XL Center- Plan C, D or ???

[HartbeatHusky]

I'm glad they are not reducing size. As others have stated, that is one of the biggest advantages for the XL compared to Gampel. Ideally, they could have done the full renovation that would have actually increased seating capacity to around 18,000. I think being back in the Big East combined with a better performing team will make sellouts much more frequent and being able to fill up close to 16,000 seats is still something UConn should be striving for as a major program.

 

[Kolumbo]

Our alternative home is obvious and worth the trip.

 

[freescooter]

I hope it's just trolling because your repeated takes on this are beyond dumb and you've been doing it for years now. Syracuse is mediocre these days and Pitt is just flat out bad, Cuse would be lucky to be middle of the pack and Pitt would be dead last in the Big East...You then named a bunch of other teams that weren't Big East teams. It's hilarious you constantly complain about the Big East and talk about a legacy built by teams that are no longer in the Big East while at the same time hailing the Conference USA teams (Xavier beats Cincinnati pretty much every time they play) that are no longer in the Big East.

You must be a new fan. Louisville, West Virginia, Cincinnat, were all in the Big East and all contributed to the legacy. When you look at the current make up schools that could not compete, SetonHall, Providence, St Johns, DePaul, are suddenly top teams. Then the lose in the first round. You can pretend that the league is still a power conference, and Villanova’s 2 runs preserved the legacy, but the bottom feeders got what they wanted when the football schools left and gave them the name. A league with the legacy of the real Big East but far fewer big time programs.

 

[superjohn]

You must be a new fan. Louisville, West Virginia, Cincinnat, were all in the Big East and all contributed to the legacy. When you look at the current make up schools that could not compete, SetonHall, Providence, St Johns, DePaul, are suddenly top teams. Then the lose in the first round. You can pretend that the league is still a power conference, and Villanova’s 2 runs preserved the legacy, but the bottom feeders got what they wanted when the football schools left and gave them the name. A league with the legacy of the real Big East but far fewer big time programs.

You have to be the least knowledgeable basketball fan on the board. Syracuse and Pitt are the only original Big East members who left last go round and neither are good now, a couple of former Conference USA teams left and a former Eastern 8 team left. Louisville was a big loss but the teams added are a push or slight bump up in terms of basketball.

Of course they are a power conference in basketball, they've been a top 3 conference since the last realignment and were the best conference in the country last season. If it's just trolling get a new act, if it's not you should learn about the sport or stop posting.

 

[Guapo]

You must be a new fan. Louisville, West Virginia, Cincinnat, were all in the Big East and all contributed to the legacy. When you look at the current make up schools that could not compete, SetonHall, Providence, St Johns, DePaul, are suddenly top teams. Then the lose in the first round. You can pretend that the league is still a power conference, and Villanova’s 2 runs preserved the legacy, but the bottom feeders got what they wanted when the football schools left and gave them the name. A league with the legacy of the real Big East but far fewer big time programs.

You are dingus with little to no knowledge about anything relating to college basketball.

 

[Ha Who]

You are dingus with little to no knowledge about anything relating to college basketball.

Haven’t ignored anyone in a few years. Time has come

 

[Dogdeacon]

As someone who lives 2hrs away from either arena, I prioritized traveling to American conf games if it was against one of the top teams (if not the time/day had to be ultra-convenient).
For BE teams the trek is more worthwhile, the familiarity, rivalries name recognition means something to lots of fans which means additional fans period.
This also was proven by the higher number of season tickets sold vs prior year THE DAY THEY WENT ON SALE DURING THE FLIPPING PANDEMIC.

 

[gampelcrazies]

It's funny certain people love to bash the "new" Big East saying it's missing the original teams that help build it. Besides BC and Syracuse the original 1979-1980 Big East is in the league now. Plus they made great additions to league unlike the AAC. And besides Syracuse and Louisville I don't really miss anyone on the schedule

 

[Dogdeacon]

It's funny certain people love to bash the "new" Big East saying it's missing the original teams that help build it. Besides BC and Syracuse the original 1979-1980 Big East is in the league now. Plus they made great additions to league unlike the AAC. And besides Syracuse and Louisville I don't really miss anyone on the schedule

Yep and BC can't even fill its own arena much less others. Also the entire freakin' original concept of the BE (the schools were regional players to start with) is reinstated. Suddently the fact that it worked before means it will fail for the reasons it was founded to begin with!?

