CANTLON: LATEST IN XL CENTER AND UCONN NEWS 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – On Wednesday, Howlings reported that CRDA Executive Director, Mike Freimuth, had said that the XL Center would NOT host any UCONN men’s or women’s basketball, or Hockey East play until the fall of 2021.

All of those games will be played on the UCONN campus at Gampel Pavilion and Freitas Ice Forum, respectively.

“We’ve been talking for sometime, but we made the decision a couple of weeks ago, There is a likelihood the building will be closed until September next year,” remarked Freimuth for the first time openly invoking the dreaded S words—shut down.

The building is still waiting on word from the Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) when and if they will have a season.

“I wanna be clear that the building could be shut down until next fall. We have no idea what may happen with the AHL and the Wolf Pack. We have heard rumors they may have a later start date like January or February, not a December-January time frame. We really don’t know if it will happen, or if it will contain fans or be fan-less. It’s a huge question mark. Until we get some direction or guidance and a full understanding from the AHL, this where we stand as of today.”

In his opening remarks before the start of the first round of this past week’s NHL Draft, the league’s Commissioner, Gary Bettman, announced  that the league had established a tentative season opening date of New Year’s Day. Speculation is that opening game would likely be the “Bridgestone Outdoor Classic” that’s slated for Target Field in Minnesota. The opponent for the Minnesota Wild hasn’t been announced, or for that matter, anything concerning the 2020-21 schedule as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the NHL and NHLPA regarding the particulars of a 2020-21 season. Those will be need to be reached first.

The AHL runs concurrently with the NHL. A source stated on Thursday that an initial start date for the AHL could be either Friday, January 15th or Monday, January 18th.

It can be implemented only when the NHL training camp date is announced, and an NHL schedule is released. Among those things being discussed for the NHL include having a season in the 65-70 game range and a regional division realignment for 2020-21 that would consist of an Eastern, Central Western, and a Canadian division.

The AHL will need to make divisional changes among them include creating an AHL Canadian division. That will need to be worked out followed by the development of an AHL schedule between 50-55 games.

The COVID-19 outbreak in Quebec that halted the QMJHL’s attempt at a second week of play, and red zone alerts in Montreal and Quebec City will likely keep the border remaining closed to at least the new year a guarantee and as both Canadian and American government officials remain very reluctant to change the current status quo.

The NHL is trying to keep the season schedule as close to normal while helping their TV partner, NBCSN, which has the broadcast rights to the Japanese Summer Olympics, and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. This takes precedence over the NHL and ensures Seattle, the 32nd league franchise, will start on time. The NHL Draft is scheduled to be held in Seattle at the newly refurbished Climate Change Arena.

These outside factors make for a tough schedule for the XL Center and all other AHL venues.

“The AHL doesn’t have that TV deal or major national sponsorships of the NHL level. We have to have fans to operate to function. It’s pretty cut and dried,” commented Freimuth.

On Wednesday the State of Connecticut officially entered Phase 3 which allows indoor occupancy capacity back to 50% for restaurants. Large scale building capacity is still an unknown.

“When you get to the mechanics of opening a large public building like the XL (Center), the logistics of the property are so vast to deal with in a COVID environment. To scatter people about for social distancing, dramatically increases the costs of running the building substantially, from cleaning, security, and concessions, right off the top of my head,” Freimuth said. “It’s gonna take the fan experience people have been used to away from them. That begs the question, does the math work?“

The Rubix Cube geometry is what keeps Freimuth and the CRDA Board, particularly the Venue committee, stymied.

“Whether, we are in a Phase 3A or 3B, we don’t know our direction or guidance. (As previously stated), the CRDA or Spectra can’t open anything without the Governor’s approval. Semantics aside, there isn’t much guidance on large public buildings at this point. Right now, there is not a lot of nationwide events. The concert trade is off. The family shows market is off. Sports, college and professional, is obviously off. The travel meeting business is off. Seminars, trade shows are off. Las Vegas is doing some trial runs to see how things will work. We’re looking at that. The load is heavy, and when things are allowed to open up. There’s only so much the system can handle. It will be so backed up. We’re looking at the winter and spring right now, and we are working several scenarios of what we might be facing.”

This weekend, Freimuth and the CRDA will be a group of mini-social scientists trying to gain as much empirical data from two different soccer events with two different leagues and two different facilities to gauge the public appetite and how they can operate security, concessions, and parking in a in a pandemic environment.

“We’re going at 40% at Dillon Stadium for the (USL – Hartford) Athletic, and we have a Toronto FC game at Rentschler and we’re going to try some fans to get a sniff test if you will. How much the public will be willing to get back into buildings and how you can operate your facility under the current (emergency) public health guidelines.”

There is some positive news to report among all the doom-and-gloom concerning the XL Center.

While the $64 million bonding package for the XL Center that was passed a week before the pandemic broke, is still in limbo because of the serious state budgetary issues. The CRDA has just put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Construction Manager (CM) that will be due back by October 27th.

The CRDA will use a portion that is left of the $40 million bonded and allocated money from two years ago to address some long standing and overdue issues they can fix while the building remains closed to the public.

“We have $25 million left and as the chiller project is coming to an end, and we still have a November completion date, we need to get a CM and start tackling a host of other issues. The plumbing, HVAC, and all the mechanics of the building are shot, and they need to be fixed and upgraded. We need a CM to sort and handle all the bids for the subcontracted work that needs to be done.

The CM will oversee and coordinate all of this to make sure people are not in each other’s way as they handle their portion of the job and we have to do it again under the current health guidelines. The whole project take a life on their own at this point. The mechanics of the building are what keeps it going. You have to maintain it or parts wear out and don’t work for awhile,“ said Freimuth.

This is the initial required work on the seemingly endlessly talked about modernization of the XL Center.

“This is a critical phase we’re entering into because, besides the mechanics, we are going to deal with level 61 issues to make as much as much use of the efficiencies as possible to make the building work when we get to the full reboot of the building,” Freimuth said, striking as optimistic tone as possible in a fluid work and political environment.

The human element of staffing and running the XL Center and the Convention Center are substantial and real.

“We have laid off 150 people at this point between both buildings. We are operating with about a dozen people between both buildings. At XL there are a couple of engineers, security people and a few staff we’re keeping. The engineers are on because stuff pops and breaks all the time. We’re operating on a daily case-by-case crisis management structure now. We have 24-hour, full-time security. We’re eating through a ton of cash weekly. The daily bump-and-grind still goes on here, and we know the state has some serious budgetary issues it’s confronting. It’s a gigantic set of problems.”

The XL Center being closed has already had, and will continue to be, affected by the Hartford center core economic health.

“This is having a big adverse impact, no doubt about it. This kicking the stuffings out of the Hilton and Marriott right now. Likewise the Convention Center being closed has had a direct impact on the Hilton,“ Freimuth said of the massive major hotel that is set to go to auction next month.

“The other factor that is hurting is the flat-lining of corporate travel and the lack thereof. State restrictions on travel hurts both hotels trying to plan for the future, short or long term.”

The future for Hartford is not rosy and sunny on a beautiful autumn day.