The XL Center is now People's Bank Arena. *nm*

[Waquoit]

Upgrade still paying dividends!

 

[Flipside]

Love CT, Hartford and the HCC, but horrible decisions for decades, imho ... they need to blow that sucker up, and build-a-new, rather than putting bandaids on gunshot wounds

Flashback New England Patriots terminate Hartford stadium agreement ... where the Downtown Marriott & scarcely patronized Conference Center lie, could have been a virbrant year-round, domed-stadium venue for the Patriots (pre-Super Bowls), Final Fours, Bowl Games, AARP Conventions, Truck & Tracktor Pulls, etc. lol ... the list goes on, but folks were too concerned about "traffic, parking and taxes" WTF!?

I grew up in CT when we had toll booths on the Charter Oak & Putnam Bridges ... now I see people complaining about proposed tolls, lol (quietly)

The state also rejected Six Flags (for those that remember) on the EH P&W site, as it would only bring minimum wage jobs ... instead, now, we got an outdoor stadium convenient to nobody that doesn't live in the 06108, for what, 6 games a year? ... total failure!

 

[LIUCHusky]

Love CT, Hartford and the HCC, but horrible decisions for decades, imho ... they need to blow that sucker up, and build-a-new, rather than putting bandaids on gunshot wounds

Flashback New England Patriots terminate Hartford stadium agreement ... where the Downtown Marriott & scarcely patronized Conference Center lie, could have been a domed-stadium venue for the Patriots (pre-Super Bowls), Final Fours, Bowl Games, AARP Conventions, Truck & Tracktor Pulls, etc. lol ... the list goes on, but folks were too concerned about "traffic, parking and taxes" WTF!?

I grew up in CT when we had toll booths on the Charter Oak & Putnam Bridges ... now I see people complaining about proposed tolls, lol (quietly)

The state also rejected Six Flags (for those that remember) on the EH P&W site, as it would only bring minimum wage jobs ... instead, now, we got an outdoor stadium convenient to nobody that doesn't live in the 06108, for what, 6 games a year? ... total failure!

I would argue that Rentschler is convenient to people everywhere in the state.

 

[Flipside]

I would argue that Rentschler is convenient to people everywhere in the state.

fair enough, I may have misued the word convenient

 

[Kolumbo]

I would argue that Rentschler is convenient to people everywhere in the state.

Everywhere in Connecticut is convenient to people everywhere in the state. It's this small time thinking that contributes to keeping Connecticut down. Outsiders simply can't understand why the UConn campus doesn't have a football stadium.

 

[Flipside]

Everywhere in Connecticut is convenient to people everywhere in the state. It's this small time thinking that contributes to keeping Connecticut down. Outsiders simply can't understand why the UConn campus doesn't have a football stadium.

Rentschler Field - Wikipedia

"In the mid-1990s, the Six Flags corporation considered using the vacated acreage as the site for a new amusement park property, following community pushback in the southeastern Connecticut tourist area surrounding their plan to use property in Stonington, Connecticut under an agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. City of East Hartford leadership supported the introduction of a Six Flags park to Rentschler Field, with key points including the site's large size, proximity to Hartford and central location near major thoroughfares Interstate 91 and Interstate 84, with the possibility to attract people from New York City and Boston, Massachusetts in addition to Southern New England. At the time, Six Flags was also considering alternate locations in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Then-governor John G. Rowland stated that he would support and enjoy a new Six Flags amusement park in East Hartford, but that the State of Connecticut would not provide additional funds to establish the project. In 1998, Six Flags parent company Time Warner Entertainment opted to sell the division to competitor Premier Parks, the owners of nearby Riverside Park (now known as Six Flags New England) in Agawam, Massachusetts. The deal extinguished the desire to construct an additional park in Connecticut."

 

[CL82]

I would argue that Rentschler is convenient to people everywhere in the state.

Except, of course, to the team, coaching, staff, and students. To them it's a pretty inconvenient location.

 

[HooperScooper]

Love CT, Hartford and the HCC, but horrible decisions for decades, imho ... they need to blow that sucker up, and build-a-new, rather than putting bandaids on gunshot wounds

Same question that always stops this discussion. Who's paying for this? Because it won't make economic sense to anyone.

 

[Flipside]

Same question that always stops this discussion. Who's paying for this? Because it won't make any economic sense for anyone.

Could you define ‘economic sense’? Asking as a UConn Econ grad who’s genuinely curious about various meanings of the word ‘sense’ here

 

[HooperScooper]

Could you define ‘economic sense’? Asking as a UConn Econ grad who’s genuinely curious about various meanings of the word ‘sense’ here

Economic sense = an acceptable risk adjusted return on the invested capital. Unless a public entity will spend the capital for this as something for the public good. And we all know this is never going to happen in Connecticut.

 

[Flipside]

Economic sense = an acceptable risk adjusted return on the invested capital. Unless a public entity will spend the capital for this as something for the public good. And we all know this is never going to happen in Connecticut.

agree, until people stop parroting what won't happen, and instead, be the change!

Connecticut is my home (even though I live in South Florida), and is one of the most amazing & open places to do any kind of business to this day, imho and experience

vs.

oh, say NYC, the city that supposedly never sleeps ... until 2017, NYC had a ban on dancing in unlicensed venues (say that again, slowly) ... raise one's hand if ya knew this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Cabaret_Law

... meanwhile, any bloke like me could book a venue in CT, for any purpose, and business owners loved us

I miss CT, but not the negative status quo

 

[Windham4th]

Except, of course, to the team, coaching, staff, and students. To them it's a pretty inconvenient location.

There is little ticket revenue from that group

 

[CL82]

There is little ticket revenue from that group

And yet there is no game without them.

