The On-Campus Stadium Debate

[Husky25]

Well, I don't want to fold up the program. I'm a UConn Football fan through and through. I believe we can win and succeed at the Rent. There's plenty we can work on and improve on to make things better there that are actually doable.

Bummer that the decision 15 years ago was to build the stadium in East Hartford. But I've got better things to do than be in a sour mood the next 30 years about a decision I can't go back in time to change. Because that's the minimum realistic timeframe to get a stadium on campus - and that has nothing to do with lack of vision.

Especially if there is not real tie obligating one to be a fan of a particular institution.

 

[Husky25]

The billion includes all of the infrastructure needed. And what concerts are you talking about? There aren't that many stadium-level acts. The Rent only has had 4 in 11 years.

Global Spectrum is a giant in the venue management business. The Bushnell is a hack with no vision by comparison.

 

[Drew]

It's a good post.

I think the piece you are missing is towards the bottom. You think people are lazy and make excuses if they don't travel to Storrs? They don't really care what you think, they just aren't making that trip as long as UConn is in the AAC. People and cars start streaming out of Rentschler in the second quarter. That sound like a fanbase willing to add another 90-120 minutes to the process of attending a game?

Maybe it happens other places but there comes a point in the second quarter where the people trickling in are equal to the people tricking out. Maybe someday if we sell enough season tickets they could market mini plans that aren't three games, but rather you have tickets for the first or second half.

Sort of.

I said that if people still were to use "traffic" as their excuse not to go to a 3:30 kick off in Storrs when there is plenty of time to get there before the game and tailgate/experience the gameday experience then yes I consider that person on the more lazy/making excuses side of things than the problem solving side of things.

Personally I think the reason the students (myself included) come into the game in the second quarter and leave at halftime is because there are no ties to the area at all, the early start times are extremely tough to make from Storrs, and a lot of the kids never grew up with/around UConn football therefore don't care about it. The on campus stadium issue solves a lot of this. Think about this for instance. If you go out on that Friday before the game, and you wake up Saturday at 9:30 in Storrs, you've already missed the busses to the football game. Then you're stuck. If the stadium is on campus, a student wakes up at 9:30, realizes there's a football game in 2.5 hours, takes a quick shower and busts his/her butt to the parking lot to tailgate and make it to the game. My fraternity puts on tailgates every game, they usually only last 2.5 hours truthfully. But people don't enter until 1:00 (second quarter) because nobody even gets to the stadium until 10:30/11. I think this is responsible for a large number of the students showing up late.

Students leave early because its a long drive back to campus and they want to eat/get a power nap in in the mid afternoon before they go out that night. The games right now are seen as an excuse to drink (which is how they should be viewed right now since there's no emotional attachment there for a lot of students). If/when the stadium gets placed on campus, students will still go to drink however I'd be willing to wager a lot of money to say that you'd get a lot more students staying a lot longer (maybe even the whole game, gasp!) if it was easier for them to get to and it was made a bigger deal for us by being on campus.

There is a sense amongst the students right now that the administration doesn't fully believe in Storrs as a viable college town. Sure there are plenty of other factors (a lot of it is those damn Mansfield people, who for some reason haven't embraced UConn as a viable economic option) but outsourcing our sports on a regular basis doesn't build identity and school spirit. Honestly most of the students who attend all the sporting events are freshmen/sophomores and they have a very tough time finding a car to drive to XL (bus tickets cost $3 for football and basketball, in addition to your ticket price).

The development of Storrs can't continue to be delayed. The area has such potential to be an amazing college town but the time of making excuses as to why Storrs isn't a good fit for anything needs to come to an end. In today's world, Storrs could be an incredible town that is modern and ahead of the curve in many ways to any other school in the area. This is a positive not only academically (high quality students want a good education, which UConn has, and a beautiful area to live in), but athletically as well as we would be able to attract a better type of athlete to UConn for school.

 

[whaler11]

You can call them lazy. They don't care.

One could say that students who won't travel to E Hartford or XL are just as lazy anyway.