Hmm, do you think games & rivalries with schools in close proximity might raise all boats? Has that ever worked before?! Maybe... but nah, let's just create basketball conferences based on football revenue, that'll be better for basketball.

 

[CL82]

Of course they do. And UConn whines about that to. But the stadium was built for UConn and they didn't pay a dime.

But it was built in East Hartford. I like the Rent, it has great sightlines and the tailgating is good, but it is a typically stupid Connecticut idea to stick it 30 minutes off campus. Paying to use it (not this year) has been a big ass money loser. It was dumb.

Still, I am grateful to have it.

 

[John]

Yep and BC can't even fill its own arena much less others. Also the entire freakin' original concept of the BE (the schools were regional players to start with) is reinstated. Suddently the fact that it worked before means it will fail for the reasons it was founded to begin with!?

Hmm, do you think games & rivalries with schools in close proximity might raise all boats? Has that ever worked before?! Maybe... but nah, let's just create basketball conferences based on football revenue, that'll be better for basketball.

problem with that is basketball is a secondary sport in the grand scheme of things in the world of big time college athletics.

 

[Dogdeacon]

problem with that is basketball is a secondary sport in the grand scheme of things in the world of big time college athletics.

True, but that doesn't mean you accept it, adhere to the same rules or limits. College basketball was better before football $ dictated conference affiliations b/c previously basketball was based on basketball. Hockey accepts its niche, basketball can thrive by sticking to the knitting.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

If XL's capacity is dropped to ~11K there is no reason to ever play there again.

 

[freescooter]

Yep and BC can't even fill its own arena much less others. Also the entire freakin' original concept of the BE (the schools were regional players to start with) is reinstated. Suddently the fact that it worked before means it will fail for the reasons it was founded to begin with!?

Hmm, do you think games & rivalries with schools in close proximity might raise all boats? Has that ever worked before?! Maybe... but nah, let's just create basketball conferences based on football revenue, that'll be better for basketball.

The great years of the Big East were the early ones, in the 1980s. BC was actually a player at the time and lost in ot to Memphis in the elite 8 that kept it from being an all Big East Final Four. Then it had a significant step back with the exception of UConn who carried the league in the 90s much like Villanova does today. It had @ resurgence in the 2000s with the addition of Cincy Louisville and the Syracuse’s rebound and Pitt and West Virginia’s improvement under top flight coaches as well as the addition of Marquette it’s true. Providence, St Johns, DePaul, Seton Hall simply couldn’t keep pace with the larger schools. It was a power league of power programs. Now it is a nice league with one top flight team and one former top team that will likely have a resurgence. But after that the meat of the conference is a bunch of teams that held up the Big East that existed earlier. Now they can because there is very little power there. They run up impressive records against mid-majors who happen to get lucky then go to the tournament and lose in the first weekend.

And the new Big East isn’t a model of the old in any way except it is mainly midsize Catholic Schools. If you look at a map, Indianapolis, Omaha, Chicago, Milwaukee are hardly northeastern cities. And the concept that this league earns football money on the floral arrangement network is kind of laughable. It is fine. Folks will show up for a few years and then attendance will go back to 10’000 in Hartford and 8500 at Gampel which is what it was in the years prior to the AAC. We have no history with Creighton or Xavier or Butler (of course except our title victory over them. I don’t know that we’ve ever played them before or since so they are kind of like the huge rivalry we have with Georgia Tech...). Here is the thing about the NBE. It consists of the mid-to low members of the Old Big East, plus a bunch of teams from mid major conferences. If it had been named the American and the AAC had kept the BE name, people would talk about Villanova as the Gonzaga of the East.

 

[HooperScooper]

You have to be the least knowledgeable basketball fan on the board. Syracuse and Pitt are the only original Big East members who left last go round and neither are good now, a couple of former Conference USA teams left and a former Eastern 8 team left. Louisville was a big loss but the teams added are a push or slight bump up in terms of basketball.

