XL Concessions are a disaster

[Caronimo]

There are no words for session 2. Awful. I have no regrets for attending, but I’m also tempted to fire up the laptop and email Lamont.

 

[Caronimo]

I’ve never seen so many beer stations at the XL before.

The beer stations were the only thing run properly tonight

 

[Caronimo]

No one has it on video to see the carnage unfold?

My walk back from getting food during the nova St. Mary’s game

 

[ASweet3781]

They literally can’t make the food fast enough. Huge lines, nobody actually being served.

Stayed away from the XL concessions and chowed down on Chic Fil- A and Bear's SMokehouse all day.

 

[ASweet3781]

This is the new UConn fan generation spawned by the Noescalators of the world. Football will be blamed for every problem under the sun. I guess it's football's fault that every Big East team not named VIllanova got their behinds handed to them so far.

 

[Hurleyman216]

I was only at the night session but agree with Whaler and BField that the crowd was great and Hartford was dealt a bad draw for times. Took at least 25 minutes standing in line and we were in before a lot of other fans behind us. Missed the first 4 minutes of the Nova game. For what it’s worth I was with a couple people who had never been to the XL before and I started talking about how many people in CT say we need to tear this place down and build a new stadium. They were surprised and thought overall the venue was pretty good. They both commented on the quality of the center scoreboard which happens to be a pet peeve of mine because it’s hard to see player stats. Overall the atmosphere was better than I expected. Just wish St. Mary’s could have pulled it out.

 

[Caronimo]

I had no problem getting in because I got there an hour early. It’s your fault that if you think getting there at game time will give you instant entrance. There’s always lines

Seriously? The lines were pouring into the roads. They weren’t letting people in until 15 min before tip. Took well over a half hour to get in any of the entrances.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

The beer stations were the only thing run properly tonight

sounds like a rousing success then. noice.

 

[Lynyrd]

Is the heavy duty fry-o-lator smell wafting through the entire building?

Miraculously no

 

[Hi-Low]

It's the NCAA's event so they get the majority of the blame, the turnaround time between sessions was a joke.

 

[ASweet3781]

It's the NCAA's event so they get the majority of the blame, the turnaround time between sessions was a joke.

Absolutely. Not XL or UConn's fault there. NCAA is 100% to blame. No way to get the crowd that big back in before Game 3.

I too was at all 4 games and thought the crowd and atmosphere were great. Every team brought a good amount of fans. Place was packed. Upper levels totally filled. Obviously XL is outdated. Long lines for bathroom and food but hey. I had fun. Biggest event in Hartford in quite some time. All the fans of the other schools were friendly and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Funny to see the usual "UConn accounts" on twitter.com pushing the negative story to this event.

I saw Villanova's open practice and after watching them 5 minutes you can see why they are a top 5 program now. Not one single second wasted. Guys constantly communicating and talking. They must have run 10 specific drills one after the other. No coaches telling them what to do. ANd without them the Big East is basically the AAC because Marquette didn't belong on the same court as Murray State.

 

[zls44]

Funny to see the usual "UConn accounts" on twitter.com pushing the negative story to this event.

They got shafted on tip times. But that isn't why they didn't have enough food or enough people to handle the entry. It made a bad hand worse. Thankfully the place filled up and had a crowd all day, which is a lot more than you can say for a lot of 1st/2nd round sites.

I had an awesome time. It doesn't mean there weren't parts that were poorly handled.

Start demanding more and you'll get more. Or keep settling for less.

 

[Devland]

I would think the understaffing and lack of food inventory would be the fault of the firm that manages the XL, Spectra. Most likely a pencil pusher who looked at the numbers and said "We had "X" number of basketball games there this year and sold "Y" number of hamburgers. Let's order "Y" hamburgers. I can make us more efficient and prevent any wasted resources." On Monday he/she will look at the numbers and take credit for reducing waste. There's at least one in every company.

 

[Deepster]

This isn’t a new facility. They knew the ticket sales and still didn’t plan accordingly. And even things like the food in the media room was inadequate. They knew the media passes handed out. Were sessions stacked closely at a point? Sure. It was still a fail. Remember. People want an NHL franchise back here. Not when you can’t run a sold out event right.

 

[Devland]

This isn’t a new facility. They knew the ticket sales and still didn’t plan accordingly. And even things like the food in the media room was inadequate. They knew the media passes handed out. Were sessions stacked closely at a point? Sure. It was still a fail. Remember. People want an NHL franchise back here. Not when you can’t run a sold out event right.

This all falls on Spectra or the State of Connecticut for hiring Spectra to manage it.

 

[firstnline]

My walk back from getting food during the nova St. Mary’s game View attachment 41201

So much for eating in Downtown Hartford restaurants before the game. I don't see the millions pumped into the Hartford economy if they are all in the line at concessions. Stupid buffoons. Stopped at Chimiris bakery in Wethersfield and had the two best slices of pizza anywhere along the way.

 

[firstnline]

Not sure who might be open for breakfast downtown before the game, but that looks like an awful crush to get food.

 

[Robertelamin]

Not sure who might be open for breakfast downtown before the game, but that looks like an awful crush to get food.

We had no luck getting lunch because the bars were packed. We tried to book dinner at 2 places 3 days ago and both were already booked. This was the busiest I’ve ever seen downtown be. I love all the people drawing their own conclusions even though they weren’t there.

 

[Whtdmd]

Capital Grille bar was full of Nova fans at 6pm. Purdue fans took over the Bears at 6pm. Saw Marquette and Murray fans in the Capital Grille at 8 but not much

 

[Hurleyman216]

My walk back from getting food during the nova St. Mary’s game View attachment 41201

Ever been to a game at MSG? It’s at least as bad as this, but probably worse.

 

[Tommyboy]

Place has been alive for all 3 games. @whaler11 is spot on. The times in between games was so tight you had no chance getting back in quick if you wanted a quick beer or burger across the street. Ncaa did no favors with the schedule.

They have to implement a minimum time between first and second sessions and if it can't be met, start the second session later. I was at both sessions in Jacksonville and we got out of the first session at 5:30 and next game tipped at 7:10pm and that was more than enough time to go outside, grab a few non-$11 beers and get back in with 15 minutes left before tip. And this is with all the Kentucky fans jamming the lines to get back in.

Very well run in Jacksonville but they weren't hamstrung by unrealistic game times.

 

[J187Money]

So much for eating in Downtown Hartford restaurants before the game. I don't see the millions pumped into the Hartford economy if they are all in the line at concessions. Stupid buffoons. Stopped at Chimiris bakery in Wethersfield and had the two best slices of pizza anywhere along the way.

By noon everything near the arena was packed. Walked over to Federal - which was empty - but at least I could get booze.

BTW - is there a reason that there was only beer available in XL? Usually you can get mixed drinks. Is that an NCAA rule?

 

[whaler11]

By noon everything near the arena was packed. Walked over to Federal - which was empty - but at least I could get booze.

BTW - is there a reason that there was only beer available in XL? Usually you can get mixed drinks. Is that an NCAA rule?

Yeah before this year you couldnt even get beer.

 

[August_West]

Ever been to a game at MSG? It’s at least as bad as this, but probably worse.

No its not.

Not anymore.

 

[August_West]

Yeah before this year you couldnt even get beer.

Tequila nippers.