 

[whaler11]

You also seem to think moving games to Storrs makes them magically start at 3:30. It does not. The vast majority of game times are selected by television partners.

Gas and parking cost a lot more than $3 and a car limits your ability to drink.

 

[Husky25]

Sort of.

I said that if people still were to use "traffic" as their excuse not to go to a 3:30 kick off in Storrs when there is plenty of time to get there before the game and tailgate/experience the gameday experience then yes I consider that person on the more lazy/making excuses side of things than the problem solving side of things.

Kick off will still be at 12:00 regardless of venue. If you want the games televised then TV sets the schedule. Otherwise the game goes up against Tennessee/Florida or A&M/Bama. Yeah that'll gain exposure.

Personally I think the reason the students (myself included) come into the game in the second quarter and leave at halftime is because there are no ties to the area at all, the early start times are extremely tough to make from Storrs, and a lot of the kids never grew up with/around UConn football therefore don't care about it. The on campus stadium issue solves a lot of this. Think about this for instance. If you go out on that Friday before the game, and you wake up Saturday at 9:30 in Storrs, you've already missed the busses to the football game. Then you're stuck. If the stadium is on campus, a student wakes up at 9:30, realizes there's a football game in 2.5 hours, takes a quick shower and busts his/her butt to the parking lot to tailgate and make it to the game. My fraternity puts on tailgates every game, they usually only last 2.5 hours truthfully. But people don't enter until 1:00 (second quarter) because nobody even gets to the stadium until 10:30/11. I think this is responsible for a large number of the students showing up late.

No it doesn't. It provides a ready made excuse for the lazies...If you were more committed to partying, you would know when the buses left and plan for it . Go out around 9:30, back around 2:00am and up at 7:00. A couple Red-Bulls and Popov, and you're ready to go for the next 6-8 hours. You're 18-22 years old for crying out loud!! Time to take some responsibility for your own party schedule. The timing and number of buses is up to the student organizations. Get involved.

Students leave early because its a long drive back to campus and they want to eat/get a power nap in in the mid afternoon before they go out that night. The games right now are seen as an excuse to drink (which is how they should be viewed right now since there's no emotional attachment there for a lot of students). If/when the stadium gets placed on campus, students will still go to drink however I'd be willing to wager a lot of money to say that you'd get a lot more students staying a lot longer (maybe even the whole game, gasp!) if it was easier for them to get to and it was made a bigger deal for us by being on campus.

Another ready made excuse. The drive, in a car, is about 30 minutes. Games last until 4:00. Back at campus by 5:00 (including traffic)and the dining halls don't close until 7:00. There's 2 hours for a nap. If you live in the Fraternity House, make sure a Freshman has your Ramen noodles ready as you walk in the door.

There is a sense amongst the students right now that the administration doesn't fully believe in Storrs as a viable college town. Sure there are plenty of other factors (a lot of it is those damn Mansfield people, who for some reason haven't embraced UConn as a viable economic option) but outsourcing our sports on a regular basis doesn't build identity and school spirit. Honestly most of the students who attend all the sporting events are freshmen/sophomores and they have a very tough time finding a car to drive to XL (bus tickets cost $3 for football and basketball, in addition to your ticket price).

I agree with you here and it's an on going problem since at least 1996. But this is where your student organizations need to step up. Like I've told HskyFanDan, you need to know your audience. I don't know if the Athletic Department is monitoring the message boards (they probably do), but my guess is 90% of the people here are not decision makers when it comes to student affairs or the athletic department. Get involved on campus...

The development of Storrs can't continue to be delayed. The area has such potential to be an amazing college town but the time of making excuses as to why Storrs isn't a good fit for anything needs to come to an end. In today's world, Storrs could be an incredible town that is modern and ahead of the curve in many ways to any other school in the area. This is a positive not only academically (high quality students want a good education, which UConn has, and a beautiful area to live in), but athletically as well as we would be able to attract a better type of athlete to UConn for school.

The issue you face is that there is no other school in the area that compares to UConn at Storrs, so the powers that be are resting on their laurels, so to speak. In terms of attracting better athletes to UConn. An off campus venue has some to do with their decision, but not more than, "Can this coach get me to the Pro League and making $Millions?"

