BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Recently, articles published in both the Hartford Courant and The Day of New London suggest UCONN might move all of their sports operations to the Gampel Pavilion for both men’s and women’s hoops and the soon-to-be-opened on-campus unnamed ice arena in January.
CRDA Director Mike Freimuth was pointed and annoyed and unloaded about all that negativity both from the UCONN community, the legislature, and the general public. For the first time after eight years, he expressed his irritation forcefully and publicly about the whole project.
The XL Center would be significantly hurt should UCONN remove its roughly fifty game dates for hockey and basketball.
“It would hurt, but that’s ain’t gonna happen. UCONN will be playing downtown I promise you. We’re well aware and politically savvy here,” Freimuth stated. “They can say what they want, kick and scream as much as they want to, but they’ll play in the XL Center. There’s lots of reasons they’ll do that.”
Freimuth did not mention the building is in the district of Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, a long-time and big UCONN supporter. That certainly won’t hurt his case.
UCONN NOISE
“There is always noise about ‘campus vs. non-campus life. The fact remains you can only do so much at Gampel, but they’re operating on a two-year extension right now because of COVID, but they know that it ends this year, and we haven’t heard formally from them. So I don’t know what prompted all of this talk… We’re operating on the extension right now.
“It frustrates a lot of people that we don’t have one done or when it (a new lease agreement) will be modified. It’s all subject to negotiations. How do you divide parking, concessions, ticket sales, split sponsorships? All this must be agreed upon, and we still need to make the improvements. We’ve been fundamentally smart about running the XL. I can’t tell myself when it’s gonna happen or tell you when they’ll happen. What we can forecast, what we can do, is what the future revenues will be.
“You can put in a hundred contingencies about what can happen. Unless, we know what, those costs of running the building will be, what can you do about it? It has to be done. When it’s gonna be done?”
COSTS
The facilities charge $40K per game for basketball and $20K for hockey. The school has complained bitterly about it for years, both publicly and privately.
Freimuth shot back.
“That’s what it costs to run the building on a nightly basis. What can I do? It costs what it costs to run the building. Let’s get real here!
“They get more revenue in the XL Center than at Gampel, and there are higher costs at the XL Center. I believe the amenities are better here at the XL than on campus.
They’re not selling super tickets or beer at Gampel. They’re not selling more premium tickets or concessions, and they get more people in the building at XL than Gampel. It’s a different business platform than Gampel. Is it perfect? No, and we recognize that.
“There are reasons for you to be downtown and don’t forget about the money the state throws into UCONN and the taxes generated. And don’t forget there are three campuses downtown, The Business School, the Law School, and the Regional Campus. That doesn’t count? That doesn’t even count the regional medical facility in Farmington.”
FACTS
“Fact: There is a large percentage of UCONN alumni within twenty miles of the downtown area and you won’t get folks to drive on I-95 on a cold, snowy winter night. Let’s all be honest about this.”
Without missing a beat, Freimuth continued, “Circle the calendar in March, and you have a big national game; you’ll have it at XL rather than Gampel. That’s a fact, or you’re gonna get bushwhacked.
“The conference is another issue altogether to deal with. If you wanna attract North Carolina, Tennessee, and Wichita State, or name any one of the big-name schools of the world, your gonna want the bigger house to be in.
“Stop all the carping and putting a (expletive) knock on the building unless you seriously consider all the things I just mentioned. Stop all the BS. It’s not my fault you have a 45-50 million-dollar deficit.
WHAT IT TAKES TO PUT ON A GAME
“Remember, every game you play, I have to have cops and plenty of them, because of several other agreements (municipal contracts) and that costs money and lots of it. I have to have so many people in to clean up the building after a game. I have a building that needs to be fixed, so I have mechanical people and fire marshals running around the XL to keep the place together and guess what, I have to pay them too.” said Freimuth exhaling after venting.
Peter Luukko of OVG said no talks had been held with UCONN, MSG, or other parties.
“We have had none with UCONN and none with MSG and I’m familiar with the affiliation agreement (with the Hartford Wolf Pack), which I worked on when I first worked on the building. But the CRDA has had talks with UCONN. Since we have assumed management of the facility and sat down with CRDA we’re all aware of the fact the building needs to be renovated and we’re working on it together to get that accomplished.”
The NCAA Regionals for men’s basketball won’t happen this year. Hockey, like hoops, is awarded years out, and they have been shut out, but “the future is in the works to put in a bid, but that’s three, four, or five years out from now.”
The XL has likely reached its fork in the road. There are many parties and pieces to this puzzle. Putting the pieces together is the difficult part.
