Upcoming Gampel Enchantments

[DblCrossbar]

Be careful what you wish for. After going to the new hockey arena I don’t trust them to build something nice/better. That place is lifeless.

Also knocking down Gampel would be a mistake because of the history we have had there.

$100 million should be enough to fix almost everything wrong with it

Please don’t hire JCJ architects design any type of sports facility or augmentation / enchantment / upgrade to existing ones!

 

[DblCrossbar]

I remember the initial drawings for Gampel in the early to mid 1980's. It was slightly bigger than the field house. The politicians wanted to make sure we had to use the Hartford Civic Center. 8000 seats which was 2x times the size of the field house and half the size of the HCC. It was doomed size wise before it was built due to Connecticut politics.

If they could find a way to build boxes, expand the concourses, offer more or better concessions, etc and do it for $100M, I will be surprised.

At the time Gampel was built, let’s not forget there was still the Dave Gavitt Big East zeitgeist that emphasized playing games in pro style arenas to bolster attention and recruiting in that era. The landscape has changes since then, but the HCC wasn’t going to be dismissed considering the value set and how the Big East operated

The current line of thinking has shifted to creating lively venues on campus, but there’s no denying that pre and post gaming for basketball and hockey through the winter has many more options when played downtown.

 

[CL82]

View attachment 99125
On the upcoming April BOT agenda. Much needed improvements.

Meh. Hopefully they're replacing the retractable seating with permanent seating, perhaps including some boxes. Now, if this description included "Addition of outside concourse, upgrade of concessions and installation of additional bathrooms" we be talking.

 

[CL82]

You have no idea how right you are and you have no idea what difficulties were faced just to build Gampel.

• The locals tried a few times to shut down the project, from predevelopment phase until after groundbreaking.
• We had to lie about the capacity (claimed it was going to be ~6k) to get approval.
• We had to fight Hartford politicians and businesses who wanted to capacity limited and the marquee games played in Hartford. Thank God the Whalers were still around at the time or we may have been forced into playiing all home games in Hartford.
• We had to epxand it (added about 1,800 seats) on the sneak.

One thing I discovered decades ago is if someone mentions something about UConn that implies great ambitions or aspirations, a lot of politicians and big-wigs get very nervous.

Sort of, I feel like the original capacity was more like 8500. That wasn't a lie, that was the original capacity. a year later "demand" forced and increase by about 1800 seats. Those things happen. (In fact, I'm still waiting for them to happen at Toscano.)

 

[CL82]

Back to the drawing boards

Gov. Lamont says he’s open to borrowing millions to renovate Gampel Pavilion

The arena has not been renovated since 1990.

connecticut.news12.com

(h/t to @ZooCougar for the heads up link)

If you can’t stay non-partisan/non-political in your comments - just move on:

Gov. Lamont says he's open to borrowing up to $100 million to renovate the team's home court Gampel Pavilion. The governor made the announced on Wednesday. The arena has not undergone any renovations or improvements since 1990. "I think they'll have a certain sway with the legislature if I had to make a guess. I also think that maybe you're going to be in a good position to raise some private money," Lamont said. There are a lot of alumni who are particularly proud of UConn this week."

 

[CL82]

Be careful what you wish for. After going to the new hockey arena I don’t trust them to build something nice/better. That place is lifeless.

Also knocking down Gampel would be a mistake because of the history we have had there.

$100 million should be enough to fix almost everything wrong with it

Post/handle

 

[DblCrossbar]

Sort of, I feel like the original capacity was more like 8500. That wasn't a lie, that was the original capacity. a year later "demand" forced and increase by about 1800 seats. Those things happen. (In fact, I'm still waiting for them to happen at Toscano.)

The demand for the #IceBus has fallen since the opening of Toscano FIF. Part of the difference is that there are alternatives for hockey nearby. It’s no coincidence that the Hartford Wolf Pack’s attendance increased right at that time, and sure it doesn’t hurt that the AHL team has been playing better too.

There are no other options to see basketball at a high level unless you go see the Knicks or Celtics, so demand for the basketball teams, considering what they represent as our defacto professional sports teams (yes significantly beyond the CT Sun) and their success means that demand will be high for some time. There will be a parade and a rally for the Huskies- again. If the CT Sun wins the WNBA championship, what form of celebration would take place? A stroll around the River Blue Chihuly sculpture?

