XL Center Update | Page 2 | The Boneyard

XL Center Update

Kolumbo said:
True. But if renovating the XL doesn't turn it into an incredible venue itself, then there's no pernt in doing it at all.
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Agree, no pernt whatsoever.
 
huskeynut said:
Don't hold your breathe on the women's tourney moving to Hartford. Mohegan Sun is an incredible venue for the women's tourney.
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True. I've never been there personally. But if renovating the XL doesn't turn it into an incredible venue itself, then there's no pernt in doing it at all. That's the purpose of the renovation.
 
WNConn said:
I don't understand why anyone in the state would support pouring hundreds of millions into renovating XL. Outside of UConn basketball, it hosts a bunch of worthless events. And UConn basketball essentially plays there as a favor.

We'd be much better off spending that money renovating Gampel, who needs a pretty significant overhaul anyway.
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More donations and more ticket sales. Nova game proved all that nonsense about a dead arena to be pure poppycock.

I know this much, if they were to play every game at GP, which they won't, I'm gone. My donation and my season ticket purchases, and there's not a chance in hell I'm the only one. At the end of the day, it's much more about money than it is the students. Almost surprised people don't know that, but it's obvious many don't.

I could scalp tickets to a few big games, save a ton of money
 
willie99 said:
More donations and more ticket sales. Nova game proved all that nonsense about a dead arena to be pure poppycock.

I know this much, if they were to play every game at GP, which they won't, I'm gone. My donation and my season ticket purchases, and there's not a chance in hell I'm the only one. At the end of the day, it's much more about money than it is the students. Almost surprised people don't know that, but it's obvious many don't.

I could scalp tickets to a few big games, save a ton of money
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If this is true, you were never that loyal to the school anyway. Maybe you should just move on regardless?
 
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Mr. Wonderful said:
If this is true, you were never that loyal to the school anyway. Maybe you should just move on regardless?
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A fan since 1968, attending games sporadically since 1976 or so, season ticket holder since 89/90, donated well into 6 figures. Attended every BET from 1990 through 2012, one Final Four, four Elite Eights... numerous first and second round games.........

Yeah, you nailed it on me. I'll leave it at that

And I left you my first ever dislike too. So there, take that
 
willie99 said:
A fan since 1968, attending games sporadically since 1976 or so, season ticket holder since 89/90, donated well into 6 figures. Attended every BET from 1990 through 2012, one Final Four, four Elite Eights... numerous first and second round games.........

Yeah, you nailed it on me. I'll leave it at that

And I left you my first ever dislike too. So there, take that
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Blah blah blah...

You've verbally chosen the XL Center over the Huskies.

Take a long walk off a short pier buddy.
 
CTBballfan243 said:
Unfortunately there’s a better chance of Hartford getting an NFL team then the Whalers ever returning to Hartford.
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Sad but true, now if baseball cared about fan attendance which they don’t, they would have the Rays move to Hartford. Dunkin Donuts is an upgrade over the Trop as it is and you would draw way more fans, and put yourself in the middle of the Yanks and Sox rivalry, the Jays being a road trip away. Imagine how packed downtown Hartford would be if the Yanks or Sox were in town.
 
CL82 said:
It would be great to have a modern arena in Hartford. I’m just not sure if that can effectively be done without knocking down the XL. Don’t get me wrong, we can have a renovated XL, but it will always be out of date given the existing building.

My big fear is that any private money will require UConn being locked in at an above market lease rate. I think UConn really needs to draw a line on the next extension agreement. Any arrangement to play Connecticut basketball games in Hartford has to make financial sense for the University. It makes zero sense for the university to absorb some of the CDRA‘s losses. It makes the athletic department look bad and it is inefficient.
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You can't possibly know that a deal between UConn and the XL Center does or doesn't make sense without knowing how much of the state funding of UConn wouldn't be coming if the deal wasn't made. For the Athletic Department to refuse to absorb a few million dollar loss, if that is the case, and cost the university tens of millions in aid is what doesn't make sense.

