New XL Center

[brasssbonanzaa]

Skimmed through the report and it seems they are pushing for the cheaper option.. Typical

fwiw, the "cheaper" option is still basically a new arena - still costs $250-300 million, just not a new structure, no demolition costs, and wouldn't displace UConn/AHL for three years (which I'd be fine with.) It would certainly not appear to just be a Band-Aid solution.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

So will they rebuild the lower and upper bowl separate like MSG?

don't know exact progress, but yes, they'd do all construction between bb/hockey seasons. would take three years or so.

 

[mjmoney23]

No, it would be essentially what MSG did, take the skeleton of the building and rebuild everything else, and knock out most of the retail space on Church and expand the arena footprint there. There are some renderings in the PDF linked on the Courant's homepage.

If that was the case, the sightlines would have a hard time improving as it is a steep angle inside. The garden came out fantastic, but even before the renovations there wasn't a bad seat in the house. The same can not be said for xl unfortunately. I personally hope they knock inside down and start from scratch.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

If that was the case, the sightlines would have a hard time improving as it is a steep angle inside. The garden came out fantastic, but even before the renovations there wasn't a bad seat in the house. The same can not be said for xl unfortunately. I personally hope they knock inside down and start from scratch.

This would be aided by the plan accounting for expanding the bowl's footprint out into part of the retail that's currently on the Church St. side of the arena, so it'd end up being a larger area for the arena than currently exists.

 

[mjmoney23]

This would be aided by the plan accounting for expanding the bowl's footprint out into part of the retail that's currently on the Church St. side of the arena, so it'd end up being a larger area for the arena than currently exists.

That's right, thank for clarifying. It would be a bit more in depth than the MSG renovation then I would suspect.

 

[zls44]

How about fixing Gampel's roof, first. Kind of a pressing concern.

 

[Adios]

This arena would need a tenant to justify it's cost for the time being and it's not going to be the Arena Football League. It's going to be UConn. Our hockey games proved to be very successful draws in Hartford. Have to develop according to hand of cards dealt. I think UConn may have on campus facilities again, some day. If this goes through, that is.

Glad to hear this state is booming. I knew it can't sink.

 

[FartMan69]

fwiw, the "cheaper" option is still basically a new arena - still costs $250-300 million, just not a new structure, no demolition costs, and wouldn't displace UConn/AHL for three years (which I'd be fine with.) It would certainly not appear to just be a Band-Aid solution.

Just saw the renderings and it looks to me like they're using the same seating bowl even the ridiculously high nosebleeds on that one end of the arena and the seats under the sky boxes where you cant see the scoreboard.

 

[FartMan69]

How about fixing Gampel's roof, first. Kind of a pressing concern.

That's a UConn concern not a CRDA concern

 

[Deepster]

They supported them about as well as you can "reasonably" expect them to. The Whale was awful for the vast majority of their existence here.
Why do you continue to refuse to acknowledge that fact? Because it hurts your argument about an NHL team having no shot here?

First off, it's not a fact. Second, I've ignored it because it's a stupid misinformed statement.

Buffalo is a small market team. Worst record in the NHL so far this season. Feb 10, a Tuesday night, home against .500 Ottawa? The attendance was 19,070. Thursday, January 15, home against Minnesota? The attendance was 18,963. What's your excuse now?

Hartford doesn't get a pass for not showing up because the team sucked. It's a sports town with fans.

 

[mjmoney23]

Just saw the renderings and it looks to me like they're using the same seating bowl even the ridiculously high nosebleeds on that one end of the arena and the seats under the sky boxes where you cant see the scoreboard.

Now that you mention it that does appear to be the case. The corners are still open and the large columns are still visable. I hope that does not end up being built.

 

[FartMan69]

First off, it's not a fact. Second, I've ignored it because it's a stupid misinformed statement.

