UConn's FBS Football Program - what is our mission?

[Duncan Idaho]

That may be what holds UConn back. USF is making the commitment. We want UConn to be included but we are trying to get there on the cheap.

"When Weatherford sought final financing approval from the state, he highlighted the Bulls’ four American Athletic Conference peers — Houston, Cincinnati, SMU and rival UCF — that earned spots in the Big 12 or ACC."

"“It’s no coincidence that every one of these universities also made a significant investment in their athletic facilities, either through a new stadium or making tremendous renovations to their existing one,” Weatherford said in 2023."

"“And it starts with, does a school have the commitment to the program and value the program in order to compete at that level?” Parsons said."

"If a school is spending nine figures on its stadium, the answer is a clear yes. Especially against these headwinds."

Can a new college football stadium buy a seat at the table? Inside USF’s $340 million bet

USF is spending more than $340 million on a college football stadium. Is it the Bulls' ticket to the big time in a rapidly shifting sport?

www.nytimes.com

What a bunch of crap. Cinci, Houston and UCF got in because of play on the field. BYU had p4 facilities for a long time and a mature football program with history.

 

[LetsGoUC]

When were in the college football playoff this year, this thread will be fun to look back on

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

I'm sure the uconn athletic dept knows all of this ^ and infinitely more.
And purely conjecture here, but I do really believe that UConn secretly knows already (under the table, private convos) what Big 12's conditions are for the invite we want. Maybe ACC, too. There's too much at stake for all parties, to not have clear terms already dictated for the path to an invite, off the record. Again, maybe i'm phoney baloney, but I can't imagine otherwise.

so then, I wonder - is this "stadium issue", the area where uconn basketball is helping our candidacy? ie. we have something that none of those 5 schools above have; blue blood basketball, which while not enough to get us the invite as-is, may be enough to get us the invite as long as football improves enough, WITHOUT the need for a $500M stadium in Storrs (or at least not one that exists at the time of the invite).

Agree that UConn was given feedback from at least the Big12 (and likely the ACC - especially on the Rent side of things given that we've hosted numerous ACC opponents in the past 5 years and further back as well). Yormark supposedly visited to review facilities during the last round of talks - hard to believe he went to Werth/Burton/etc on campus but didn't go to the Rent. While the Rent isn't necessarily glamorous, it has hosted Michigan football, a NCAA Lacrosse Final Four, and numerous US Soccer/International games. Those organizations don't play in dumps and so these Rent naysayers across the country should do a little homework. Again, could the Rent be better? Of course, but there's many old and tired D1/P4 stadiums.

That said, each of XL, Gampel, and Rent are all getting upgrades and modernizations. Big12 and ACC leadership has to view that positively.

 

[Kolumbo]

Northwestern is getting a brand new stadium unlike any other

Other programs like UCF are making massive upgrades to their stadiums which enhance the entire campus

The Rent will never get those kinds of upgrades because it is a limited use shell stadium in the middle of nowhere. It is what it is and while the tailgating is great, the facility itself will never compare to real home stadiums of most power programs. Maybe that will be fine in the long run but it won't be making anyone's list of top college stadiums

 

[Hoophound]

Northwestern is getting a brand new stadium unlike any other

Other programs like UCF are making massive upgrades to their stadiums which enhance the entire campus

The Rent will never get those kinds of upgrades because it is a limited use shell stadium in the middle of nowhere. It is what it is and while the tailgating is great, the facility itself will never compare to real home stadiums of most power programs. Maybe that will be fine in the long run but it won't be making anyone's list of top college stadiums

I’ve been to UCF, UF, FSU and others. The Rent is 100% fine. I’ve taken Gator fans there and they thought it was great.

