The $92 million Field of Nightmares | Page 2 | The Boneyard

The $92 million Field of Nightmares

I don't know, so I may be off base here, but paying rent to the state may very well be a lot cheaper for UConn than owning the stadium. I know it cost $1.67 million to install the new video board (how long before that's obsolete and needs replacing again?). Plus the cost of grounds keeping, mortgage. management.. It just seems like for 6 or 7 games a year it would be real hard to raise the revenue to own and maintain a stadium. Let the state do what they're good at. Losing money.
 
zls44 said:
There's *always* an excuse for everything with Freimuth. Its always someone else's fault but NEVER the CRDA's. Time for fresh leadership there. New ideas. Long, long overdue.

Michael Friemuth has been a total disaster. Every single CRDA project under him has become some sort of disaster. Every last one.
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I agree Friemuth’s greatest talent is getting the media to turn CDRA disasters into someone else’s fault. His gross mishandling of the NCAA tournament where fans missed a half of a game due to his management incompetence somehow became the NCAA/CBS’s fault.
Bottom-line in that case you start with the time you are given and work a process plan that accommodates it. Instead, the geniuses at CDRA took the process that they were comfortable with and tried to fit it over a timeframe in which it was a total disaster.
Friemuth does ok with converting offices to apartments/condos in downtown Hartford because the state gives him a $60k subsidy a unit.
If he could work a 6k a seat annual state subsidy at The Rent - he could be a success.
 
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Chief00 said:
I agree Friemuth’s greatest talent is getting the media to turn CDRA disasters into someone else’s fault. His gross mishandling of the NCAA tournament where fans missed a half of a game due to his management incompetence somehow became the NCAA/CBS’s fault.
Bottom-line in that case you start with the time you are given and work a process plan that accommodates it. Instead, the geniuses at CDRA took the process that they were comfortable with and tried to fit it over a timeframe in which it was a total disaster.
Friemuth does ok with converting offices to apartments/condos in downtown Hartford because the state gives him a $60k subsidy a unit.
If he could work a 6k a seat annual state subsidy at The Rent - he could be a success.
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NCAA debacle?
 
Devland said:
I don't know, so I may be off base here, but paying rent to the state may very well be a lot cheaper for UConn than owning the stadium. I know it cost $1.67 million to install the new video board (how long before that's obsolete and needs replacing again?). Plus the cost of grounds keeping, mortgage. management.. It just seems like for 6 or 7 games a year it would be real hard to raise the revenue to own and maintain a stadium. Let the state do what they're good at. Losing money.
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If there was a big FBS level football stadium built on campus in Storrs they’d be able to use it for big concerts, events, graduation, maybe even big soccer games? There would be many more uses. And if they had to do it all over again, 195 would be expanded to 4 lanes (2 in, 2 out) from 84 to campus, and a 30-35K seat stadium would be over on Horse Barn Hill.
 
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Chief00 said:
I agree Friemuth’s greatest talent is getting the media to turn CDRA disasters into someone else’s fault. His gross mishandling of the NCAA tournament where fans missed a half of a game due to his management incompetence somehow became the NCAA/CBS’s fault.
Bottom-line in that case you start with the time you are given and work a process plan that accommodates it. Instead, the geniuses at CDRA took the process that they were comfortable with and tried to fit it over a timeframe in which it was a total disaster.
Friemuth does ok with converting offices to apartments/condos in downtown Hartford because the state gives him a $60k subsidy a unit.
If he could work a 6k a seat annual state subsidy at The Rent - he could be a success.
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the debacle at xl was obvious when the times were published. anyone who knows how long a basketball game takes knew the math didnt work.
 
whaler11 said:
the debacle at xl was obvious when the times were published. anyone who knows how long a basketball game takes knew the math didnt work.
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But you work within those parameters - expedite the security check. Precheck the second crowd into an area - then let walk in - there was no imagination or creativity used. It wasn’t that big a hurdle to overcome if competent.
 
Chief00 said:
But you work within those parameters - expedite the security check. Precheck the second crowd into an area - then let walk in - there was no imagination or creativity used. It wasn’t that big a hurdle to overcome if competent.
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oh yeah the xl center gagged - but 2 games take 4.5 hours minimum and they didnt even give them that
 
whaler11 said:
oh yeah the xl center gagged - but 2 games take 4.5 hours minimum and they didnt even give them that
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Anyone who has attended tournaments with double sessions was shocked by this schedule. Maybe Emert called in a favor at CBS to screw us over
 
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Who Ha said:
Anyone who has attended tournaments with double sessions was shocked by this schedule. Maybe Emert called in a favor at CBS to screw us over
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Let me put this differently: do you honestly think at any point leading up to the day of the games Freimuth or the CRDA voiced this concern? During the bid process? With what was known to be an old building? In the run-up to this year‘s selection when it was going to be difficult for them to turn it over quick?

I think we both know the answer. And that’s the problem.
 
zls44 said:
Let me put this differently: do you honestly think at any point leading up to the day of the games Freimuth or the CRDA voiced this concern? During the bid process? With what was known to be an old building? In the run-up to this year‘s selection when it was going to be difficult for them to turn it over quick?

I think we both know the answer. And that’s the problem.
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I am not an apologist for CDRA but your way off base. I have never heard of the same site having back to back sessions. The age of the building may have contributed some, but I don’t believe modern buildings could have pulled a Houdini. This was strictly a CBS call
 
zls44 said:
(Edited this to space my points out, sorry @whaler11 and @CL82)

I really think 75% of the financial issues with the program come down to what's in there. They pay rent for a stadium they don't own. Do you know how many public schools do that? UTSA, SDSU, maybe UCLA since the Rose Bowl is its own thing? Its ridiculous.