At the end of the day, your own football game day experience is dictated by you. If you want to improve the experience of others, so be it. You're a student, right? Get involved in something other than Rush week (speaking metaphorically, of course).

 

[upstater]

Drew is right. You have 25,000 students right there. Most places they just walk-up.

The whole stadium was poorly designed and it hurt UConn badly and will continue to hurt the school. That being said, it's not going to change. So you live with it.

Read Excalibur's post. If everyone knows better, then they should talk to the planners who had a Storrs stadium in mind for a reason.

 

[RS9999X]

I never understand these threads. The Weicker and Rowland plans for a stadium said "anywhere but Storrs".

EH was still the best option at the time. This whole thread is based on the premise if you build season tickets into Activity fees and build near campus games will sell out. Its a lousy model. Failure to execute the EH model and gather enough corporate and union backing is feeding this fantasy.

 

[RS9999X]

CT is building OUT UConn instead of building UP in Storrs. That's a political issue. Why concentrate on Finance and Wall Street in Stamford instead of Storrs? Why concentrate Continuing Education in Hartford (union and teacher central)? Why Farmington for Medical and Genetics? To me the answers are obvious as is the tech park.

 

[Waquoit]

The whole stadium was poorly designed and it hurt UConn badly and will continue to hurt the school.

Huh? It's a great place to see a game. There isn't a bad seat in the house. I love it.

 

[CL82]

Sorry for the long post, I've got a lot of passion on this (as do most on here)

It was a good post Drew. Keep em coming.

 

[CL82]

The billion includes all of the infrastructure needed. And what concerts are you talking about? There aren't that many stadium-level acts. The Rent only has had 4 in 11 years.

The Rent isn't in the middle of a university with captive crowds.

I disagree about the infrastructure. As I've pointed out dozens of times somehow Rutgers and Army manage to get people in and out on equally , if not more, challenging roads. As UConn9604 once pointed out Route 1 in Foxboro accommodates 68k Patriot fans. Keep in mind that you are not moving 50K at once. If you've got a decent on campus experience you feather your traffic in and out. That's how tailgating got started right? Beat the traffic cook up some brats and have a beer or two.

If you feel like searching, (and I don't) somewhere I did a rough analysis of spreading out the traffic over multiple exit routes - E.g. Gurlyville Road to 198 to Rt 6; Storrs Road North to 44 converting it to 4 lanes northbound; and North Eagleville Road to Route 32. Spread out the exit time over two hours and you are looking at 54 cars per five minute interval per route. Not so unreasonable anymore is it? Now if 15k of that 50k are students, it gets that much easier.

The whole traffic argument is a red herring. There's just no validity to it. It happens every Sunday in the fall on campuses all over America. No reason why it would be any different in Storrs.

That said, it ain't happening any time soon.

 

[Husky25]

As UConn9604 once pointed out Route 1 in Foxboro accommodates 68k Patriot fans.

Not very well.

1. They also use breakdown lanes to form 3 in/1 out before the game and 3 out/1 in after, and it still takes 3 hours to clear route 1.

2. Rentschler security start shooing partrons out of the parking lot after about 30 minutes. Patriot staff start about 2 hours after and private parking lots have their own policies. The lumber yard down the train tracks didn't cater to non-residents of Foxborough.

 

[Excalibur]

I never understand these threads. The Weicker and Rowland plans for a stadium said "anywhere but Storrs".

Except not . . .

 

[Excalibur]

Huh? It's a great place to see a game. There isn't a bad seat in the house. I love it.

From that standpoint, I agree. I know some people don't like the open concourse because it encourages people to leave their seats, but overall it is a great place to watch a game with top notch sight lines.

 

[CL82]

Not very well.

1. They also use breakdown lanes to form 3 in/1 out before the game and 3 out/1 in after, and it still takes 3 hours to clear route 1. Good so we have a worst case scenario number. That's moving more people, none of whom live on campus and walked to the game, and has less feathering of traffic due to people who are tailgating, walking around campus, or going to the co-op or Storrs center.

