XL Center renovation

[Austin316]

Gampel is not all bleachers. Just saying.

yeah, but still. When you are old a decent seat makes the experience so much better.

I took my dad and uncle to the Wichita game last year at Gampel. Both are about 70 and sat in the bleachers. I could tell they were very uncomfortable. I was too intoxicated to really notice myself. I love Gampel but they need more chair back seats.

 

[gampelcrazies]

yeah, but still. When you are old a decent seat makes the experience so much better.

I took my dad and uncle to the Wichita game last year at Gampel. Both are about 70 and sat in the bleachers. I could tell they were very uncomfortable. I was too intoxicated to really notice myself. I love Gampel but they need more chair back seats.

Oh absolutely. The days of having bleachers to charge more for chairbacks are gone. Chairback the entire building. It's time UConn starts giving the fans what they want when it comes to game experience.

 

[Austin316]

Oh absolutely. The days of having bleachers to charge more for chairbacks are gone. Chairback the entire building. It's time UConn starts giving the fans what they want when it comes to game experience.

agreed. Leave the bleachers in the student sections behind the hoops and chair back the sidelines up to the roof. Would sell well for women’s games too.

 

[whosurdaddy2720]

Nobody hates the Nutmeg state more than Nutmeggers.

It's really quite impressive. I'm a CT native and have lived in up and down the East coast since graduating UConn and I've yet to encounter the amount of state self-loathing I see and hear from back home.

Hell, I went to grad school at Rutgers (I know, I know) and Jersey natives would have you thinking the Garden state is literally heaven on Earth even though 9/10 people from outside the state agree its a dump!

CT and Hartford are far from perfect but a little more optimism and home-state pride would go a long way.

 

[John Greene]

Nobody hates the Nutmeg state more than Nutmeggers.

It's really quite impressive. I'm a CT native and have lived in up and down the East coast since graduating UConn and I've yet to encounter the amount of state self-loathing I see and hear from back home.

Hell, I went to grad school at Rutgers (I know, I know) and Jersey natives would have you thinking the Garden state is literally heaven on Earth even though 9/10 people from outside the state agree its a dump!

CT and Hartford are far from perfect but a little more optimism and home-state pride would go a long way.

Unfortunately Hartford may be on its way to becoming Newark, without the Devils.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Watching 5/3 Arena last night made me ask "Why can't we have nice things like that"?

 

[Zissou]

From a visitor's viewpoint, I don't think XL is bad. I've only been a few times but the last time was Nova at UConn 2 years ago.

Seats are OK, personal space is OK, sight lines are good. I put a preference on those aspects over concessions and bathrooms, which I don't really remember to be honest. They can be bad and I don't care.

I know there is also a lot of grief over the neighborhood. We found some decent pubs in walking distance.

It seems to me that with the state of CT finances the focus could be to manage it better, do a modest update, and minimize capital cost. Run it for another 10 years and then see where you are. The reality seems to be you can't replace it based on half of a college basketball home season. The answer to a new arena would be an NHL team, which seems to be a lost opportunity or a long shot.

 

[Caronimo]

Rebuild the XL Center and replace all water fountains with Hanging Hills taps

 

[CL82]

Unfortunately Hartford may be on its way to becoming Newark, without the Devils.

Mmm, huge step up, just saying.

 

[Zissou]

Another thought - I'd rather watch a game in XL than the Dome. Cuse has some magic with the large crowds, but the arena is not great for the fan. The low seats are not sloped steep enough, so you can be in row 10 low and still not see well. If you are at the roof your nose bleeds. Seats are far from the court in the XY as well as the Z.

End zone seating is good for big capacity, but it's not great for watching a game.

I'd give XL a B- and the Dome a C+.

Nova would get a B+ for WFC and a D for the Pavilion on campus.

In the Big East there are some great home courts.
A : Butler, X, Creighton, Marquette.
B+ : DePaul, Prov, Nova (WFC), St Johns (MSG)
B : GTown, Seton Hall
D : Nova (Pavilion), St Johns (Carnesecca)

 

[gampelcrazies]

Another thought - I'd rather watch a game in XL than the Dome. Cuse has some magic with the large crowds, but the arena is not great for the fan. The low seats are not sloped steep enough, so you can be in row 10 low and still not see well. If you are at the roof your nose bleeds. Seats are far from the court in the XY as well as the Z.

End zone seating is good for big capacity, but it's not great for watching a game.

I'd give XL a B- and the Dome a C+.

Nova would get a B+ for WFC and a D for the Pavilion on campus.