Buffalo is a small market team. Worst record in the NHL so far this season. Feb 10, a Tuesday night, home against .500 Ottawa? The attendance was 19,070. Thursday, January 15, home against Minnesota? The attendance was 18,963. What's your excuse now?

Hartford doesn't get a pass for not showing up because the team sucked. It's a sports town with fans.

Buffalo has a history dating back to 1970 and has made 3 cup finals. And a local owner committed to the area. Want a comparison? Nashville. Similar market size, newer franchise had awful start, bad ownership, poor attendance. Than what happened? New owner, winning team, full house. Hartford never got that much needed owner. Keep singling out Hartford though, please.

 

[Deepster]

Buffalo has a history dating back to 1970 and has made 3 cup finals. And a local owner committed to the area. Want a comparison? Nashville. Similar market size, newer franchise had awful start, bad ownership, poor attendance. Than what happened? New owner, winning team, full house. Hartford never got that much needed owner. Keep singling out Hartford though, please.

They made the Cup finals in 1999 and 1975. You're telling me they get 19,000 fans on a Tuesday or Thursday against middle of the road opponents because of that? They were 21-51 last season and are 16-37 so far this year. Keep spinning your Hartford excuses.

 

[superjohn]

I just don't see any way they can do the cheaper option. The building is a disaster. Small footprint, horrible sight lines, steep as heck seating etc. They can't go cheap on this, it has to be a new state of the art building.

 

[FartMan69]

They made the Cup finals in 1999 and 1975. You're telling me they get 19,000 fans on a Tuesday or Thursday against middle of the road opponents because of that? They were 21-51 last season and are 16-37 so far this year. Keep spinning your Hartford excuses.

They have multiple generations of fans who have seen success! That goes a long way. What don't you understand? If the Whale made or won the cup in 86 or 87 the team would still be here. You didn't even address my Nashville example but i look forward to you dismissing it as "dumb" because it doesn't support your weird hate for your own Market.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

From the Courant on the recommendations made -

While it may make some extra money for UConn, I don't like how (as predicted) Hartford's problem with the XL Center becomes UConn's problem. Plus, it takes away from the on-campus (student) experience. Sure, UConn hokey is a hot ticket right now; but, lets say they look more like UMass than BC in the win loss column after 4 or 5 years and the fans stop coming. What then? Does this 'lock' all of the major UConn basketball games into the new XL prohibiting UConn from playing at MSG/Barclays/Prudential once or twice a year? Plus, like before, bet on the student section being able to touch the ceiling yet again while corporate big wigs sit quietly in the front row working on their Ashley Madison account for a meet and greet at the Hilton during the second half.

"Recommends that the University of Connecticut become a partner in the XL Center, rather than a tenant as it is now. A partnership would require UConn to play most of its high-profile basketball and ice hockey matchups in Hartford and to overhaul how it sells tickets and to enter joint marketing agreements. In exchange, UConn would reap a share in the overall — and presumably higher — revenues from its events, not just ticket sales. The partnership would run at least 20 years."​

 

[Deepster]

They have multiple generations of fans who have seen success! That goes a long way. What don't you understand? If the Whale made or won the cup in 86 or 87 the team would still be here. You didn't even address my Nashville example but i look forward to you dismissing it as "dumb" because it doesn't support your weird hate for your own Market.

Hartford has 25 years running of UConn success. Four national titles in fifteen years. That doesn't even get 10,000 fans in the XL center against a crappy team. But the Sabres get 19,000 fans because they made the Stanley Cup finals in 1999?

 

[superjohn]

From the Courant on the recommendations made -

While it may make some extra money for UConn, I don't like how (as predicted) Hartford's problem with the XL Center becomes UConn's problem. Plus, it takes away from the on-campus (student) experience. Sure, UConn hokey is a hot ticket right now; but, lets say they look more like UMass than BC in the win loss column after 4 or 5 years and the fans stop coming. What then? Does this 'lock' all of the major UConn basketball games into the new XL prohibiting UConn from playing at MSG/Barclays/Prudential once or twice a year? Plus, like before, bet on the student section being able to touch the ceiling yet again while corporate big wigs sit quietly in the front row working on their Ashley Madison account for a meet and greet at the Hilton during the second half.