2. Rentschler security start shooing partrons out of the parking lot after about 30 minutes. That's an argument against the Rent, not for it. It would be a different experience on campus. Patriot staff start about 2 hours after and private parking lots have their own policies. The lumber yard down the train tracks didn't cater to non-residents of Foxborough.

 

[J187Money]

CT is building OUT UConn instead of building UP in Storrs. That's a political issue. Why concentrate on Finance and Wall Street in Stamford instead of Storrs? Why concentrate Continuing Education in Hartford (union and teacher central)? Why Farmington for Medical and Genetics? To me the answers are obvious as is the tech park.

If you want Wall Street to pay attention to UCONN students they need better access to NYC. Wall Street does very little recruiting at UCONN and when I was at Goldman it was like pulling teeth to LET me do it. The undergrads had a "would I need to move to NYC to work there?" attitude. Granted this was in the mid-late 90s but still. It is the same thing as in Football. UCONN has smart kids. But all of the other schools that Wall Street has historically recruited have WAY more than enough students to fill their quotas (even more so now that FS is shrinking). Wall Street doesn't NEED UCONN students. Therefore you need to build up that presence in Stamford so there is a pool of UCONN talent that wants to work in FFD county and NYC.

 

[Husky25]

Not very well.

Good so we have a worst case scenario number. That's moving more people, none of whom live on campus and walked to the game, and has less feathering of traffic due to people who are tailgating, walking around campus, or going to the co-op or Storrs center.

That's an argument against the Rent, not for it. It would be a different experience on campus.

I've asked HFD this with no response (typical). How often do you think people are going to the Co-Op, taking tours, etc.? Once a year? Once every two? It was said earlier (I'm not sure how true it is, but certainly possible), that tailgating came about by people wanting to beat the traffic and passing the time prior to games. Now the problem is everyone is tailgating. So traffic is a direct result of the activity intent on avoiding it. Catch-22, wouldn't you say?

Yes, security shooing out patrons after a half hour is an argument against Rentschler, but what makes you think it will be any different on campus? I can tell you with at least some degree of certainty that it wouldn't. Anectdote: My folks used to come up to school on Parents Weekend and my father, uncle, & cousins would come on a different weekend as well. We tailgated in D-lot behind Memorial and the cops would barely let us fire up the grill after the games.

UConn Cops are state police too, and they will have to deal with drunk 20-somethings for the rest of the night. Presumably, the staties at Rentschler get to go home after their shift.

If they decide to put a stadium on campus, Great. I'll go. But, I was in school when the decision came down from Big Lou to upgrade to D1A. I don't know how they acquired it, but the residents and town gov'ts. of Mansfield and Storrs have a lot of pull. Virtually nothing of significance happens on the outskirts of campus (even if it's still on campus) without their tacit buy in...

 

[J187Money]

Spring weekend is a great example. They have basically killed that. How do you think they would allow a Spring Weekend type event in the Football parking lot 6-8 Saturdays a year?

 

[Dann]

I've asked HFD this with no response (typical). How often do you think people are going to the Co-Op, taking tours, etc.? Once a year? Once every two? It was said earlier (I'm not sure how true it is, but certainly possible), that tailgating came about by people wanting to beat the traffic and passing the time prior to games. Now the problem is everyone is tailgating. So traffic is a direct result of the activity intent on avoiding it. Catch-22, wouldn't you say?

Yes, security shooing out patrons after a half hour is an argument against Rentschler, but what makes you think it will be any different on campus? I can tell you with at least some degree of certainty that it wouldn't. Anectdote: My folks used to come up to School on Parents Weekend and my father, Uncle, & Cousins would come on a different weekend. We tailgated in D lot behind Memorial and the cops would barely let us fire up the grill after the games.

UConn Cops are state Police too and they will have to deal with drunk 20-somethings for the rest of the night. Presumably, the staties at Rentschler get to go home after their shift.