 

[jostar1]

Robert Griffin III: The thing that people think is when you go to these big stadiums and they have 80,000 people or 100,000 people, that these are the toughest stadiums to play at, but really, those aren't. When you have that many people, most of the time, the fans are pretty far away from the field. The toughest places to play are the ones that are jam-packed, are really tight to the field, and sit about 45,000 people. When we played at UConn my freshman year, that was the loudest place I've ever been as a football player. The stands are right next to the field, it was packed, and everyone was yelling. That was probably the coolest place for me to play at aside from Texas, Texas A&M, and Nebraska.

 

[Jetskies]

Northwestern is getting a brand new stadium unlike any other

Other programs like UCF are making massive upgrades to their stadiums which enhance the entire campus

The Rent will never get those kinds of upgrades because it is a limited use shell stadium in the middle of nowhere. It is what it is and while the tailgating is great, the facility itself will never compare to real home stadiums of most power programs. Maybe that will be fine in the long run but it won't be making anyone's list of top college stadiums

fair.

thankfully, the Rent is not an embarassment. Outdated? yes and getting more noticeable by the year. But compared to the bottom of FBS, it is still a respectable structure that looks intentionally made for us, instead of a 100-year old grassy hillside with makeshift patchwork construction.

I believe the Rent will get us to the P4 (or alternatively, it WON'T play a major role, in whether we get in). What happens AFTER the invite is where I wonder. Conferences are not gonna be ok sending their teams to the Rent in its current state, if at all. I wonder if the terms of an invite will include a commitment within ___ years to either turn the rent into a palace worthy of a P4 badge, or kill it and make the palace on campus.

My gut says a few key upgrades (well short of a renovation + expansion) would immediately be ordered for the rent - particularly in the lighting/sound/ambiance areas, where you can use clever and advanced lighting, and upgraded display technology ALL AROUND the stadium (not just a new scoreboard), to transform any venue into practically a music festival-level production. It doesn't actually matter how nice the raw venue itself is.

it's fun to dream.

 

[metsfan2323]

The Rent will never get those kinds of upgrades because it is a limited use shell stadium in the middle of nowhere.

Nope, The Rent is located a stone's throw away from the state capital, the UConn campus is in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Northwestern is getting a brand new stadium unlike any other

Other programs like UCF are making massive upgrades to their stadiums which enhance the entire campus

The Rent will never get those kinds of upgrades because it is a limited use shell stadium in the middle of nowhere. It is what it is and while the tailgating is great, the facility itself will never compare to real home stadiums of most power programs. Maybe that will be fine in the long run but it won't be making anyone's list of top college stadiums

Sure. If the Kulombo family wants to fund a new stadium like the Ryan's that would be great. All too happy to have it named after you. If we had anywhere near the G5 succes of UCF and not the national embarrassment we had become, I'm sure it would get strong consideration. The stadium is 20 years old. It's getting upgraded over two budget cycles maybe more. It.was never a problem until we sucked. Even the student section was greatly expanded during better times. If the program is bad few will go no matter where the stadium is located.

 

[Patman]

Sure. If the Kulombo family wants to fund a new stadium like the Ryan's that would be great. All too happy to have it named after you. If we had anywhere near the G5 succes of UCF and not the national embarrassment we had become, I'm sure it would get strong consideration. The stadium is 20 years old. It's getting upgraded over two budget cycles maybe more. It.was never a problem until we sucked. Even the student section was greatly expanded during better times. If the program is bad few will go no matter where the stadium is located.

It was always a problem because its 30-40 minutes from campus

 

[BigTenFan]

UCF just rehired Scott Frost for a pile of money. Funding does not seem to be an issue there.

 

[Patman]

UCF just rehired Scott Frost for a pile of money. Funding does not seem to be an issue there.

People get shocked when an unheard of school wants to play sports.

Imagine if Wayne state (detroit) decided they wanted to do sports ball. They have 40,000 students

 

[jostar1]

People get shocked when an unheard of school wants to play sports.

Imagine if Wayne state (detroit) decided they wanted to do sports ball. They have 40,000 students

UCF is an unheard of school?

 

[Kolumbo]

Nope, The Rent is located a stone's throw away from the state capital, the UConn campus is in the middle of nowhere.

