What To Do About Rentschler, XL?
The Story: Things aren’t working out lately for UConn and its foray into Hartford. The Hartford Courant gave an excellent breakdown of the issues at East Hartford’s Rentschler Field and how it isn’t working for either UConn or the state.
Here’s the thing we take from this: Be it Rentschler Field, or the XL Center, the relationship between UConn and the entities running the buildings in the Hartford area are not benefitting either party.
WHAT’S THE ISSUE? Mainly, there aren’t enough events at Rentschler Field and it is losing money. UConn plays six home games a year at the facility and there have only been a total of 37 events since 2015 that were not private rentals. There were 25 UConn games, nine soccer games and the high school football championships. That’s it. With dwindling attendance for UConn games, that has hurt the bottom line for Rentschler Field as a facility.
JOHN LOOKS BACK AT THE OPENER: I was at Rentschler Field the day it opened against Indiana in 2003, working as a cub reporter for the Journal Inquirer. I covered the actual opening and talked with fans and tailgated a little too much. It was a first-person account of the fan experience, and well before I was a beat writer for the team. Here is what struck me as part of my work: One of the things we did was call around to local places and see if they saw a bump in service. The answer was negligible. Right then, it was apparent — foot traffic mostly came in and left the area. When sellouts and 30,000-plus weekly crowds happened, the bump never came to the town of East Hartford. Sure, some hotels filled up, but in large part, the easy access to the highway and nothing in the vicinity turned into an arrive-and-leave culture. Anecdotally, we don’t know anyone who frequented East Hartford businesses before or after the game. This is not UConn’s fault and has nothing to do with football or athletics.
ZAC LOOKS BACK AT THE OPENER: It’s hard to believe it was 16 years ago, but I was also there for the first game at Rentschler Field and, honestly, didn’t know what to expect. My father and I had tickets for the first game, and what struck me upon arrival (in addition to the ridiculously convoluted parking experience, which has gotten negligably better) was that here was a glittering stadium, plopped out in the middle of a massive airstrip, with absolutely nothing else around to occupy our time before the game. Remember the ridiculously oppressive rules that were put into place about when fans should tailgate? They didn’t matter then because people didn’t know how to tailgate. That game, and those early years, were certainly unique.
NO DEVELOPMENT: The biggest issue with having a stadium built on an old airport runway is that there is nothing else around. That has haunted the facility for most of its existence as an economic driver. Cabela’s is there, but the retail and housing developments that were envisioned never materialized. The outlet mall was a nice idea, but the investors never could raise enough capitol to break ground. In 2019, the thought of a brick-and-mortar outlet store sandwiched between Westfarms and Buckland Hills is silly. The area can’t support any more retail development.
Concert competitors such as the Xfinity Theatre and Mohegan Sun Arena are better options for most acts. The Rent is a great soccer stadium that has hosted World Cup qualifiers and international soccer events. Naturally, the new Hartford Athletic soccer team will play its game in a refurbished and smaller Dillon Stadium about five miles away.
WHAT DO RENTCHLER’S STRUGGLES MEAN FOR UCONN? The facility runs at a loss, and that means UConn has to cover the first $250,000 of that deficit per a contractual agreement. UConn paid Rentschler Field $1.5 million a year to play its home games. UConn also doesn’t get a cut of the parking revenue or concessions. The bulk of the revenue for Rentschler is paid by the athletic department.
This is an athletic department, a state entity, that is running a $41 million deficit that requires a subsidy paying money to another state entity running a deficit. We love state government!
XL AN ISSUE TOO: This goes back to the root of the problem for UConn athletics. While the university remains committed to playing its games in Hartford at the XL Center, it isn’t talking out of school to acknowledge that if UConn could play more of its games on campus (basketball, of course), it would be better off. Gampel Pavilion provides a better ability to control expenses and the athletic department takes in revenue for parking, concessions, etc.
UConn will build an on-campus hockey arena, but it will be so small that most of the men’s hockey games will be played at the XL Center. At some point, perhaps both the Rent and XL should have to stand up on their own and not look to UConn athletics to prop them up. UConn is in a state of financial and competitive athletic lows. Football hasn’t finished above .500 in eight years and men’s basketball is in danger of having its second consecutive losing season and will miss the NCAA tournament for the third straight year. The athletic department is running the biggest subsidy in college athletics history. We just don’t think those buildings can rely on UConn to keep them solvent any longer.