If they decide to put a stadium on campus, Great. I'll go. But, I was in school when the decision came down from Big Lou to upgrade to D1A. I don't know how they acquired it, but the residents and town gov'ts. of Mansfield and Storrs have a lot of pull. Virtually nothing of significance happens on the outskirts of campus (even if it's still on campus) without their tacit buy in...

-i think once to twice a year the average fan would go to a co-op/store if the stadium was on campus and dump $100+. tshirt, work ties, husky belts, mugs etc. every summer my friends all come back to in town and they all go to the store which they moved on to the post road and spend a lot on gear. and thats ....

-once a year at some point i think a lot will take tours to see whats new and just to renew the season upon them for memories sake. i think a golf course would lead to a lot of rvs overnight saturday with groups waking up sunday eating sandwiches and golfing type deals.

-a on campus 60k stadium does the following. gets you 15k students and 20k fans asap. so at most traffic wise you sit at 45k and we all know thats more like 2 or 3 heads per car.....what you breed is a weekend at the school which is the memory lane which makes the big boys what they are. 5k ome friday night. 10k dont leave till sunday and so on. the traffic spread is clown shoes excuses wise. at 35k solid season tix you then build that. it starts with the new identity to students graduating year after year of the 7 weekends a year back at school. the season tix count rises from that....

-with a downtown you create a post game and nigh life. walk the town. shop, eat drink and w/e. have some type of live bands/event and the 9 yards...the town comes alive and then the economic benefit is great for uconn for life.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I could be wrong, but I do know that in my day, spring weekend events at UCONN were pretty well organized and planned by student organizations coordinated with the university. There were regular concerts with big name bands outdoors either at Memorial, or even in the student union quad. The one fraternity house near Teds would have a regular party, that drew huge numbers of people, and then the off campus places with the path through the woods down by the water treatment facility would have their parties at night. I can't remember the name, but it was closer to campus than Carriage House - and Carriage House - was carriage house. The cops would set up barriers at the entrance and people would stumble apartment to apartment up and down the road. The schedule of events was pretty well. set out. They had mud and sand volleyball tournaments in the quads in the mornings, then the shows in the afternoons, and then you picked your party location at night, or went to a bar - and by sunday - everybody was passed out and hung over. Many of the dorms were still serving food family style and would have spring cookouts that Saturday evening. There was an old Air Force or Army chef up in Frats that would build a huge BBQ pit in the quad and roast lobsters every year. Always went there.

If I'm not mistaken, by the time the late 90s, 2000's rolled around, they were essentially roping people off in paved parking lots and drinking, with not much else going on other than drinking heavily in a parking lot. More recent people can help out if I'm right or wrong, and the weekend was drawing people from outside UCONN, that were looking for a place to drink and nothing else, whereas when you've got concerts and stuff like that going on, there's actually a reason for people to be there other than to get hopped up.

I don't blame the surrounding community for having a problem with the way spring weekend events evolved. I give them a pass on that.

 

[Husky25]

-i think once to twice a year the average fan would go to a co-op/store if the stadium was on campus and dump $100+. tshirt, work ties, husky belts, mugs etc. every summer my friends all come back to in town and they all go to the store which they moved on to the post road and spend a lot on gear. and thats ....

-once a year at some point i think a lot will take tours to see whats new and just to renew the season upon them for memories sake. i think a golf course would lead to a lot of rvs overnight saturday with groups waking up sunday eating sandwiches and golfing type deals.

-a on campus 60k stadium does the following. gets you 15k students and 20k fans asap. so at most traffic wise you sit at 45k and we all know thats more like 2 or 3 heads per car.....what you breed is a weekend at the school which is the memory lane which makes the big boys what they are. 5k ome friday night. 10k dont leave till sunday and so on. the traffic spread is clown shoes excuses wise. at 35k solid season tix you then build that. it starts with the new identity to students graduating year after year of the 7 weekends a year back at school. the season tix count rises from that....

-with a downtown you create a post game and nigh life. walk the town. shop, eat drink and w/e. have some type of live bands/event and the 9 yards...the town comes alive and then the economic benefit is great for uconn for life.

$200/year on Huskywear? I'm not sure about that. Not unless hyperinflation kicks in...Besides, the items you list are nonperishable in nature. Regarding neckties in particular, suits are no longer a widespread daily requirement for the professional work force.