In the Big East there are some great home courts.
A : Butler, X, Creighton, Marquette.
B+ : DePaul, Prov, Nova (WFC), St Johns (MSG)
B : GTown, Seton Hall
D : Nova (Pavilion), St Johns (Carnesecca)

D for the Pavilion? Didn't they just remodel it? It looks beautiful on TV/pictures I've seen.

 

[Zissou]

D for the Pavilion? Didn't they just remodel it? It looks beautiful on TV/pictures I've seen.

Lipstick on a pig. No leg room, mostly bench seats. Even upper seat backs have no leg room. Only 6500 seats but squeezed into a 5000 seat footprint. No corner seats to allow for the artsy roof design. The crowd is too small and (ahem) the wrong folks for a loud home court. We do have a screaming hokey MC to increase the volume. It does look ok on TV though.

I'd take Gampel OR XL over the Pavilion. Wells Fargo Center is great, but it's not on campus. It's a little closer to home than XL is for you guys, but maybe only by 10 minutes. WFC is > than XL, but Gampel is >> the Pavilion.

 

[Kolumbo]

Lipstick on a pig. No leg room, mostly bench seats. Even upper seat backs have no leg room. Only 6500 seats but squeezed into a 5000 seat footprint. No corner seats to allow for the artsy roof design. The crowd is too small and (ahem) the wrong folks for a loud home court. We do have a screaming hokey MC to increase the volume. It does look ok on TV though.

I'd take Gampel OR XL over the Pavilion. Wells Fargo Center is great, but it's not on campus. It's a little closer to home than XL is for you guys, but maybe only by 10 minutes. WFC is > than XL, but Gampel is >> the Pavilion.

May have to go just for the restaurants.

The Brand New Club Level | Wells Fargo Center

www.wellsfargocenterphilly.com

 

[Zissou]

May have to go just for the restaurants.

WFC is great. It's 1/2 hour from campus. Otherwise it's an A.

St Johns has a similar set-up to Nova. MSG is great but it's not on campus, and St Johns on campus is just a gym.

Butler and X have great arenas adjacent to campus.

Marquette has a new NBA arena a mile from campus and Creighton has a modern NBA quality arena a mile from campus.

DePaul has a brand new arena 2 miles from campus and Prov has the Dunk.

Georgetown and the Hall have NBA arenas (or former) a few more miles away from campus.

UConn's set-up is pretty good and comparable to Nova and St Johns. Gampel is a reasonable on campus facility (much better than Nova and St Johns), and XL is a little further from campus than Nova and St Johns NBA arenas, and smaller and not nice.

Of all of UConn's and CT's issues, I can't see replacing XL as a top priority. Get an NHL franchise first and then get a new arena.

 

[Deepster]

What's interesting to me is, in this thread, people keep commenting on the great "sight lines" at XL.

I'm guessing they've never sat half way or higher up the 200's. You get 3/4ths of the way up those sections and it's like watching from the moon.

 

[gampelcrazies]

What's interesting to me is, in this thread, people keep commenting on the great "sight lines" at XL.

I'm guessing they've never sat half way or higher up the 200's. You get 3/4ths of the way up those sections and it's like watching from the moon.

There are even bad seats in the lower level. If you sit in the lower corners in a low row you have an awful angle.

 

[Zissou]

What's interesting to me is, in this thread, people keep commenting on the great "sight lines" at XL.

I'm guessing they've never sat half way or higher up the 200's. You get 3/4ths of the way up those sections and it's like watching from the moon.

The Dome is much worse

 

[Zissou]

There are even bad seats in the lower level. If you sit in the lower corners in a low row you have an awful angle.

The Dome is much worse

 

[John]

There are even bad seats in the lower level. If you sit in the lower corners in a low row you have an awful angle.

agreed - had season tickets there for a bit. The angle is godawful, on par with Fenway Park where your body faces in one direction and the court is in another.

 

[gampelcrazies]

The Dome is much worse

It is but I wouldn’t compare the two.

 

[don356]

Watching 5/3 Arena last night made me ask "Why can't we have nice things like that"?

Yes, they did a great job of transforming an existing on campus building there. It was my first time there Tuesday in a few years, and the ease with which you can get around now, and also see the game from the pavillion's around the seating are great. That used to be a closed off arena, but now it's wide open. They lost a few seats, but picked up a lot of room and concessions. 10 or 11k now in college bball is plenty of capacity.

The guys i was with said they spend 75 million on it, but with today's arena cost particularly for new building that was money well spent. The floor plan now makes future spruce ups fairly easy. If you can get the layout right, it's a good long term investment.