UConn v UMass 2023

[LIUCHusky]

Since it’s a land grant state school, shouldn’t the state pay for a new on campus stadium? Is that a rational thought??? Did the men’s and women’s basketball teams pay for Gampel when it was built? Did the baseball team pay for its beautiful new field and stadium? BTW, keep your “Good God’s” to yourself and maybe you’ll get more rational and cordial replies.

Gampel and the new athletic facilities (including the baseball stadium) were built in large part by private donations.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Gampel and the new athletic facilities (including the baseball stadium) were built in large part by private donations.

Lamont could have taxpayers foot the bill, but a wealthy benefactor or two or three, could step up. It would not surprise me. Spending about one quarter of what it would cost to build a new stadium on fixing Rentschler is a colossal waste. If people knew what was buried under the old air field, no one would want to go there, much less tailgate cooking and eating. Was there an organized funding drive for Gampel and the baseball facility?

 

[Dizzy21]

Gampel and the new athletic facilities (including the baseball stadium) were built in large part by private donations.

Since it’s a land grant state school, shouldn’t the state pay for a new on campus stadium? Is that a rational thought??? Did the men’s and women’s basketball teams pay for Gampel when it was built? Did the baseball team pay for its beautiful new field and stadium? BTW, keep your “Good God’s” to yourself and maybe you’ll get more rational and cordial replies.

UConn football is actually paying about $100,000 per home game to pay for the baseball, soccer, and hockey fields. $5 from each football ticket is technically one of the ways they are paying for those stadiums.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Preventing further cosmetic discoloration is not the main issue. The main issue is constant rusting and weakening of the rebar over 20 or so years definitely is, and is very serious.

You would think so. right. Was this a matter of not replacing the caulking between section joints or filling cracks in the structure? That would suck as it seems it would be normal, yearly upkeep that wasn't done. The plan is to pay 12MM/yr over the next 5 years. According to the article from the CT Insider, the roofing and technical upgrades will be prioritized first. Its a 2 year state budget IIRC. As far as on campus, I think upgrading or building a basketball arena will be done before a football stadium is considered.

 

[Buffett10]

You do realize that rent and other costs add up to well over a million dollars a year, the athletic department has to pay the state to play in a stadium that is badly in need of repairs. It’s a joke. Just build a new state of the art stadium on campus that the school (and other sports as well) can call its own and use much more efficiently as well as help recruit better athletes. Do that and other schools and P5 conferences will take notice, and a $30 million to $45 million annual conference distribution would pay big dividends as well. Only reason you and your buddies want to keep the Rent (no pun intended) going is to have those hotdogs, potato salad, and chicken wings in a cracked broken down parking lot.

Give it up. There will never be an on campus stadium for football at UConn. And your state of the art stadium will be talked down about like you’re doing with the rent 20 yrs after it’s never built

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Anyway, UConn vs umess. Aside from rooting for the Huskies to add a W, dont really care about the minutemen.

 

[Patman]

Give it up. There will never be an on campus stadium for football at UConn. And your state of the art stadium will be talked down about like you’re doing with the rent 20 yrs after it’s never built

I'd be happy with the university just owning whatever comes next because I feel like state stewardship doesn't actually help much. Putting things on the university ledger gives them an interest in developing the facility and they're routinely in the business of marketing as it is so you're giving it to people who know what they're doing. Maybe that's not really feasibly flipping facilities from one ledger to another but clearly Rentschler, the parts that surround the field, are quickly entering into decay.

 

[kibblesnbits]

Spending about one quarter of what it would cost to build a new stadium on fixing Rentschler is a colossal waste.

So you think they could build a competitive 40,000 seat football stadium for $100M today? Did you see what the less than 3,000 seat hockey arena cost? You are proposing to build an on-campus facility for what the Rent cost 20 years ago on a large, open, flat donated site a few hundred yards from an interstate highway that required comparatively much less site, parking and access development.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

FYI: As of 2017, it was reported building a football stadium on the Tampa campus of the University of South Florida would cost an estimated $200 million. Price estimate now $340M. But in 2015 when Texas A&M renovated its existing stadium price was $485 million.

 

[Nostical]

Rentschler Field was not only poorly constructed at its inception, a veritable rusted out jalopy in waiting, it was also misdesigned. It was not originally intended to have the two tier concept where wandering fans are too often missing from their seats. (The designer, who once missed a big play at Giants stadium when getting a hot dog—not a joke—wanted fans to have the ability to see the action while in the concession concourse). Sadly, we got the design we have, when what the stadium needed (IMHO) were more massive seating sections with lots of vomitories—such as OK State below. We could also use a Boone Pickens sized donor checkbook. Hopefully any new stadium concept will be more thoughtfully designed.

 

[businesslawyer]

Everyone is free to worry about what they want to worry about, but of all the things to worry about I don’t understand why people get so upset that maybe 1000 people at most at any time are standing in the concourse instead of being in their seats. Personally, I just can’t understand why that matters to anyone.

