Pitino: “That’s why next year, the only game we’re playing at Carnesecca is Connecticut. The rest, we’re gonna negotiate.”

[Kolumbo]

I'm not a big fan of slick rick but he knows how to win and he knows what UConn basketball is about. He always tells the truth, even when he lies.

"I said this the other day, I don’t think Connecticut knows how to take a compliment. The fact we want to play them at Carnesecca is the ultimate compliment of all time, because the three best fan bases in all of college basketball for travel are Kentucky, Kansas and UConn. They travel the best, they have the best fans. They sell out at home, they have major crowds. We want a champion team, and if the Big East won’t give us a champion team, we’ll go out and get a non-conference gigantic opponent to honor Louie. Everything you hear about that is complementary to the [UConn] program.”

 

[CL82]

Donations anyone? All this talk about XL vs GP and finances, and nobody mentions donations

Donations are far far far greater than the seat costs for the entire lower bowl

This is the best point, financially, that XL center advocates can make. It's surprises me that people so seldom do. I don't think there's any public information on the amount.

 

[CL82]

I'm not a big fan of slick rick but he knows how to win and he knows what UConn basketball is about. He always tells the truth, even when he lies.

"I said this the other day, I don’t think Connecticut knows how to take a compliment. The fact we want to play them at Carnesecca is the ultimate compliment of all time, because the three best fan bases in all of college basketball for travel are Kentucky, Kansas and UConn. They travel the best, they have the best fans. They sell out at home, they have major crowds. We want a champion team, and if the Big East won’t give us a champion team, we’ll go out and get a non-conference gigantic opponent to honor Louie. Everything you hear about that is complementary to the [UConn] program.”

View attachment 95005

This is spin by him. His original comment was that he didn't like the lack of St. John's fan support at the Garden and that he didn't like Hurleys sideline antics.

For what it's worth, if you recognize Louis at a packed MSG ovation/crowd response would be huge particularly in front of Connecticut fans who are knowledgeable about the history of the big east and have fond memories of him as an opposing coach.

 

[Kemba Time]

Donations anyone? All this talk about XL vs GP and finances, and nobody mentions donations

Donations are far far far greater than the seat costs for the entire lower bowl

Ding, ding, ding. This is the correct answer. AD David Benedict knows this, which is why he doubled-down on donations in the last season-ticket price increase.

XL has 10,000+ season ticket holders and if you want to say the average donation is even 200-300 (I’d guess it’s a little higher now), that’s 2-3 million dollars annually in pure income that has nothing to do with CRDA or where UConn plays home football games.

Between arena capacities, fans who would drop their seasons because of the added distance or unwillingness to double their financial commitment and decreased incentive for corporations to buy blocks of tickets with donations the farther the games are played from their offices and where their workers live, going to an all-Gampel or Gampel-first model becomes much less than double the Gampel games, double the donations and a great deal of that money would disappear.

The other thing that seems to be consistently overlooked in this conversation is UConn’s huge attendance increase in recent seasons.

Making the XL Center math work is very dependent on huge season-ticket numbers and sold-out games. During the end of the KO era and Hurley’s first season the average XL attendance was at 9 to 10k. Then there was a pandemic. This season, we’re going to average 15k+ at XL. Those additional seats purchased and donations are absolutely the difference between the model working or spitting out those lost revenue numbers over recent seasons.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Loss revenue in this context, is lost revenue to the university. There is a huge profit margin for on campus games - at XL we make very little per patron.

Chief, how about you take a crack at this.

The $7.5M "lost revenue" by playing basketball, hockey, and football off campus.

To evaluate an alternative, an alternative choice has to exist, right? So I'm seeing this as all basketball games in Gampel, all hockey games at their new arena, and all football games....where?

 

[CL82]

Chief, how about you take a crack at this.

The $7.5M "lost revenue" by playing basketball, hockey, and football off campus.

To evaluate an alternative, an alternative choice has to exist, right? So I'm seeing this as all basketball games in Gampel, all hockey games at their new arena, and all football games....where?