The University is an arm of the State. It's trustees are appointed by the State and it receives substantial funding from the state. No matter how much some wish that could be separated from athletic decisions, it is not separate.
 
businesslawyer said:
You can't possibly know that a deal between UConn and the XL Center does or doesn't make sense without knowing how much of the state funding of UConn wouldn't be coming if the deal wasn't made. For the Athletic Department to refuse to absorb a few million dollar loss, if that is the case, and cost the university tens of millions in aid is what doesn't make sense.

The University is an arm of the State. It's trustees are appointed by the State and it receives substantial funding from the state. No matter how much some wish that could be separated from athletic decisions, it is not separate.
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So BL, given your background, do you think that today, not 35 years ago, if the University of Connecticut said, we are more than happy to play games in Hartford, however, the current terms are so significantly above market rate that we rarely if any make any money from holding games there that the legislature would say OK we’re cutting your aid then? Because that wouldn’t happen in New Jersey, but if it were to happen, the people involved would find themselves in an untenable position in fairly short order.

Serious question.
 
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uconnric said:
Not sure what an "incredible venue" even means. If we can get it modernized and more fan-friendly it would certainly be worth it.
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Yeah, the devil is in the details, right? It seems to me that the XL Center has been kept on life support with a series of slapdash, so not an expensive, short term remedies. So, yeah, if we could get a first class facility for a decent price I’d be all in, but if we can’t if all we can get is another coat of paint and some slightly less stinky fryer grease, it doesn’t seem worth the investment to me.
 
Scoe said:
Sad but true, now if baseball cared about fan attendance which they don’t, they would have the Rays move to Hartford. Dunkin Donuts is an upgrade over the Trop as it is and you would draw way more fans, and put yourself in the middle of the Yanks and Sox rivalry, the Jays being a road trip away. Imagine how packed downtown Hartford would be if the Yanks or Sox were in town.
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Hartford has no chance for the Rays. If anything, the Rays may wind up in Orlando.

I do agree the Trop is a dump. Been there for games several times.
 
businesslawyer said:
You can't possibly know that a deal between UConn and the XL Center does or doesn't make sense without knowing how much of the state funding of UConn wouldn't be coming if the deal wasn't made. For the Athletic Department to refuse to absorb a few million dollar loss, if that is the case, and cost the university tens of millions in aid is what doesn't make sense.

The University is an arm of the State. It's trustees are appointed by the State and it receives substantial funding from the state. No matter how much some wish that could be separated from athletic decisions, it is not separate.
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Go ahead and challenge them. The state wants to cut funding to the university because of what basketball arena it uses? Laughable theory and one that, if tried, would absolutely blow up on them PR wise inside a week.
 
huskeynut said:
Hartford has no chance for the Rays. If anything, the Rays may wind up in Orlando.

I do agree the Trop is a dump. Been there for games several times.
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Ya I know its not feasible for Hartford but if it were that would be great for baseball and would draw a lot of new fans.
 
Scoe said:
Sad but true, now if baseball cared about fan attendance which they don’t, they would have the Rays move to Hartford. Dunkin Donuts is an upgrade over the Trop as it is and you would draw way more fans, and put yourself in the middle of the Yanks and Sox rivalry, the Jays being a road trip away. Imagine how packed downtown Hartford would be if the Yanks or Sox were in town.
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I would love the Rays move to Montreal. Great summer weekend road trip to Rue Crescent and a stop at Sir Winston Churchill, the Peel Street Pub on Rue Peel, and maybe a nice dinner at Gibbie’s in Old Montreal.
 
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CL82 said:
So BL, given your background, do you think that today, not 35 years ago, if the University of Connecticut said, we are more than happy to play games in Hartford, however, the current terms are so significantly above market rate that we rarely if any make any money from holding games there that the legislature would say OK we’re cutting your aid then? Because that wouldn’t happen in New Jersey, but if it were to happen, the people involved would find themselves in an untenable position in fairly short order.

Serious question.
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If you're asking do I think that the total amount of state aid that UConn gets is tied in to UConn being pliable as to the State's efforts to aid downtown Hartford, yes I do. Is it nearly as direct as "you sign this or we will cut $X from your budget?" No. But I do think OPM lets the University know that it views UConn's support of the XL Center as a "favor" that is in both side's interests.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't UConn get the approval for GP with the condition that it be smaller than the Civic Center, and some of the games each season had to be played at said Civic Center.
 