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades and it's not like Hartford is some major destination. It's amazing that places like State College don't have the same issues. I guess their fans don't mind driving more than a couple hours for a game at their campus. If the stadium was actually in Hartford on the river it might make more sense.

Sure. If the Kulombo family wants to fund a new stadium like the Ryan's that would be great. All too happy to have it named after you. If we had anywhere near the G5 succes of UCF and not the national embarrassment we had become, I'm sure it would get strong consideration. The stadium is 20 years old. It's getting upgraded over two budget cycles maybe more. It.was never a problem until we sucked. Even the student section was greatly expanded during better times. If the program is bad few will go no matter where the stadium is located.

They have to ask nicely.

All of the other G5 programs have no problem funding on-campus stadiums. The Rent was fairly cheap to build and it's served its purpose for 20 years. It got us into the Big East and Div 1A. My point was that programs are investing in their facilities. A basic concrete stadium located amongst distribution warehouses isn't a great long-term investment and it's just not worth investing heavily when UConn is the only primary tenant. Many more students would attend games they could walk to.

I just looked up the schedule. USMNT vs Turkey on June 7, a concert, and UConn Football. Maybe they can build a mall around it to bring more traffic and make it worth the while. Throw in a Margaritas.

 

[CCSUblue]

People get shocked when an unheard of school wants to play sports.

Imagine if Wayne state (detroit) decided they wanted to do sports ball. They have 40,000 students

And UCF has over 70,000... Maybe SNHU wants to go D1 with their ~135,000 students.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Here we go, digging up another argument that died years ago.

Would I prefer that we had an on campus football stadium that could hold about 45k and be expanded when that becomes necessary? Yes, without question.

Is there any chance outside of private donations that the school would be able to sink $600+ million to put a football stadium on campus? I personally don't see it as a possibility.

Is there a chance some benevolent billionaire(s) will donate the money? I don't see that happening.

If by some miracle we were to find the funding, what are the chances the state would let the school render Rentschler Field obsolete? None.

What the school needs to do is demonstrate that we can consistently perform at or above the level we reached last season. Once we do that we can work on the next goal.

Worrying about the location of the stadium is a waste of time and effort. Worrying about whether the remediation of the soil under the stadium (who's field and lower level were built below ground level) will become an issue if and when hazardous chemicals begin emitting from the ground. I also can't see how that would be the school's problem unless the field becomes the school's property, so this may on fact become our out that leads to an on campus stadium.

UAB built their new stadium for just under $200 million.

 

[Patman]

UCF is an unheard of school?

They were in the early 2000s

 

[FfldCntyFan]

UAB built their new stadium for just under $200 million.

I have a coworker who's father retired to Alabama a couple years ago (he was stationed there when in the Army and decided from a young age that he would retire there).

He sold his house (I believe in New Fairfield) for $700k (it would have been worth about $1.1mm where I am) bought land and built a bigger house down in Alabama for ~$260k.

Things are a bit less expensive there.

I'd also like to see how it was built (concrete vs steel). If it's similar to the tuna can that UCF built I'm not sure how solid if a structure it would be.

 

[huskymedic]

Things are a bit less expensive there.

I'd also like to see how it was built (concrete vs steel). If it's similar to the tuna can that UCF built I'm not sure how solid if a structure it would be.

Protective Stadium: UAB Blazers

The City of Birmingham and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have had discussions for 35 years on how to replace Legion Field (UAB Home Field since 1927), which lacks the amenities of modern sports venues and is a maintenance drag because of its age. It took decades for the stadium to…

galvanizeit.org

 

[Jetskies]

Protective Stadium: UAB Blazers

The City of Birmingham and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have had discussions for 35 years on how to replace Legion Field (UAB Home Field since 1927), which lacks the amenities of modern sports venues and is a maintenance drag because of its age. It took decades for the stadium to…

galvanizeit.org

thx for sharing! intersting.

while UAB's stadium is no embarassment at all and certainly a home worthy of a program like UAB, something about it feels soulless, like the architects/engineers went with a default design in the CAD program and just built it for a generic use for the city of birmingham, which it probably is meant for anyway. Hopefully our future stadium doesn't look so generic.