You realize that another option exists, right? The other option is we could play football in the Rent but not get charged the ridiculous rates we do by the CDRA. The CDRA always runs a multimillion dollar loss, which is ultimately picked up by the state. It runs that loss despite the fact that the university of Connecticut pays it above market lease rates for men's basketball, women's basketball, hockey, and football. Essentially, the CDRA is offloading some of its ineptitude to the UConn athletic department's balance sheet. It makes far more sense, in my opinion, to eliminate the excessive lease rates to the university so that all of the CDRA's financial and aptitude is reflected on its own balance sheet and the athletic department's balance sheet shows a more realistic picture of its profitability. that would allow our finances to be viewed on an apples to apples basis with virtually every other major university in the country.

As I've noted repeatedly in this thread the only one who is talking about the "we have to build a football stadium in Storrs" is you. It is a strawman argument that you've locked onto, apparently, at least subliminally, you recognize that there is no way to justify paying the salaries of a bunch of inept bureaucrats who have never been able to run a single thing at a profit.

I hope that helped.

 

[Kemba Time]

You realize that another option exists, right? The other option is we could play football in the Rent but not get charged the ridiculous rates we do by the CDRA. The CDRA always runs a multimillion dollar loss, which is ultimately picked up by the state. It runs that loss despite the fact that the university of Connecticut pays it above market lease rates for men's basketball, women's basketball, hockey, and football. Essentially, the CDRA is offloading some of its ineptitude to the UConn athletic department's balance sheet. It makes far more sense, in my opinion, to eliminate the excessive lease rates to the university so that all of the CDRA's financial and aptitude is reflected on its own balance sheet and the athletic department's balance sheet shows a more realistic picture of its profitability. that would allow our finances to be viewed on an apples to apples basis with virtually every other major university in the country.

As I've noted repeatedly in this thread the only one who is talking about the "we have to build a football stadium in Storrs" is you. It is a strawman argument that you've locked onto, apparently, at least subliminally, you recognize that there is no way to justify paying the salaries of a bunch of inept bureaucrats who have never been able to run a single thing at a profit.

I hope that helped.

And this is why this Hartford/XL Center discussion always becomes this same circular conversation (although the lumping of football and men's basketball, which are entirely different situations, is quite a twist on this edition).

Two things can be, and are, true: UConn should have a better deal, ideally without the CRDA involvement, for use of the XL Center and the current situation is not nearly as dreadful as some make it out to be (and actually is beneficial for a variety of reasons).

This will be true as long as UConn keeps selling boatloads of season tickets with a hefty donation attached and filling the building. And given the current state of the program, I'll take that bet.

 

[CL82]

And this is why this Hartford/XL Center discussion always becomes this same circular conversation (although the lumping of football and men's basketball, which are entirely different situations, is quite a twist on this edition).

Two things can be, and are, true: UConn should have a better deal, ideally without the CRDA involvement, for use of the XL Center and the current situation is not nearly as dreadful as some make it out to be (and actually is beneficial for a variety of reasons).

This will be true as long as UConn keeps selling boatloads of season tickets with a hefty donation attached and filling the building. And given the current state of the program, I'll take that bet.

I'm inclined to agree. If you fix CDRA lease deal, and schedule XL games during break plus one or two games that's will sell out the place, you've got a workable situation. Hurley and the players don't particularly like playing there and it also involves the additional cost of having the team stay overnight in Hartford, but it's workable. To me the smartest thing to do is get rid of the CDRA in its entirety. All it does is add an extra layer of cost to pay for bureaucrats to hire a management company. It would be different, if they had ever run a profit at anything they ever did. They haven't. it is a political perk paid for at UConn's expense.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

You realize that another option exists, right? The other option is we could play football in the Rent but not get charged the ridiculous rates we do by the CDRA. The CDRA always runs a multimillion dollar loss, which is ultimately picked up by the state. It runs that loss despite the fact that the university of Connecticut pays it above market lease rates for men's basketball, women's basketball, hockey, and football. Essentially, the CDRA is offloading some of its ineptitude to the UConn athletic department's balance sheet. It makes far more sense, in my opinion, to eliminate the excessive lease rates to the university so that all of the CDRA's financial and aptitude is reflected on its own balance sheet and the athletic department's balance sheet shows a more realistic picture of its profitability. that would allow our finances to be viewed on an apples to apples basis with virtually every other major university in the country.