 

[CCSUblue]

FYI: As of 2017, it was reported building a football stadium on the Tampa campus of the University of South Florida would cost an estimated $200 million. Price estimate now $340M. But in 2015 when Texas A&M renovated its existing stadium price was $485 million.

You're comparing building a new 30k seat stadium to renovating a 100 year old 100k seat stadium. So apples and oranges.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Gampel and the new athletic facilities (including the baseball stadium) were built in large part by private donations.

Don't inject facts into the discussion

 

[Waquoit]

Rentschler Field was not only poorly constructed at its inception, a veritable rusted out jalopy in waiting, it was also misdesigned. It was not originally intended to have the two tier concept where wandering fans are too often missing from their seats.

It was ahead of it's time. New stadiums have the open concept. I still laugh at you guys that were more worried about where people were watching the game then the fact that they bought a ticket.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Rentschler Field was not only poorly constructed at its inception, a veritable rusted out jalopy in waiting, it was also misdesigned. It was not originally intended to have the two tier concept where wandering fans are too often missing from their seats. (The designer, who once missed a big play at Giants stadium when getting a hot dog—not a joke—wanted fans to have the ability to see the action while in the concession concourse). Sadly, we got the design we have, when what the stadium needed (IMHO) were more massive seating sections with lots of vomitories—such as OK State below. We could also use a Boone Pickens sized donor checkbook. Hopefully any new stadium concept will be more thoughtfully designed.
View attachment 88736

It basically was built on the cheap using a higher percentage of cheap steel vs concrete to save money and to create the open concourse. Pre stressed concrete forms could have been used for the concourse instead of steel if money was not an issue. So after 20 years you have a rust bucket because the roof leaked like a sieve.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

It basically was built on the cheap using a higher percentage of cheap steel vs concrete to save money and to create the open concourse. Pre stressed concrete forms could have been used for the concourse instead of steel if money was not an issue. So after 20 years you have a rust bucket because the roof leaked like a sieve.

Please compare the construction of UCF's stadium and Texas Tech's stadium before making a statement such as the one I bolded.

Unless they are building with a single pour, there will be joints attaching concrete sections. The problem is not with how this primarily concrete facility was built but rather with neglect when it came to maintenance. I imagine that a portion of what had been paid in rental costs was for ongoing maintenance of the facility. The CRDA should be held accountable for this, not the school or athletic department.

 

[businesslawyer]

It was ahead of it's time. New stadiums have the open concept. I still laugh at you guys that were more worried about where people were watching the game then the fact that they bought a ticket.

One million times this.

 

[Urcea]

Anyway, UConn vs umess. Aside from rooting for the Huskies to add a W, dont really care about the minutemen.

Objectively there's nothing comparable about our athletic programs, but in the wilderness years here I have enjoyed having them on the schedule yearly. It's not a real rivalry - they have no fans, or if they do they don't travel - but I do look forward to it

 

[Nostical]

One million times this.

I still laugh at you guys that were more worried about where people were watching the game then the fact that they bought a ticket.

Go ahead and laugh all you want, but if you buy a ticket and stay in the parking lot or gather in the concourse we look like chumps when the TV broadcast starts. The impression we've given the viewing public for too many years is that we're not ready for prime time. These games are in many ways UConn's version of a job interview. We’re "interviewing" with conference commissioners, TV networks, media pundits and the public. Any decision maker or opinion crafter tuning into the start of our games will have concluded that we came to the interview in unpolished shoes and baggy jeans. In short, we haven't been making a very good impression.
On August 31st we'll be facing the gaze of most Big XII member school decision makers and many of their fans, who will be tuning into our game vs NC ST given all the social media buzz about UConn being considered for membership. The state of our play will be vital but if you don't think it matters how we look when the TV lights go on, it does. No matter how many tickets we sell, if we're at the game that evening we better show up loud and be in our seats early.
You should be saying "a million times this!"

 

[businesslawyer]

Go ahead and laugh all you want, but if you buy a ticket and stay in the parking lot or gather in the concourse we look like chumps when the TV broadcast starts. The impression we've given the viewing public for too many years is that we're not ready for prime time. These games are in many ways UConn's version of a job interview. We’re "interviewing" with conference commissioners, TV networks, media pundits and the public. Any decision maker or opinion crafter tuning into the start of our games will have concluded that we came to the interview in unpolished shoes and baggy jeans. In short, we haven't been making a very good impression.
On August 31st we'll be facing the gaze of most Big XII member school decision makers and many of their fans, who will be tuning into our game vs NC ST given all the social media buzz about UConn being considered for membership. The state of our play will be vital but if you don't think it matters how we look when the TV lights go on, it does. No matter how many tickets we sell, if we're at the game that evening we better show up loud and be in our seats early.
You should be saying "a million times this!"

