What’s UConn’s future at XL Center? Benedict offers ideas
The COVID-19 pandemic will end and when it does, man, it will be a glorious day for all of us.
In the sports world it will mean a resumption of seasons as we knew them, and ballparks, stadiums and arenas filled with fans instead of trepidation and cardboard cutouts. It will mean full, reliable schedules instead of games that are canceled, postponed and rescheduled piecemeal every other hour.
Best of all, the word “bubble” will be returned to meaning the five teams most likely to make or not make the NCAA Tournament.
Yet the pandemic has afforded occasional blessings here and there. In a wide-ranging podcast with Hearst Connecticut Media on Monday, UConn Athletic Director David Benedict said he thought that because of the ramifications of the pandemic, the construction costs of the school’s new hockey facility will be lower.
“Is it going to be 10, 15, 20 percent less to build it because of the time we’re in?” Benedict said. “I think there is going to be a significant savings there.”
Yet it is with the future use of the XL Center in Hartford and Gampel Pavilion in Storrs that the pandemic affords the lords of the state and the lords of the state flagship university time to figure out — let me put this politely — what the
hell they finally are going to do
There is an opportunity to get Big East basketball — clearly Connecticut’s most significant athletic venture — in the best possible situation heading into the decade. It is an opportunity that should not, cannot be lost.
No fans, only some family, are allowed at UConn games this season. That means all home games are at Gampel, because there is no need to rent the big barn in downtown Hartford. Without any events, the XL Center will be shut down most likely through fall 2021. This will allow the Capital Region Development Authority to push ahead with plans to renovate the building starting in January.
Exactly how much can be done is still uncertain.
“I don’t think there’s any question that XL can be part of the solution in moving forward in putting us in a position to deal with and solve some of our financial issues,” Benedict said. “But it can’t be under the present circumstances. There has to be a renovation of that facility. There has to be an improvement in addition to areas of that facility, be it suites, be it clubs, where you can generate additional money that can help solve our issues on campus.
“The Big East is a very interesting conference because there are many of the programs that play off campus in facilities but have on-campus facilities. We’re not so unique now as with our peers as in the American. If you look at those off-campus facilities that our Big East peers are playing in, most of them are NBA-type facilities or they’re newer community facilities like Creighton. We’ve got to raise the bar.
“The thing that is important to me is that I think it’s hard for us to make a decision on how we would move forward on campus with Gampel until we know what the decision is going to be on XL. Gampel is starting to show its age and we’re going to have to spruce Gampel up. We want to try create some amenities and things in Gampel, both for our gameday experience and our ability to generate resources to offset the university subsidy of athletics. These two things go hand in hand.”
Let’s sift through some of the pieces that Benedict introduces. He’s correct that at least half the conference plays games in major arenas, and only the XL Center is aged and outdated. There’s St. John’s with Madison Square Garden, Seton Hall with Prudential Center, Georgetown with Capital One Arena, Villanova with Wells Fargo Center, Marquette with Fiserv Forum, Creighton with CHI Health Center Omaha.
He also is correct that UConn has major financial issues; a record $42 million deficit was subsidized by the school last year and who knows how much with the pandemic in 2020? Four sports already have been eliminated, with a mandated 15 percent cut in the operating budget of all sports designed to save $10 million a year. That’s a nice chunk, but only a chunk. There have to be a lot of chunks.
There was a third thing Benedict dropped in that’s fascinating. Look, we could ignite a Connecticut Twitter storm with two sentences. Play all games at the XL Center! Play all games at Gampel Pavilion! See? That argument may never end. The best situation, I remain convinced, is to have both buildings in the best possible condition and in position to generate revenue. A full XL can mean big bucks. This is the first time I can recall Benedict substantively talking about Gampel renovations (beyond the roof). If some boxes and more advanced concessions were introduced, say, that could change the dialogue. Some would say Benedict was negotiating in print. Maybe he is. And maybe he sees a revamped Gampel as a full-time option.
If we can follow the XL timeline: The $250 million proposal to retrofit the building turned into $100 million. In 2014, about $35 million went for desperately needed improvements to keep the building operational. In 2017, another $40 million was earmarked for repairs, purchase of the Trumbull Street atrium and retail area, owned by Northland Investment, and to look for outside arena investors. Obviously, that didn’t work out. The CRDA has about $22 million remaining from that venture.
The AHL and Wolf Pack remain unknowns this season; the current plan is to try to start the league up in February. If it does, CRDA executive director Michael Freimuth said, there’s “no math in it, so it may be games, but not ‘events.’ ”
He also said the CRDA hopes to bid portions of “behind the house” work, such as electrical, elevators, etc. A public hearing on the updated plan will be held in early January. He said there is no certainty to the date when the State Bond Commission will release all or some of the $65 million. Freimuth wants to use the money for lower-level boxes, club space and loge seating that can generate income to help offset the $2 million annually the building loses.
The devil, of course, is always in the details. Yet the truth of the matter is we always seemed to be swimming in the details when it comes to UConn and the CRDA and examining how some of the losses are calculated. Many schools, for instance, have different ways of establishing the worth of each athletic scholarship. It isn’t actual cash.
With the rent and all the machinations of the use of state-owned Rentschler Field and city-owned, staterun XL Center, UConn also could eliminate some of its listed losses by having the state directly or the CRDA (a quasi-public agency) adding them to their bottom line. Yes, there is some nuance here, but essentially we are talking about one pocket or the other pocket of the state’s pants. If we really started in with how the money path travels with the use of the venues, your head would spin so much you’d be regurgitating more than numbers.
The point being, as Jim Calhoun would say, there has to be an overarching solution. Smart, imaginative people are going to have to figure out a way to help with both the UConn and CRDA bottom lines. Or finesse a new joint bottom line that accounts for revenue-sharing, debt payment and both sides’ concerns.
And if a solution isn’t found, shame on everyone involved. There’s time here. Let’s use it for the best solution. Big East basketball could be spectacular in the next decade.
“We’re anxious to find out how things are going to move forward,” Benedict said. “We’re very supportive of a renovation of that facility and hope we can play there a long time. But it’s got to work for all parties. I certainly get that. For it to work for us, we’ve got to be able to generate more money from that venue and not just be in a situation where they renovate the facility and all the extra money goes to pay the debt to the improvements. That puts us at a net neutral.
“It will be nice to have a newer facility, but if we can’t generate additional revenue — when I say that, a significant amount — it is going to continue to put the university, and athletics particularly, in a challenging situation.”