AzHusky said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't UConn get the approval for GP with the condition that it be smaller than the Civic Center, and some of the games each season had to be played at said Civic Center.
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As I recollect the deal it was that capacity be capped at like 8500, which it was originally. Within a couple years it had been pushed up to 10,000.
 
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businesslawyer said:
If you're asking do I think that the total amount of state aid that UConn gets is tied in to UConn being pliable as to the State's efforts to aid downtown Hartford, yes I do. Is it nearly as direct as "you sign this or we will cut $X from your budget?" No. But I do think OPM lets the University know that it views UConn's support of the XL Center as a "favor" that is in both side's interests.
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And you view this as an unmodifiable “favor”? Perhaps as a “offer that the university can’t refuse“?

Again, these are serious questions because you have a bit of an insider‘s view and I know that you understand how negotiations work. From my perspective, my answer is the university would be “We can do that for you, but you need to pay for it. I would pitch my budget with a blank line item for Civic Center games XL Center games and whatever they paid for it I would use.

Another alternative is to cast the CDRA as the villain and say we want to play in Hartford this is the cost for us to play at other arenas. If XL Center will match that we’re all in.
 
WNConn said:
I don't understand why anyone in the state would support pouring hundreds of millions into renovating XL. Outside of UConn basketball, it hosts a bunch of worthless events. And UConn basketball essentially plays there as a favor.

We'd be much better off spending that money renovating Gampel, who needs a pretty significant overhaul anyway.
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The planned renovation of Gampel would be far less expensive.
 
The thing Freimuth always misses the boat on is thinking of “revenue related” improvements in such a limited manner. For example, a meaningful expansion of restroom capacity would do more to help revenues than many direct revenue expenditures. If people are tied up in restroom lines during breaks that means they have less time to spend money. The understaffing of entrance lines before a game is the same thing. Those fans bogged down in the hapless lines, would otherwise be inside spending money. In short, he runs a poorly thought out and non customer centric operation.
His approach is more outdated than the building itself. If you start with the customer first, what they want, by definition the revenues flow from that approach. Freimuth is back in the 1950’s.
 
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CL82 said:
And you view this as an unmodifiable “favor”? Perhaps as a “offer that the university can’t refuse“?

Again, these are serious questions because you have a bit of an insider‘s view and I know that you understand how negotiations work. From my perspective, my answer is the university would be “We can do that for you, but you need to pay for it. I would pitch my budget with a blank line item for Civic Center games XL Center games and whatever they paid for it I would use.

Another alternative is to cast the CDRA as the villain and say we want to play in Hartford this is the cost for us to play at other arenas. If XL Center will match that we’re all in.
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As bus said, there is zero chance that UConn would stop playing in Hartford. That’s a political reality and also a reality that makes games much more accessible for 80% of the fan base.
 
businesslawyer said:
You can't possibly know that a deal between UConn and the XL Center does or doesn't make sense without knowing how much of the state funding of UConn wouldn't be coming if the deal wasn't made. For the Athletic Department to refuse to absorb a few million dollar loss, if that is the case, and cost the university tens of millions in aid is what doesn't make sense.

The University is an arm of the State. It's trustees are appointed by the State and it receives substantial funding from the state. No matter how much some wish that could be separated from athletic decisions, it is not separate.
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This is no place for sensibility
 
CL82 said:
And you view this as an unmodifiable “favor”? Perhaps as a “offer that the university can’t refuse“?

Again, these are serious questions because you have a bit of an insider‘s view and I know that you understand how negotiations work. From my perspective, my answer is the university would be “We can do that for you, but you need to pay for it. I would pitch my budget with a blank line item for Civic Center games XL Center games and whatever they paid for it I would use.

Another alternative is to cast the CDRA as the villain and say we want to play in Hartford this is the cost for us to play at other arenas. If XL Center will match that we’re all in.
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How do you negotiate with an entity that appoints the people who control you, who gives you the right to exist and without whom you're bankrupt? You're treating this like it's a negotiation of unaffiliated parties. The Governor decides who calls the shots at UConn. What kind of leverage do you think that gives UConn in negotiations with the state?
 
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