We would. If you were right. But the thought that a large, raucous crowd is neutralized by the fact that some of them are in a concourse (or on concession lines or in the bathrooms) is just nonsensical. Yormark to Big XII Presidents: "Never mind. I thought that they were a strong candidate but too many paying customers are still on line getting hot dogs at the start of the game. Screw them." Yeah -- not.

And by the way -- no one was arguing that people not coming into the stadium at all, or late, was unimportant, so that's a great example of throwing a strawman in hoping no one notices and it makes your argument stronger.

 

[Waquoit]

Go ahead and laugh all you want, but if you buy a ticket and stay in the parking lot or gather in the concourse we look like chumps when the TV broadcast starts.

When we were selling out, nobody on TV was saying we looked like chumps because there were a bunch of people watching from the concourse. Now that many of those concourse people have found something else to do on Saturdays, I'm not sure how big a problem it was.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Please compare the construction of UCF's stadium and Texas Tech's stadium before making a statement such as the one I bolded.

Unless they are building with a single pour, there will be joints attaching concrete sections. The problem is not with how this primarily concrete facility was built but rather with neglect when it came to maintenance. I imagine that a portion of what had been paid in rental costs was for ongoing maintenance of the facility. The CRDA should be held accountable for this, not the school or athletic department.

Sure, I agree with you a good architect can design a beautiful stadium using more steel than concrete. In that case most of the concrete is of a pre stressed nature done under controlled conditions. The only things done nowadays in a “single pour” are usually the footings. All that being said, when a new stadium is designed the cost is generally determined by the ratio of steel to concrete. The more use of concrete vs steel the higher the cost of construction, the advantage of course in using more concrete than steel is the stadium will last many years before repairs are needed. Take the Roman Colosseum, all very hard concrete and still standing after thousands of years. If Rome had discovered steel, any beams used in its construction would have rusted away centuries ago causing collapse.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Sure, I agree with you a good architect can design a beautiful stadium using more steel than concrete. In that case most of the concrete is of a pre stressed nature done under controlled conditions. The only things done nowadays in a “single pour” are usually the footings. All that being said, when a new stadium is designed the cost is generally determined by the ratio of steel to concrete. The more use of concrete vs steel the higher the cost of construction, the advantage of course in using more concrete than steel is the stadium will last many years before repairs are needed. Take the Roman Colosseum, all very hard concrete and still standing after thousands of years. If Rome had discovered steel, any beams used in its construction would have rusted away centuries ago causing collapse.

You missed the entire point. The building that you are calling a rust bucket is almost entirely concrete

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Concrete has a very high pH which creates a protective layer around the rebar to help prevent it from rusting. But if cracks or section joints were not sealed or refilled allowing water permeating to the rebar or other steel elements then that goes to the negligence of the authorities tasked with maintaining the facility. Failing of base/basic stuff.
UMass needs to be more than a two to three-win team heading into its final in the Boston area. Their fans are not going to show.

 

[businesslawyer]

Their fans are not going to show.

Neither of them?

 

[Palatine]

Everyone is free to worry about what they want to worry about, but of all the things to worry about I don’t understand why people get so upset that maybe 1000 people at most at any time are standing in the concourse instead of being in their seats. Personally, I just can’t understand why that matters to anyone.

It makes the stadium look empty on TV and therefore portrays a poor image. This is not an incidental concern.

 

[noeynox]

You do realize that rent and other costs add up to well over a million dollars a year, the athletic department has to pay the state to play in a stadium that is badly in need of repairs. It’s a joke. Just build a new state of the art stadium on campus that the school (and other sports as well) can call its own and use much more efficiently as well as help recruit better athletes. Do that and other schools and P5 conferences will take notice, and a $30 million to $45 million annual conference distribution would pay big dividends as well. Only reason you and your buddies want to keep the Rent (no pun intended) going is to have those hotdogs, potato salad, and chicken wings in a cracked broken down parking lot.

Don't you ever talk bad about potato salad. There are lines you don't cross.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Neither of them?

LOL, If I was sharper; Their fan is not going to show.

 

[businesslawyer]

LOL, If I was sharper; Their fan is not going to show.

This is why playing in Gillette makes zero sense to me. I can't see how it won't lose a lot of money, I can't see why anyone would want to drive 90 minutes to 2.5 hours to watch a game in an empty NFL stadium, no matter how nice it is, and frankly I'd just rather drive to Amherst if that's the option and be home earlier.

 

[Waquoit]

This is why playing in Gillette makes zero sense to me. I can't see how it won't lose a lot of money, I can't see why anyone would want to drive 90 minutes to 2.5 hours to watch a game in an empty NFL stadium, no matter how nice it is, and frankly I'd just rather drive to Amherst if that's the option and be home earlier.

Why can't we play at Holy Cross again?