As I've noted repeatedly in this thread the only one who is talking about the "we have to build a football stadium in Storrs" is you. It is a strawman argument that you've locked onto, apparently, at least subliminally, you recognize that there is no way to justify paying the salaries of a bunch of inept bureaucrats who have never been able to run a single thing at a profit.

I hope that helped.

Why do you think that the rates we're charged by the CDRA for playing at The Rent are relevant when estimating " lost revenue"?

 

[Redmen9194]

The announced attendance was 11,800. I'm not sure it makes sense to rent the Garden if you only reach 2/3 capacity.

Hey guys - nice win against X last night. St. John's breaks even on the Garden at 8,000 tickets. After 8,000, it's all profit to the school. They only lose money if sales are under 8,000. In Mullin's last two seasons as coach, they averaged over 15k for their Garden games and sold out almost all in 2019. It ebbs and flows with how the team is. Not sure what the break even point is for UConn at XL but assume it would be less?

 

[CL82]

Why do you think that the rates we're charged by the CDRA for playing at The Rent are relevant when estimating " lost revenue"?

Because it was specifically referenced by Dave Benedict when he pointed out the $7.5 million of revenue lost due to playing at CDRA venues.

Why do you believe that questioning the predatory pricing of the CDRA is only possible if a new football stadium is built in Storrs? Or have you finally dropped that strawman argument?

 

[Umami Zen]

Rick is just trying to get real estate inside Danny's head. New York guy playing around with a Jersey guy.

 

[CL82]

Hey guys - nice win against X last night. St. John's breaks even on the Garden at 8,000 tickets. After 8,000, it's all profit to the school. They only lose money if sales are under 8,000. In Mullin's last two seasons as coach, they averaged over 15k for their Garden games and sold out almost all in 2019. It ebbs and flows with how the team is. Not sure what the break even point is for UConn at XL but assume it would be less?

Thanks, good info. For what it's worth, UConn pays $40,500 plus a three dollar per ticket surcharge to lease the XL center. Connecticut does not get any of the profits from concessions or parking. Practically speaking, Connecticut needs to sell out the XL center in order to make as much revenue as selling out Gampel 10,500 seat Gampel Arena a venue in which we do profit from concessions and parking.

Do you know what the lease fee is for MSG for St. John's?

 

[WestHartHusk]

No way they are giving up UConn at MSG. They are getting $100 for last row seats and the game is nearly sold out.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Because it was specifically referenced by Dave Benedict when he described the $7.5 million of revenue lost due to playing at CDRA venues.

Why do you believe that questioning the predatory pricing of the CDRA is only possible if a new football stadium is built in Storrs? Or have you finally dropped that strawman argument?

Revenue = ex: Tickets Sold, PSLs, etc.
Expense = ex: CDRA fees
Net Income = Revenue less Expense

Revenue is derived independent of expense.

So how in the world can you say you are missing out on revenue, when (if playing in East Hartford) the major variable you are hoping to change is an expense.

The only way this makes is if you and UConn are conflating revenue with net income.

 

[Kemba Time]

Hurley and the players don't particularly like playing there and it also involves the additional cost of having the team stay overnight in Hartford, but it's workable.

I think Hurley and his players like playing in Hartford a lot more now that practically every game is a sellout and UConn games have become the thing to do in the state again than they did when he first got here and he was looking up at 9,000 disenchanted fans for losses to UCF and Tulsa.

Pretty much everyone can agree that XL/Hartford is a really strong environment when it is sold out and rocking, and that's what it's like every time UConn takes the court now.

It wasn't exactly loved at the time, but one of the smartest business decisions our AD has made was attaching multiple XL non-conference games to purchasing tickets for the best Big East games. It created new revenue from excess supply and has also filled a lot of seats for those early cupcakes.

 

[CL82]

Revenue = ex: Tickets Sold, PSLs, etc.
Expense = ex: CDRA fees
Net Income = Revenue less Expense

Revenue is derived independent of expense.

So how in the world can you say you are missing out on revenue, when (if playing in East Hartford) the major variable you are hoping to change is an expense.

The only way this makes is if you and UConn are conflating revenue with net income.