"Recommends that the University of Connecticut become a partner in the XL Center, rather than a tenant as it is now. A partnership would require UConn to play most of its high-profile basketball and ice hockey matchups in Hartford and to overhaul how it sells tickets and to enter joint marketing agreements. In exchange, UConn would reap a share in the overall — and presumably higher — revenues from its events, not just ticket sales. The partnership would run at least 20 years."​

Why would UConn want to play in Barklays, Prudential, MSG?

 

[CTMike]

Hope everyone here doesn't mind significantly higher ticket prices, because that's a given with either option.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

As I stated earlier, I have no problem with the set up with Hartford and Gampel.

Yeah, in an ideal world we would play on campus but given the nature of the state that just won't happen.

Yeah taking a bus kind of sucks for the 4 years on campus. But crying out loud it's a 30 minute bus ride to see a basketball game when you're a student. It's not that big of a deal.

As far as the Whalers? Good luck getting the Bruins, Rangers, Islanders and even Devils signing off on that without a huge check.

 

[FartMan69]

Hartford has 25 years running of UConn success. Four national titles in fifteen years. That doesn't even get 10,000 fans in the XL center against a crappy team. But the Sabres get 19,000 fans because they made the Stanley Cup finals in 1999?

Now we're comparing pro hockey with a college basketball game against Coppin State? K

 

[FartMan69]

As far as the Whalers? Good luck getting the Bruins, Rangers, Islanders and even Devils signing off on that without a huge check.

I forgot the exact number but none of those teams can legally block expansion/relocation in a certain radius and Hartford is outside of it.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Whoever's idea it was to put an interstate through the middle of the city should have been shot.

84 going through Hartford isn't great but it wasn't a major problem. 91 basically eliminating Hartford's entire riverfront was stupidity at a monumental level.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

84 going through Hartford isn't great but it wasn't a major problem. 91 basically eliminating Hartford's entire riverfront was stupidity at a monumental level.

Bingo, 91 was the problem and short of a Big Dig-style project, it's not going anywhere.

Hartford needs to build this arena for Hartford, with an impetus to grow the city, grow the economy, attract concerts, events, tradeshows, and maybe one day the Whalers will come home. It cannot build this arena as a pawn to get UConn to bail them out of sucking as a city - that's another Band-Aid solution that doesn't fix the underlying problem. The report addresses the problem, people view Hartford as an unattractive city, a minor league city (only exacerbated by this ridiculous minor league baseball stadium), pretty much on par with the likes of Worcester and Springfield.

 

[The Viking]

First off, it's not a fact. Second, I've ignored it because it's a stupid misinformed statement.

Buffalo is a small market team. Worst record in the NHL so far this season. Feb 10, a Tuesday night, home against .500 Ottawa? The attendance was 19,070. Thursday, January 15, home against Minnesota? The attendance was 18,963. What's your excuse now?

Hartford doesn't get a pass for not showing up because the team sucked. It's a sports town with fans.

It's not a fact? The Whale had 3 seasons over .500. 2 of those 3 they were only 4 games and 5 games over .500.
The last 5 years he they didn't make the playoffs in a league where it's not that hard. The 6 years before that they were eliminated in the first round. Only once in 18 years did they get past the first round.
Over 18 years they were a whopping 175 games under 500.

Yes, Buffalo has sucked the past two years but they have been a very good NHL team for decades.

I'm surprised you don't know this because it appears you are taking some time to do SOME research. Unfortunately it appears to be very selective. And I'm still blown away at the passion you have as a self-proclaimed Whalers fan who thinks that Hartford's hockey market deserves no second chance.