 

[Kolumbo]

thx for sharing! intersting.

while UAB's stadium is no embarassment at all and certainly a home worthy of a program like UAB, something about it feels soulless, like the architects/engineers went with a default design in the CAD program and just built it for a generic use for the city of birmingham, which it probably is meant for anyway. Hopefully our future stadium doesn't look so generic.

the term "glass house" comes to mind. Not to pile on, but The Rent isn't exactly an architectural marvel. I agree though, hopefully our future stadium has some unique features.

It's kind of amazing that UAB virtually folded, then got a football stadium while the city already has Legion Field. I guess Legion can't be torn down but it can't be modernized either.

 

[UCFBfan]

The bottom line on all this is the ACC, Big 12 or Big Ten would view a move by UConn in light of past environmental concerns to at least explore moving the football program on campus in a very favorable light.

I'm sorry but this is a load of crap. UConn continues to invest in on campus training facilities, a huge factor in recruiting and showing commitment. They are updating locker rooms at the Rent and it's up to the state to devote more money to update the rest of the facility. UConn can't do anything about that. However, to say that conferences are turning their noses down at us because our stadium is off campus is rather ludicrous. There are plenty of legit reasons (winning, attendance, winning) that are what stops any serious conversation.

 

[SU1968]

A new stadium will cost you north of $200 million. Syracuse spent $120 million just to upgrade the Dome. The money came from 100% private donations BEFORE construction started. You are a larger school and need to go after your donors/alumni.

 

[Kolumbo]

UCF is getting a lazy river so they have that going for them, which is nice. Let's face it. Nothing in East Hartford will ever be top of the line because it's just not worth the investment there. I've accepted that CT will always do things half-way. At least we can tell recruits "we'll take a nice drive down 44 so you can see our new locker rooms."

"As part of Mission XII, the Knights’ strategic athletics fundraising campaign to ensure a successful transition into the Big 12 Conference, this commitment will help fund construction of a new football administration and coaches building as part of the Hagle Football Gateway project."

"UCF is creating a one-of-a-kind football campus to help the football team succeed at the highest levels of competition and enhance the fan experience. These initiatives are part of the larger Mission XII program to expand and enhance game and practice facilities for all of the Knights’ teams throughout the Kenneth G. Dixon Athletics Village."

UCF Alumnus Taylor A. Gerring Pledges $5.5 Million for New Football Building

ucfknights.com

 

[Duncan Idaho]

UCF is getting a lazy river so they have that going for them, which is nice. Let's face it. Nothing in East Hartford will ever be top of the line because it's just not worth the investment there. I've accepted that CT will always do things half-way. At least we can tell recruits "we'll take a nice drive down 44 so you can see our new locker rooms."

"As part of Mission XII, the Knights’ strategic athletics fundraising campaign to ensure a successful transition into the Big 12 Conference, this commitment will help fund construction of a new football administration and coaches building as part of the Hagle Football Gateway project."

"UCF is creating a one-of-a-kind football campus to help the football team succeed at the highest levels of competition and enhance the fan experience. These initiatives are part of the larger Mission XII program to expand and enhance game and practice facilities for all of the Knights’ teams throughout the Kenneth G. Dixon Athletics Village."

UCF Alumnus Taylor A. Gerring Pledges $5.5 Million for New Football Building

ucfknights.com

Guessing that averaging 10 wins a year while playing in the top G5 conference during the Edsall 2.0 years has consequences just like averaging 2 wins a year during the same time has consequences. Or perhaps it was the struggle to beat the FCS schools on the schedule for a decade? An on-campus stadium would be nice, but one season of decent ball is not going to make it happen.