Stadium on campus? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Stadium on campus?

JoCo said:
I was involved in lobbying many years ago at state capitol as a former football guy! Unfortunately the town of Mansfield put up barriers, traffic etc for about 6 weekends a year! Short sighted... they have the land from Huskies to the North, you'd walk by the Alumni Center toward the stadium!
Just think of this: Alums on campus,hotel or 3, food sales etc etc! Great for the economy of the area, my son went to PSU, there were a few great condos in the that alums would own , make it a 3 day weekend on campus, take in a show at Jorgensen, nice restaurants, no fore sight! I now live outside CT , would love to bring Grandies to a weekend, worth the travel to show them where I went! UConn alum would support it! And it would help small businesses immensely!
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100%. The whole point of this is to continue the progress of UConn as a national university and flagship. As smaller private schools become less appealing, making UConn a destination in every way for current and future alumni is the drive for being one of the few when CR settles. Donations, loyalty, fun, memories. And a solid public education that pays dividends across the board for the state and its residents. I think development using every bit of close-in space in the athletics district is it. View it like a pro sports owner does. It is bigger that 8 weekends of football. Gotta think big and keep building. The Rent certainly is not part of this equation.
 
politics said:
There would be no finer spot for a picturesque Michie Stadium-ish structure than Horsebarn Hill. Can you imagine the blimp/drone shots in October? .... but, the anti-any development of any kind (and anti-sports) forces will mobilize quicker than Seal Team 6 as they have time and time again. Nothing nastier than an army of Edith Pragues (RIP).
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I can understand not wanting to touch horsebarn hill. Anywhere else should be fair game. Eminent domain some property if you have to. There's precedent for it.
 
I don’t think the Big 12 cares whether the stadium is on campus or not. They probably want 50,000-60,000 seats with Fannie’s in them. You’re just not going get the same attendance in Storrs as in East Hartford. If we need to invest in football I wouldn’t waste money on a new stadium, just expand and improve what we have. You don’t have the roads or political will from the state or from Mansfield to build it on campus.
Some of you have conveniently forgotten why the stadium wasn’t built on campus in the first place.
 
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uconnric said:
I don’t think the Big 12 cares whether the stadium is on campus or not. They probably want 50,000-60,000 seats with Fannie’s in them. You’re just not going get the same attendance in Storrs as in East Hartford. If we need to invest in football I wouldn’t waste money on a new stadium, just expand and improve what we have. You don’t have the roads or political will from the state or from Mansfield to build it on campus.
Some of you have conveniently forgotten why the stadium wasn’t built on campus in the first place.
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Only four of the B12 stadiums seat 60,000 or more.
 
JMick said:
I can understand not wanting to touch horsebarn hill. Anywhere else should be fair game. Eminent domain some property if you have to. There's precedent for it.
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There is precedent for it, but no need for it given that we've got a choice of three, well really 4 if you count the depot campus, sites that we already own.
 
uconnric said:
I don’t think the Big 12 cares whether the stadium is on campus or not. They probably want 50,000-60,000 seats with Fannie’s in them. You’re just not going get the same attendance in Storrs as in East Hartford. If we need to invest in football I wouldn’t waste money on a new stadium, just expand and improve what we have. You don’t have the roads or political will from the state or from Mansfield to build it on campus.
Some of you have conveniently forgotten why the stadium wasn’t built on campus in the first place.
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I'm not sure that there's any need for a dramatic infrastructure upgrade. As I've said here often, I just don't see the need to build a limited access highway to a stadium that'll get used six times a year.

There's also no need to get approvals from Mansfield if we build in the athletic campus, so while they undoubtedly be the normal Mansfield objections, they are essentially mirror buzzing gnats regarding the project.

Let me correct the last piece of mythology, that we see here commonly, that somehow Mansfield stopped us from building Storrs originally. While there was a proposal to build on campus, it was absolutely a huge wishlist item that included a stadium, the equivalent of the Burton complex in the equivalent of the Shenkman center. The legislature proposed it not because of any imagined statewide power of Mansfield residence, but because they felt it was prohibitively expensive. Now that we would be building just the stadium and not the support facilities, those objections might not be there.