Lol, I don't have to say it, Dave Benedict said it. Again, you either think he's lying or you don't. Personally, I believe him.

Good to see that you've dropped you can't question CDRA pricing unless you build a football stadium in Storrs strawman. It wasn't a good look.

 

[Redmen9194]

Thanks, good info. For what it's worth, UConn pays $40,500 plus a three dollar per ticket surcharge to lease the XL center. Connecticut does not get any of the profits from concessions or parking. Practically speaking, Connecticut needs to sell out the XL center in order to make as much revenue as selling out Gampel 10,500 seat Gampel Arena a venue in which we do profit from concessions and parking.

Do you know what the lease fee is for MSG for St. John's?

I believe the lease fee is around 430k per game and the Garden takes 20% of ticket sales. SJU does not get concessions either. Obviously at CA all revenue and concessions go directly to the school like Gampel and SJU has now started selling alcohol at on campus games so revenue likely increases slightly with that. But CA holds around 5600 and ticket prices are obviously less than at the Garden. For example, for the Marquette game the cheapest ticket right now is around $83.00 (not talking about secondary market). It's hard to gauge what the profit to the school would be because the lower bowl tickets go for around $150 dollars and the court level seats go for several hundred so that effects the profit margin greatly. The school would have taken in several hundred thousands in profit last night so it does make sense even with 2/3 capacity. And that is not counting the donation required for season ticket holders.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Lol, I don't have to say it, Dave Benedict said it. Again, you either think he's lying or you don't. Personally, I believe him.

Good to see that you've dropped you can't question CDRA pricing unless you build a football stadium in Storrs strawman. It wasn't a good look.

If he's backing out the CDRA fee (an expense) by 1) either renegotiating their agreement at the Rent or 2) playing fb games on campus and thereby no longer having a the CDRA expense, and in turn calling it lost revenue, he's classifying it incorrectly.

Changing the expense, changes net income. Not revenue.

 

[CL82]

If he's backing out the CDRA fee (an expense) by 1) either renegotiating their agreement at the Rent or 2) playing fb games on campus and thereby no longer having a the CDRA expense, and in turn calling it lost revenue, he's classifying it incorrectly.

Changing the expense, changes net income. Not revenue.

Lol, that moment when you realize that after dropping your "you can't question the CDRA's predatory lease rates toward UConn unless you build a new football stadium in Storrs" and the only argument you have left is you have left is accounting pedantry.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Lol, that moment when you realize that after dropping your "you can't question the CDRA's predatory lease rates toward UConn unless you build a new football stadium in Storrs" and the only argument you have left is you have left is accounting pedantry.

My only contention throughout has been that we're not being told the full financial picture. If you think revenue vs net income is "accounting pedantry", then so be it.

 

[CL82]

My only contention throughout has been that we're not being told the full financial picture. If you think revenue vs net income is "accounting pedantry", then so be it.

Actually no, you've hopped around to a few different things, including the suppose requirement that we have to build a football stadium in Storrs to be able to question the CDRA's predatory pricing toward the university.

You do understand that common usage in the vernacular is different than reading the footnotes in financials, right?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Actually no, you've hopped around to a few different things, including the suppose requirement that we have to build a football stadium in Storrs to be able to question the CDRA's predatory pricing toward the university.

You do understand that common usage in the vernacular is different than reading the footnotes in financials, right?

"I realize my understanding of the terminology at the crux of the argument is wrong, so let me resort to saying most people get it wrong, too."

 

[CL82]

"I realize my understanding of the terminology at the crux of the argument is wrong, so let me resort to saying most people get it wrong, too."

... said every pendant ever.

 

[Waquoit]

The Hartford haters make it sound like UConn plays in Gampel for free.

 

[Kolumbo]

 

[CL82]

The Hartford haters make it sound like UConn plays in Gampel for free.

Relatively speaking, they do. But I'm sure that the cost of playing a game in Gampel is a known figure. Why don't we just use that as the "lease rate" for playing in Hartford?

For what it's worth, the administration, coaches, and players, all prefer to play at Gampel. If the university is playing games at the XL because the state wants the economic development it generates in Hartford, should the university have to pay to do that?