Is there a golf course on campus now? The closest one I know of is the par 3 behind a liquor store on Rte 44. You could get a OE 40 and play the entire course with a 7 iron and a putter. Not much for parking anything though, let alone a number of RV's for a game on Horse Barn Hill.

Look, I have nothing against a stadium on campus, but I think it is unreasonable to expect it anytime soon due to a number of reasons (Traffic is on the list, but state financial crisis and Mansfield/Storrs town residents and Gov'ts. are at the top). I also think the Rockwellian picture you have burned into your brain is outside of anyone (else)'s basis of reality. Nostalgia has it's place, but this is not Field of Dreams. They won't hand over $10 per person without a second thought just because James Earl Jones says to (the real Field of Dreams is actually free). Come back to reality and work on ideas like the train car and the flag atop the new basketball practice facility. Then, direct these ideas to the appropriate audience.

 

[Husky25]

I could be wrong, but I do know that in my day, spring weekend events at UCONN were pretty well organized and planned by student organizations coordinated with the university. There were regular concerts with big name bands outdoors either at Memorial, or even in the student union quad. The one fraternity house near Teds would have a regular party, that drew huge numbers of people, and then the off campus places with the path through the woods down by the water treatment facility would have their parties at night. I can't remember the name, but it was closer to campus than Carriage House - and Carriage House - was carriage house. The cops would set up barriers at the entrance and people would stumble apartment to apartment up and down the road. The schedule of events was pretty well. set out. They had mud and sand volleyball tournaments in the quads in the mornings, then the shows in the afternoons, and then you picked your party location at night, or went to a bar - and by sunday - everybody was passed out and hung over. Many of the dorms were still serving food family style and would have spring cookouts that Saturday evening. There was an old Air Force or Army chef up in Frats that would build a huge BBQ pit in the quad and roast lobsters every year. Always went there.

If I'm not mistaken, by the time the late 90s, 2000's rolled around, they were essentially roping people off in paved parking lots and drinking, with not much else going on other than drinking heavily in a parking lot. More recent people can help out if I'm right or wrong, and the weekend was drawing people from outside UCONN, that were looking for a place to drink and nothing else, whereas when you've got concerts and stuff like that going on, there's actually a reason for people to be there other than to get hopped up.

I don't blame the surrounding community for having a problem with the way spring weekend events evolved. I give them a pass on that.

Are you talking about Celleron? A student died a few years back and Spring Weekend as it once was, was no more...

 

[Drew]

You also seem to think moving games to Storrs makes them magically start at 3:30. It does not. The vast majority of game times are selected by television partners.

Gas and parking cost a lot more than $3 and a car limits your ability to drink.

I never said they "magically" get moved to 3:30. In fact in my first long post I stated that the start times have to do with (mostly) what SNY wants since they televise the "Big East Game of the Week" and we were usually on it. I said the university would have to work with the TV Network to move their game back. If you don't want to compete with the ABC 3:30 game why not create their own primetime slot? 1:30 on SNY. Game ends by 4:30/5. I say you can move the start times cause this stadium like I said is a minimum of 20 years out, and I would assume there will be one or two more TV contracts by then.

I would also like to see the American Athletic Conference make a deal with Fox's new all sports network (national network) FoxSports1 to have their games televised on there in the 12, 3:30, and 8 pm time slots (or whatever primetime slots they might have).

 

[Dann]

Drew. Here it is. This school has yet to make a forward thinking decision since the 1970s. Everything is to small or lacks vision. It will continue to be that way for life because the school has many enablers who keep the train rolling this way.

You said you were from down south. What ever school you grew up watching I suggest you root for them and uconn so when your done at uconn school wise you can have a big time team to root for as well as uconn because we will 247 break your heart with crappy decisions and never reach the top because we love idiots and fools to be picked as our leaders. We're going to have a good bball program you can hang you fan card on and go root for Uga or who ever down south back home football wise it will save yourself many nights and dreams and what ifs because this area of the county just doesn't get it.