 

[zls44]

Love CT, Hartford and the HCC, but horrible decisions for decades, imho ... they need to blow that sucker up, and build-a-new, rather than putting bandaids on gunshot wounds

Flashback New England Patriots terminate Hartford stadium agreement ... where the Downtown Marriott & scarcely patronized Conference Center lie, could have been a virbrant year-round, domed-stadium venue for the Patriots (pre-Super Bowls), Final Fours, Bowl Games, AARP Conventions, Truck & Tracktor Pulls, etc. lol ... the list goes on, but folks were too concerned about "traffic, parking and taxes" WTF!?

I grew up in CT when we had toll booths on the Charter Oak & Putnam Bridges ... now I see people complaining about proposed tolls, lol (quietly)

The state also rejected Six Flags (for those that remember) on the EH P&W site, as it would only bring minimum wage jobs ... instead, now, we got an outdoor stadium convenient to nobody that doesn't live in the 06108, for what, 6 games a year? ... total failure!

1. It wasn’t a domed stadium proposed
2. Even if it was, how many Final Fours do you genuinely think Hartford was getting, especially with such low hotel inventory? It’d have been like Syracuse and maybe gotten a couple of regionals- something they aren’t getting anymore, you’ll notice.

 

[Flipside]

1. It wasn’t a domed stadium proposed
2. Even if it was, how many Final Fours do you genuinely think Hartford was getting, especially with such low hotel inventory? It’d have been like Syracuse and maybe gotten a couple of regionals- something they aren’t getting anymore, you’ll notice.

1. that's why I typed "could have been"
2. as many as Indianapolis ... building more hotels is an option too, but only executed by visionaries that put actions to dreams, and squash doubters

 

[husky8273]

1. It wasn’t a domed stadium proposed
2. Even if it was, how many Final Fours do you genuinely think Hartford was getting, especially with such low hotel inventory? It’d have been like Syracuse and maybe gotten a couple of regionals- something they aren’t getting anymore, you’ll notice.

1. it was determined that site was not large enough
2. the NFL was never going to let the Patriots leave Boston
3. Kraft played Rowland

 

[Flipside]

1. it was determined that site was not large enough
2. the NFL was never going to let the Patriots leave Boston
3. Kraft played Rowland

1. consolation prize, Front Street, Rentschler (where the Six Flags was proposed)
2. the Patriots are in Boston?
3. likely

 

[HuskyHawk]

1. it was determined that site was not large enough
2. the NFL was never going to let the Patriots leave Boston
3. Kraft played Rowland

Kraft actually want to be in the Seaport in Boston. It wasn't worth "playing" Rowland for the minor upgrades he got on Rt 1 in Foxborough. It was never coming to Hartford, made no sense to massively downgrade your own market like that, especially with over half that market being Giants/Jets fans. Providence is more important to the Pats than Hartford.

Hartford isn't even managing to grab a WNBA team. I grew up in greater Hartford, but it's in decline.

 

[Flipside]

Rentschler

I forgot to mention concerts ... ability to have more than 6, sans noise complaints, in 19 years Concert History of Rentschler Field East Hartford, Connecticut, United States | Concert Archives

I remember my Dad calling me the night Springstein opened, said they could hear the music 8 miles away in Glastonbury, lol

... seems like it was grand opening, and modified grand closing at the same time
https://www.courant.com/2005/08/26/rentschlers-neighbors-learn-to-roll-with-it/

 

[Flipside]

Kraft actually want to be in the Seaport in Boston. It wasn't worth "playing" Rowland for the minor upgrades he got on Rt 1 in Foxborough. It was never coming to Hartford, made no sense to massively downgrade your own market like that, especially with over half that market being Giants/Jets fans. Providence is more important to the Pats than Hartford.

Hartford isn't even managing to grab a WNBA team. I grew up in greater Hartford, but it's in decline.

and yet, the Whalers moved from Boston, to Hartford, then on to an aircraft hangar in NC, if memory serves

 

[huskymedic]

I forgot to mention concerts ... ability to have more than 6, sans noise complaints, in 19 years Concert History of Rentschler Field East Hartford, Connecticut, United States | Concert Archives

I remember my Dad calling me the night Springstein opened, said they could hear the music 8 miles away in Glastonbury, lol

... seems like it was grand opening, and modified grand closing at the same time
https://www.courant.com/2005/08/26/rentschlers-neighbors-learn-to-roll-with-it/

 

[CL82]

1. It wasn’t a domed stadium proposed
2. Even if it was, how many Final Fours do you genuinely think Hartford was getting, especially with such low hotel inventory? It’d have been like Syracuse and maybe gotten a couple of regionals- something they aren’t getting anymore, you’ll notice.

Personally, I question whether it ever made sense to host even the regional games in Canada.

 

[HuskyHawk]

and yet, the Whalers moved from Boston, to Hartford, then on to an aircraft hangar in NC, if memory serves

The old WHA New England Whalers? Sure. Because Boston had an original six team so nobody cared about what was essentially a minor league team.

 

[Kolumbo]

It would be great if they could continue to use the underutilized stadium for concerts and to generate revenue. Ideally they wouldn't hold a large concert a week before the home opener.

“We’re now on the map,” Ben Weiss, general manager of the stadium, said Monday. “That was one of the goals with this show is to make us visible. We’ve been raising our hand for a while, but now, we’ve done one. And we’re hopeful that leads to more.”

"The set-up required cranes and other heavy equipment for staging and the sound system, all the while protecting the field for the UConn home opener on Saturday against the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils. (Freimuth said the gridiron is intact for the game, with only some minor damage on the sidelines.)"

 

[John]

Saw both The Police and Springsteen at The Rent, it's a solid concert venue and hoping the promise of future shows comes to fruition.