The reason why we ended up in East Hartford was that the state legislature was still licking its wounds from the patriots pulling out of that deal, certainly because the legislature was ballking about it. Pratt and Whitney then, smartly, offered us property that they couldn't develop due to environmental cleanup concerns. The legislature jumped on it and now we have a stadium that's awkwardly located a half hour off-campus.

I'm not saying that building on campus is a sure thing, and you can make a good argument for just upgrading the rent, which, as I've often said is a great place to watch a football game, but, the mythology that we need to build a super highway to stores, or that Mansfield residence somehow hold sway over the state legislature is silly, when looked at with any serious scrutiny.
 
CL82 said:
I'd list that as the number two choice behind the athletics campus but before Horse Barn Hill. The downside is the distance from Burton and Shenkman and the fact that building on Discovery Drive would require approvals from the town of Mansfield. Given their history, I think we could expect a concerted effort to slow down the project by NIMBYism. To the best of my belief, no approval by Mansfield is necessary to build in the athletic campus.
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Based on zoning? Wonder who "owns" Discovery Dr?
 
huskymedic said:
Based on zoning? Wonder who "owns" Discovery Dr?
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I actually feel like you and I had a conversation about this and that you indicated that the athletic district required no further approvals, perhaps because it was already zoned for use for athletic complexes? Again, I'm combining a vague recollection, with speculation, but perhaps discovery Drive is zoned for industrial use and thus would require additional approvals were to put a stadium in there?

Does that ring any bells, because I feel like it was you and I talked about this?
 
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Construct a dual purpose stadium with academic uses attached to the stadium. Notre Dame Stadium was renovated recently with academic uses constructed to the preexisting structure. It would make the project more plausible with the blending of athletic and academic needs.

“In January 2014, the university (ND) announced a $400 million enhancement of the stadium, the Campus Crossroads project. This expansion features three 8-story buildings, on the west, south, and east sides of the stadium. The expansion added more than 750,000 square feet (70,000 m2) of teaching, research, and performance space. The enhancement added new premium stadium seats. The three buildings are called the Duncan Student Center on the west, O'Neill Hall on the south, and Corbett Family Hall on the east.[39] The project was completed in January 2018. The project was designed by the SLAM collective, with HOK design firm as a consultant. Barton Malow served as the design-build contractor.”
 
UCONNJACK said:
Construct a dual purpose stadium with academic uses attached to the stadium. Notre Dame Stadium was renovated recently with academic uses constructed to the preexisting structure. It would make the project more plausible with the blending of athletic and academic needs.

“In January 2014, the university (ND) announced a $400 million enhancement of the stadium, the Campus Crossroads project. This expansion features three 8-story buildings, on the west, south, and east sides of the stadium. The expansion added more than 750,000 square feet (70,000 m2) of teaching, research, and performance space. The enhancement added new premium stadium seats. The three buildings are called the Duncan Student Center on the west, O'Neill Hall on the south, and Corbett Family Hall on the east.[39] The project was completed in January 2018. The project was designed by the SLAM collective, with HOK design firm as a consultant. Barton Malow served as the design-build contractor.”
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If they put the stadium on Discovery Drive, the dual purposes could also link to businesses which want to have high-tech research on the Storrs campus. That was the entire goal of the Discovery Drive initiative. Even conference space that could be rented out to corporations could be in the mix.
 
CL82 said:
A stadium at the depot campus could be really beautiful with plenty of room for tailgating, a separate RV lot etc. The only downside is that it is off-campus. If we are going to go through the expense of building and on campus stadium, we should actually build it… on campus.
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I think its close enough to be considered on campus, but if not, perhaps this could be a catalyst to revamp the Depot Campus. There's a lot of potential there. It's a shame what that area has become. If a new stadium is in the cards, I hope the powers that be think a little bigger than a stadium and maybe develop a plan that could be an economic driver for the university and general area. A multi-use stadium that would be used more often the 6 games a year. I use Rentschler as an example, there is so much more potential to increase the revenue if it were used more often.
 
powerplay said:
I think its close enough to be considered on campus, but if not, perhaps this could be a catalyst to revamp the Depot Campus. There's a lot of potential there. It's a shame what that area has become. If a new stadium is in the cards, I hope the powers that be think a little bigger than a stadium and maybe develop a plan that could be an economic driver for the university and general area. A multi-use stadium that would be used more often the 6 games a year. I use Rentschler as an example, there is so much more potential to increase the revenue if it were used more often.
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You could build an amazing stadium on the depot campus. I just find the notion of saying "let's fix our off-campus stadium problem by building another off-campus stadium" troubling.
 