THE DAY OF RECKONING! Sound bleak? Well we have even more bad news for you. Rentschler Field is nearing 20 years old. The XL Center needs massive upgrades and really needs a new building to be competitive. The time is going to come where the state will have to fund major capital investments in both buildings. How can they do that while the buildings flounder? UConn basketball leaving Hartford would end the XL Center’s usefulness. If football doesn’t improve and draw better, why would the state expand or even spend on anything more than concrete at Rentschler Field?
FINAL THOUGHT: We don’t know the answer. These are complicated issues, but if UConn and these buildings are going to be partners, it has to benefit both parties. Former athletic director Warde Manuel floated the idea of UConn managing Rentschler FIeld but was rebuffed by the state several years ago.
The state went with a management firm with the goal of getting more non-UConn events in East Hartford. Management of Rentschler has gone through a litany of organizations and is now being run by a state entity in the Capitol Region Developmental Authority. If that’s the case, why can’t UConn run the building and try to cut into that subsidy?
As far as the XL Center? The arena needs so much investment that we are unsure if there is a long-term future downtown. The state can delay the inevitable with the XL, but to make it competitive and not overreliant on UConn, it is going to take a major lift from Joe Taxpayer.
Happy Tuesday, UConn fans.
Shocker Unlikely for Huskies in Wichita
The Story: The women’s basketball team, now up to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll after Oregon lost twice last week, will wrap up its road trip with its first visit to Wichita State tonight (7:30 p.m., SNY).
IS GENO GOOD TO GO? The Huskies were without Geno Auriemma for their 68-49 win at Tulsa on Sunday as he did not travel with the team because of an illness. It was only the eighth time in his 34 years at UConn that he missed a game, and it was expected that he would catch a flight to Wichita (well, more likely two or three) in order to rejoin his players.
If he can’t, though, Chris Dailey more than held her own in his absence against the Golden Hurricane — and even proved her criticism can be just as biting.
“He’s getting a lot of attention,” Dailey said after the game. “I tried to give him a hard time: ‘You know, [Georgia coach] Joni Taylor had a baby and coached two days later. So, what are you doing? Suck it up.’”
KEEPING IT 100: If/when UConn beats Wichita State, it will mark the Huskies’ 100th consecutive regular-season win in the AAC. Not only have they failed to lose a regular-season or tournament game since the conference was established in 2013-14, they have won them by an average of 42.7 points per game — and that includes the 124-43 victory over the Shockers in the teams’ meeting last year, an 81-point walloping that was the second-largest margin of victory in NCAA Division I history.
The Huskies would also win the AAC outright with a victory, marking the sixth time in six years they’ll have done so. They wrapped up at least a share of the title on Sunday, their 25th conference crown.
RAISING AWARENESS: Before the season, Geno told the Wichita Eagle that he hopes that fans will pack the Koch Center for the game, not only to see his team in person but also because the Huskies could inspire a new generation of girls to take up the sport. As of Saturday, more than 4,800 tickets had been sold for the game in the 10,506-seat arena, with Wichita State’s previous paid attendance record, set in 2006, standing at 5,262.
…AND ON THE COURT: The Huskies will try to recover from one of their worst shooting performances of the season, and their second-worst in a win, against the Shockers (11-15, 4-9). Wichita State has a strong 3-point defense but is middle of the pack in the conference in everything else — though, at No. 254 as of yesterday afternoon, it has the worst RPI in the conference.
Morning Reads
LIVING ON A PRAYER: The men’s basketball team has had its share of misfortune lately, and perhaps the basketball gods could give the Huskies a break or two going forward. (Hearst Connecticut Media)
REMEMBER THE NAME: Halfway through her UConn career, Natalie Snodgrass is continuing to try to put the women’s hockey team back on the map. (Hartford Courant)
FINAL STRETCH: The men’s hockey team begins its final three-game homestand tonight when it hosts No. 8 Providence at the XL Center. (UConnHuskies.com)
CINCINNATI RANKED: After beating UConn on Sunday, Cincinnati has joined Houston in the AP men’s basketball poll. The Bearcats return at No. 23 while the Cougars moved up to No. 8. (Associated Press)
COX LANDS AT ALBANY: Former defensive backs coach Curome Cox, fired by UConn in December, has been hired as an assistant coach at Albany. (Curome Cox on Twitter)
STRINGER TO SIT: Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, 70, has been advised by doctors not to coach the remainder of the regular season, though she has her eyes on returning during the conference tournament. Remember C. Viv and those battles a decade ago? That Rutgers-UConn rivalry certainly was something else. (Associated Press)