Take all the regular financial needs a G5 program has. Oh, now throw in renting their stadium. Its pouring gasoline onto a money fire.

But the good news is- they ALSO get to pay rent across THREE DIFFERENT SPORTS (MBB, WBB, Men's Hockey) in ANOTHER state-owned facility (XL). And for the next 2 years, they get to pay MORE rent to temporarily house THREE MORE TEAMS (MSoc, WSoc, Baseball) in TWO OTHER publicly-owned facilities (DDP, Dillon)!
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But paying rent to an entity owned by the state is just bookkeeping at the end of the day. What does a CT taxpayer care if the State pays for a stadium out of pocket, through it's university, or finances it through an entity and then charges the university a rent. You only care if you take stupid media articles that don't know what they are talking about seriously. You shouldn't.

Bookeeping among affiliates, and for non-profits, shows you very little of importance.
 
noeynox said:
They really need to rework the terms of the lease. The stadium is almost 20 years old.

If you want to talk about millions spent by the state on buildings that are "fields of nightmares", where is the story on the Connecticut Juvenile Training School? How old is it, how much did cost to build, and is it even in use anymore?
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They are going to regional centers which is something we asked for when they were talking about building in Middletown by CVH. Now they are doing just that and will end up making the Juvenile Training Center into a low security prison which no one in Middletown wants.
 
uconnbill said:
They are going to regional centers which is something we asked for when they were talking about building in Middletown by CVH. Now they are doing just that and will end up making the Juvenile Training Center into a low security prison which no one in Middletown wants.
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The Training School is not in use. 57 Million spent as part of a bid rigging scam to build a facility that was outdated before it opened. The regional centers or trax are a pipe dream. They have just inundated the juvenile detention facilities.
 
The Rent is a bargain. It's been open for almost 20 years and hosted tons of events for only $92M. That gets you what, 5 miles of highway? And it has the best sight lines of any sporting facility I've ever been in.
 
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Redding Husky said:
At over 4,000 acres, UConn’s campus is one of the largest in the nation. Hopefully they’ll find the money and space to build a football stadium someday. It’s too bad most of us will be gone by the time it happens.
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I used to be against it, but they need to make UConn more accessible and bring more people to campus. I think long term it should move back to campus. We are talking end of life for the rent, but that’s ok.

And as the state builds its infrastructure out, such as the direct busway from Hartford to Storrs, and better highways, I like that thought. Maybe when I am retired I can get to a game up in storrs.
 
JohnFSilver said:
I used to be against it, but they need to make UConn more accessible and bring more people to campus. I think long term it should move back to campus. We are talking end of life for the rent, but that’s ok.

And as the state builds its infrastructure out, such as the direct busway from Hartford to Storrs, and better highways, I like that thought. Maybe when I am retired I can get to a game up in storrs.
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What are we thinking end of life for the Rent is? Another 15 or 20 years? I actually have zero issues with the Rent's location. Clearly we had no issues with attendance when we were decent and were playing FB in a conference we all liked. I do however see the issue where the students, who should be the lifeblood of the program's future attendance are treated as an after thought.
 
Location?

Access to highways; ingress egress; infrastructure; access to job market; ease to get to airport & other major GSMA ... the Rent is underachievement of the concept. 6 games a year? Maybe a handful of other events. A Cabela. Someone just lacked any notion of what coulda shoulda woulda been.

I get why it was built there. The damn shame is what they managed it towards. And 2 crap coaches
 
Waquoit said:
The Rent is a bargain. It's been open for almost 20 years and hosted tons of events for only $92M. That gets you what, 5 miles of highway? And it has the best sight lines of any sporting facility I've ever been in.
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16 years old...checked XL and that's 44(!) years old
 
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$92m

Cost Approach to Appraisal - MAI - like Stadium with concession underneath that design. 22-30,000 seats. Name 5 in somewhat northern climates.

$220-270m each. (Let me add - they’re all MLS stadiums. And to my eye, not the quality of ours in many ways)

And the $92m includes no Land Cost & little site work built on the former runways.

Stop whining. Figure out how to use the thing for better Value creation.
 
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Pudge said:
$92m

Cost Approach to Appraisal - MAI - like Stadium with concession underneath that design. 22-30,000 seats. Name 5 in somewhat northern climates.

$220-270m each.

And the $92m includes no Land Cost & little site work built on the former runways.

Stop whining. Figure out how to use the thing for better Value creation.
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My sentiments exactly
$92M is chump change for a facility that size - I don't care where it is
Would I like it on campus? Hell yes but Storrs isn't exactly the most accessible place on earth considering the roads to and from the major freeway(s)
At least Penn St has a airplane landing area nearby!!!
 
Waquoit said:
The Rent is a bargain. It's been open for almost 20 years and hosted tons of events for only $92M. That gets you what, 5 miles of highway? And it has the best sight lines of any sporting facility I've ever been in.
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The Rent is wonderful. But the dream of joining the Big 10 or some other conference and expanding it to 50,000 or 55,000 is gone.

Maybe it’s best to build a really cool, modest stadium on campus that holds about 30,000. It would be nice to have a place that gets the students more involved and gets good reviews for game day atmosphere.

The Rent will last another generation. Then UConn and the state will have to make a big decision.
 
Redding Husky said:
Maybe it’s best to build a really cool, modest stadium on campus that holds about 30,000. It would be nice to have a place that gets the students more involved and gets good reviews for game day atmosphere.
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Then win games
 
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