CL82 said:
You could build an amazing stadium on the depot campus. I just find the notion of saying "let's fix our off-campus stadium problem by building another off-campus stadium" troubling.
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To piggy back my earlier thought, develop a plan that includes the Depot campus in an expanded main campus so the theoretical new stadium would be on campus.
 
powerplay said:
To piggy back my earlier thought, develop a plan that includes the Depot campus in an expanded main campus so the theoretical new stadium would be on campus.
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Well, I've been a proponent of expanding the Storrs campus along the rt44 highway corridor street into Hartford so that then the XL center would be on campus.
 
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CL82 said:
I actually feel like you and I had a conversation about this and that you indicated that the athletic district required no further approvals, perhaps because it was already zoned for use for athletic complexes? Again, I'm combining a vague recollection, with speculation, but perhaps discovery Drive is zoned for industrial use and thus would require additional approvals were to put a stadium in there?

Does that ring any bells, because I feel like it was you and I talked about this?
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The on-campus/off campus discussion has taken place around here so many times in different threads over the past decade anything is possible but it’s not ringing the victory bell in my head. I remember posting who owns what land plots.

I think anything but Horsebarn Hill is actually feasible if it ever comes to fruition.
 
huskymedic said:
The on-campus/off campus discussion has taken place around here so many times in different threads over the past decade anything is possible but it’s not ringing the victory bell. I remember posting who owns what land plots.

I think anything but Horsebarn Hill is actually feasible if it ever comes to fruition.
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My recollection of it is pretty vague as well, other than thinking it was an insightful point by whomever posted it.

So, maybe that's a compliment? :D
 
Blueballer said:
I admire the unbridled enthusiasm here for a campus stadium project but you guys are really dreaming.
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If the only angle is to protect basketball, then a small-ball approach is what will happen. To be one of 60-something big programs that are effectively pro sports franchises puts UConn on a different path. It will all be decided before we collect a dollar in football revenue from the B12.
 
CL82 said:
I'd list that as the number two choice behind the athletics campus but before Horse Barn Hill. The downside is the distance from Burton and Shenkman and the fact that building on Discovery Drive would require approvals from the town of Mansfield. Given their history, I think we could expect a concerted effort to slow down the project by NIMBYism. To the best of my belief, no approval by Mansfield is necessary to build in the athletic campus.
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I'm asking because I'm not sure, but Isn't Discovery Dr considered state property, so Mansfield approval wouldn't be needed.
 
powerplay said:
I'm asking because I'm not sure, but Isn't Discovery Dr considered state property, so Mansfield approval wouldn't be needed.
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Based upon my vague recollections of a conversation that took place on The Boneyard within the last decade, I believe there were additional requirements for Discovery Drive, possibly a zoning waiver which would have to go before the Mansfield planning board. If you've ever been to one of those they can be in incredible PITA because every person present gets to ask every expert questions. They drag on forever.

For whatever reason, building in the athletic campus, according to my recollection, didn't have this restriction, possibly because it's already zoned for athletic stadia.

But, really all that is is a vague recollection with some educated guesses.
 
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JoCo said:
Unfortunately the town of Mansfield put up barriers, traffic etc for about 6 weekends a year
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Just curious, how did Mansfield "put up these barriers?" Particularly before the state legislature I'm not sure how that would work, exactly.
 
Either by North Eagleville or next to Buckley... let EO Smith stay where it is
 
powerplay said:
I'm asking because I'm not sure, but Isn't Discovery Dr considered state property, so Mansfield approval wouldn't be needed.
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IIRC the Mansfield town council ended up supporting the stadium. There was a local citizen group including university academics called "Makes Sense Mansfield" or some such name that lobbied against it which included going to the Democrat running for governor during this time in Barbara Kennelly whose father was the state Democratic chair. Think she was wishy-washy on the idea...I think Rowland wanted to call a special session at the end of the year to begin the process but called it off as support for the stadium waned.
 
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Duncan Idaho said:
Not behind Mansfield Supply? Thought that was the original spot.
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I never really thought about that, is there enough room?
 
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