Of course they are a power conference in basketball, they've been a top 3 conference since the last realignment and were the best conference in the country last season. If it's just trolling get a new act, if it's not you should learn about the sport or stop posting.

Glad it's not just me that finds freescooter insufferable. Just put him on ignore. He rarely posts anything worthwhile so you wouldn't be missing anything.

 

[uconnfan68]

But it was built in East Hartford. I like the Rent, it has great sightlines and the tailgating is good, but it is a typically stupid Connecticut idea to stick it 30 minutes off campus. Paying to use it (not this year) has been a big ass money loser. It was dumb.

Still, I am grateful to have it.

I just wished they followed up with a light rail solution linking Storrs to XL and the Rent, and going to Westfarms or further west. Then have north-south lines on each side of the river that could make travel easy from anywhere to either place. Oh, and put a roof on the Rent too for basketball.

 

[CL82]

I just wished they followed up with a light rail solution linking Storrs to XL and the Rent, and going to Westfarms or further west. Then have north-south lines on each side of the river that could make travel easy from anywhere to either place. Oh, and put a roof on the Rent too for basketball.

It would have been nice. I'm just not convinced that the economics justify it.

 

[Waquoit]

But it was built in East Hartford. I like the Rent, it has great sightlines and the tailgating is good, but it is a typically stupid Connecticut idea to stick it 30 minutes off campus. Paying to use it (not this year) has been a big ass money loser. It was dumb.

Still, I am grateful to have it.

Your point is moot. The Rent was where it was or it would not exist. There was no other option. None. So why do you and others pretend there was? And paying to use it is still an incredible deal compared to what it would UConn would have had to pull off to finance a stadium.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Your point is moot. The Rent was where it was or it would not exist. There was no other option. None. So why do you and others pretend there was? And paying to use it is still an incredible deal compared to what it would UConn would have had to pull off to finance a stadium.

You always get your money's worth when you get something for free.

 

[CL82]

Your point is moot. The Rent was where it was or it would not exist. There was no other option. None. So why do you and others pretend there was? And paying to use it is still an incredible deal compared to what it would UConn would have had to pull off to finance a stadium.

Sigh, OK let’s take this one step at a time. Why do you believe that East Hartford was the only place we could build the stadium. Do you believe there was no land available in Storrs?

( by the way, the fact that you don’t bother dispute that putting our stadium in East Hartford was stupid is duly noted.)

 

[CL82]

You always get your money's worth when you get something for free.

Except in this case, it’s not free because we rent it.

 

[FrostyNuggets]

Sigh, OK let’s take this one step at a time. Why do you believe that East Hartford was the only place we could build the stadium. Do you believe there was no land available in Storrs?

( by the way, the fact that you don’t bother dispute that putting our stadium in East Hartford was stupid is duly noted.)

You need to do some research.

 

[CL82]

You need to do some research.

I guess, but golly, I don’t even know where to begin. Why don’t you tell me what you think you know and will start there? How’s that?

 

[husky8273]

Sigh, OK let’s take this one step at a time. Why do you believe that East Hartford was the only place we could build the stadium. Do you believe there was no land available in Storrs?

( by the way, the fact that you don’t bother dispute that putting our stadium in East Hartford was stupid is duly noted.)

The state and the university attempted to have a stadium built in Storrs without success a number of times. Funding was not approved until it was attached to a Hartford area redevelopment plan that the legislature could support.

Many past sources can be found, "UCONN SITE FAVORED FOR STADIUM" Hartford, Connecticut Breaking News, Sports & Entertainment - Hartford Courant

also "The university had hoped to move into a large, on-campus stadium in 1997, but Rowland withdrew the plan after Senate Democrats said they lacked the votes to approve it."

STATE NOT RAH-RAH ABOUT FOOTBALL STADIUM

Should the University of Connecticut build a taxpayer-financed football stadium in East Hartford? No, say state residents — despite their support for UConn sports in general and for the idea …

www.courant.com

 

[husky8273]

I guess, but golly, I don’t even know where to begin. Why don’t you tell me what you think you know and will start there? How’s that?