The $92M fieldof nightmares
16 years after its construction, Rentschler fails to break even
Hearst Connecticut Media’s series, ‘Your Money, Your State,’ looks at how state government spends taxpayer money, from stories that reveal wasteful spending to stories that explain why and how spending decisions are made. It's your money, and our goal is to give you a clearer picture of how it is spent. We'd also like to hear from you. Send thoughts, questions and suggestions to yourmoney@hearstmediact.com.
When the $92 million Rentschler Field in East Harford opened in 2003, the future seemed bright for the state owned, 40,000seat football stadium.
Bruce Springsteen played the venue the first year, followed by the Rolling Stones and The Police. UConn’s football team was the main anchor and predictions of overflowing parking lots and spin off development filled the media.
Today, the stadium is perhaps the state’s most visible example of good intentions gone awry.
Although Rentschler hosted more than 150 events last year, those “events” were decidedly small.
Aside from six UConn football games, the schedule typically included high school proms, charity balls, minor soccer and lacrosse tournaments and Pratt and Whitney programs for its nearby factory.
The building runs deficits most years and this year — for the first time — the state had to directly bail out the stadium with a $200,000 payment.
“There are a lot of things that are a challenge,” said Michael Freimuth, director of the Capitol Region Development Authority, which runs the stadium. “You try to mitigate costs, but security is increasingly a bigger cost and the world has gotten crazier about what it takes to get people through the door.”
With no major musical acts since 2007, Rentschler has been bleeding money. An examination by Hearst Connecticut Media of 14 years of annual audits revealed more than $13 million in deficits between revenue and expenditures.
This year’s state payment of $200,000 helped cover a $550,000 deficit.
Most years the deficit is papered over by a $250,000 subsidy from UConn that’s required if the facility fails to break even, along with revenue from parking fees, rent from cell towers, naming rights, surpluses from better years, myriad small events and occasional soccer and lacrosse tournaments.
UConn football attendance has dwindled, leaving less than 10,000 diehard fans per game scattered among 30,000 empty seats.
The Hartford Athletic, the city’s pro soccer team, left the stadium this year for a renovated Dillon Stadium in Hartford that holds just over 5,000 people.
And the nearby Xfinity Theater, built after the stadium opened, lured away the big musical acts, along with the casinos in Eastern Connecticut.
The event schedule for the remainder of the year is hardly impressive. Beyond the usual six UConn football games, the schedule includes several 5K runs and a truck convoy to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation.
Patriot born
The story of Rentschler Field — officially known as Pratt and Whitney Stadium — is a cautionary tale of how taxpayer dollars don’t always guarantee success.
The stadium was born out of the failed effort in the 1990s to bring the New England Patriots to Hartford, a consolation prize of sorts from former Gov. John Rowland years before he landed in jail for corruption.
The state was prepared to sell $250 million in bonds to build a Patriots stadium in downtown Hartford, near I91 and the Capitol exits.
After the Patriots backed out, Rowland sold bonds to build Rentschler and moved the field to vacant land near Pratt and Whitney in East Hartford.
The land surrounding the stadium is owned by the United Technologies Corporation, the parent company of Pratt and Whitney, a defense contractor.
The plan was to fill the area with a mix of stores and apartments to compliment the stadium. A Cabella’s settled near the stadium but the surrounding acreage remains vacant and dreams of shopping centers faded.
East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc said numerous plans came and went to develop the UTC property.
“The town rezoned the property from a heavy industrial to a design development district, which allows for flexibility in uses allowed and placement and design of buildings,” Leclerc said.
“As the development of this site was beginning to take shape, in 2008 and 2009, the recession put an indefinite hold on their plans,” Leclerc added.
She said Cabela’s opened in 2007 with state and local assistance. A few years later new plans for an outlet mall were drawn up, including restaurants and housing, but that idea also fizzled.
“The developer’s financing ultimately did not come together by the deadlines and the project was abandoned by UTC,” Leclerc said. “The town is hopeful that in the future we can continue to work with UTC to develop the property.”