an addional 2k-3k seats.

I remember in the early 1990's hearing a then executive with the Whalers (I believe Rutherford) talking about the early planning stages for what ended up being Gampel and he claimed that there waere a number of hockey proponents, including high ranking Whale officials trying to convince the school to make the commitment to men's hockey and build an arena that could handle both basketball and hockey (somewhat similar to Conte & Mullins) and were shot down repeatedly. My gut tells me that at that time there was a faction of the decision makers who absolutely did not want UConn to try to be a major player in men's ice hockey.

 

[freescooter]

While Hathaway was an employee of our athletic department at that time, shy of actual evidence I don't see how the blame can fall on him for the size of Freitas.

What I was getting at was more the lack of foresight than anything else. It would not have been all that difficult to build Freitas with the ability to add an addional 2k-3k seats.

I remember in the early 1990's hearing a then executive with the Whalers (I believe Rutherford) talking about the early planning stages for what ended up being Gampel and he claimed that there waere a number of hockey proponents, including high ranking Whale officials trying to convince the school to make the commitment to men's hockey and build an arena that could handle both basketball and hockey (somewhat similar to Conte & Mullins) and were shot down repeatedly. My gut tells me that at that time there was a faction of the decision makers who absolutely did not want UConn to try to be a major player in men's ice hockey.

I agree with this. When Freitas was announced I had heard that is was being built bare bones, with easy expansion potential, but clearly that did not happen. I also heard that the design was going to be such that it would be realtively simple to replace the bleacher seating with "real" seats. I'm not sure that's true either. My sense is that there were a few things at play. First and foremost was the football upgrade. That was paramount and everything else was behind it. Second, I've heard from a few people close to the program over the years, and I have followed it since D3 days to some extent and more closely since MAAC days, that there were some people in the athletic department that didn't want to see another sport rise to compete with the two crown jewels for money and prestige. We sometimes forget just how small minded Connecticut and UConn's leadership was up until fairly recently. While Lew Perkins had a relatively broad outlook, his wasn't the dominant one in the department or the university for a long time. I've even heard there were folks inside the department who opposed the football upgrade for similar reasons and actively campaigned against it with legislators and others. FWIW, neither Calhoun nor Geno were among those who were opposed to football or hockey.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

If the AD, Calhoun and Geno did not oppose hockey or football in the department and they were the dominant players, who did?

 

[DarthGrumpy]

If the AD, Calhoun and Geno did not oppose hockey or football in the department and they were the dominant players, who did?

It would be outside of the Athletic department, look to the faculty leadership (see UMass and Rutgers) and/or the Board. I can even see a few old time donors being against it because they wanted to see UConn keep playing URI and UNH like the Huskies did during their glory days in Storrs in the 1950’s. It’s New England after all.

 

[freescooter]

It would be outside of the Athletic department, look to the faculty leadership (see UMass and Rutgers) and/or the Board. I can even see a few old time donors being against it because they wanted to see UConn keep playing URI and UNH like the Huskies did during their glory days in Storrs in the 1950’s. It’s New England after all.

As well as some mid-level civil servants within the UConn athletic department and the administration. For example, back when the first football stadium was proposed,for the UConn campus, there was a big hullabaloo about a footnote on some projections of attendance. And there was another one on yet another footnote on a traffic study. Both came from "leaks" inside UConn to opponents of the upgrades.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Was just curious about the folks inside the AD that opposed the upgrades. Faculty and local opposition sure.

 

[hockeyfan44]

Okay lets get to more important things here. Will you be allowed to purchase beer at the XL Center or at the Bridgeport Rink during the college hockey games ? Thirsty minds want to know.

 

[huskypantz]

Was just curious about the folks inside the AD that opposed the upgrades. Faculty and local opposition sure.

I have no inside knowledge but I would imagine that folks in the corner of olympic sports like soccer probably felt that BCS football's place in the AD pecking order could be a threat to them.

 

[dbmill]

I have no inside knowledge but I would imagine that folks in the corner of olympic sports like soccer probably felt that BCS football's place in the AD pecking order could be a threat to them.

I'm more inclined to think of the finances of UConn athletics in the 80's and 90's. During the late 80's the big project was Gampel for men's basketball (sorry to say, women's basketball really didn't enter the equation back then). After that, the focus in the 90's was the football team going Division 1A, with additional scholarships needed and a new stadium and other football related facilities to be built. Increasing scholarships for men led to Title 9 scholarship considerations for women's sports. Think of all the money this took, and to me it is no wonder that a team with an outdoor rink was pretty much an after thought with UConn athletics at the time.