No Games In Hartford In 2020-21
The Story: The basketball and hockey teams will not play at the XL Center this season as part of the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Before you jump outside and pump your fist, remember it is unlikely there will be any fans at UConn games for the foreseeable future. (We know what you are thinking: We now have to act like Boston College fans?) That means while we have whined and cried about UConn playing games off campus, games at Gampel Pavilion are not likely to allow fans anyway, at least in the early going (though we are big proponents of at least a responsibly behaved student section).
WHAT DID DAVE BENEDICT SAY? “Our teams love competing in downtown Hartford, but the conditions brought about by COVID-19 have made that impractical. Our men’s hockey and basketball teams will compete in the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum and Gampel Pavilion, respectively. We look forward to playing at the XL Center during the 2021-22 season.”
NO FANS TO HARTFORD A TOUGH BLOW: Hartford has taken it on the chin with COVID-19 as major employers downtown have essentially abandoned their buildings and went to a work-at-home model. Any type of entertainment, outside of Hartford Athletic, has not allowed fans or spectators. We beseech the state to do the XL Center renovations this year since no one is going to be in the building anywas. Alas, we don’t think that is going to happen. Who knows if games ever go back to Hartford?
SO, IS THE SEASON ON? Yes! (At least for now.) UConn’s plan is to play winter sports. As for the schedules? That is the problem. UConn is putting together schedules for men’s and women’s basketball in the Big East. Nonconference games will be dicey (UConn still intends to play at Florida) and the games will not begin until after Thanksgiving, when students go home for good before finals. The Huskies are talking to local Division I teams such as Sacred Heart about games and look for the Huskies to stay in the Northeast. There is also a multi-team event being held at Mohegan Sun and while the Huskies won’t play in it, they could play a team from one of those bubbles.
OUR TAKE: No. Not like this. Sometimes it hurts to get what you wish for and a lot of UConn fans are going to get their wish in the upcoming basketball season with no XL Center games. But the reason many don’t want games in Hartford is because the atmosphere is better at Gampel Pavilion, and yet there will be, at best, a limited number of fans and, at worst, none at all. We are going to get a very disjointed experience, and as we saw in the NBA bubble, teams that play in empty arenas have to bring their own energy and intensity.
In other words, Dan Hurley‘s got this.
Morning Reads
BASEBALL PRIMED: The baseball team is itching to play games on its new field. (Norwich Bulletin)
UCONN WINS WNBA TITLE: Of course it didn’t, but Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird led the Seattle Storm to the WNBA title on Tuesday. (Journal Inquirer)