 

[CL82]

The demand for the #IceBus has fallen since the opening of Toscano FIF. Part of the difference is that there are alternatives for hockey nearby. It’s no coincidence that the Hartford Wolf Pack’s attendance increased right at that time, and sure it doesn’t hurt that the AHL team has been playing better too.

There are no other options to see basketball at a high level unless you go see the Knicks or Celtics, so demand for the basketball teams, considering what they represent as our defacto professional sports teams (yes significantly beyond the CT Sun) and their success means that demand will be high for some time. There will be a parade and a rally for the Huskies- again. If the CT Sun wins the WNBA championship, what form of celebration would take place? A stroll around the River Blue Chihuly sculpture?

It's tough to get seats there, and the questionable choices they made, such as the "student block house" and the ice level lounge effectively killed the energy in the place. Eliminate those two and add more Seats and it would be a much better environment. In my opinion.

 

[krinklecut]

No idea but this is what we get when the short sighted administrators and politicians are in charge. We in this state, never dream big. Land of steady habits, risk averse. I cite the Rent as a prime example.

Literally nowhere to put more seats though. The only way gampel gets bigger is if they tear it down and rebuild it.

 

[DblCrossbar]

It's tough to get seats there, and the questionable choices they made, such as the "student block house" and the ice level lounge effectively killed the energy in the place. Eliminate those two and add more Seats and it would be a much better environment. In my opinion.

Been saying exactly that since the TFIF opened. 100% blew it when the design by committee and JCJ architects blundered the design,

As for basketball, if a new facility were built rather than a renovation, where would it be on campus? If at the existing site, it would likely mean all games at the XL for awhile…

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Sort of, I feel like the original capacity was more like 8500. That wasn't a lie, that was the original capacity. a year later "demand" forced and increase by about 1800 seats. Those things happen. (In fact, I'm still waiting for them to happen at Toscano.)

The initial capacity, when it opened was eoght thousand and change. When the proposal went for approval a couple years earlier, the capacity that was listed in the proposal was ~6,400 and was done intentionally to limit the opposition to the project as both locals and Hartford businesses were against the idea of building anything all that much larger than they (then) existing field house.

The number submitted was within range of DuPont (now Finneran) and Carnesecca, The plan all along was to build it bigger but they couldn't break ground without approval and wouldn't get approval at eight thousand plus.

 

[CL82]

The initial capacity, when it opened was eoght thousand and change. When the proposal went for approval a couple years earlier, the capacity that was listed in the proposal was ~6,400 and was done intentionally to limit the opposition to the project as both locals and Hartford businesses were against the idea of building anything all that much larger than they (then) existing field house.

The number submitted was within range of DuPont (now Finneran) and Carnesecca, The plan all along was to build it bigger but they couldn't break ground without approval and wouldn't get approval at eight thousand plus.

My recollection was the size got capped, and again I think it was 8500, because of a desire to prevent the university from scheduling major concert events there, which was perceived as being potentially injurious to the Civic Center and the New Haven Coliseum. But, that's from memory, so I could be wrong.

 

[CL82]

Been saying exactly that since the TFIF opened. 100% blew it when the design by committee and JCJ architects blundered the design,

As for basketball, if a new facility were built rather than a renovation, where would it be on campus? If at the existing site, it would likely mean all games at the XL for awhile…

I wouldn't be in favor of a new building. However, if one were built I would build it somewhere within the athletic campus and leave Gampel intact until after it was built.

 

[DblCrossbar]

I wouldn't be in favor of a new building. However, if one were built I would build it somewhere within the athletic campus and leave Gampel intact until after it was built.

If so, then they will also have to build a new parking garage up there to support fan attendance in that area. The good news is that it would support all of the athletic facilities there too. And add shuttle busses from North and South garage.

There may also be room on Discovery Drive as well, and is a little easier to access than the athletic facility village.

 

[CL82]

If so, then they will also have to build a new parking garage up there to support fan attendance in that area. The good news is that it would support all of the athletic facilities there too. And add shuttle busses from North and South garage.

There may also be room on Discovery Drive as well, and is a little easier to access than the athletic facility village.

They're definitely is room on discovery Drive. My preference is to do all the development in the athletic campus so that the same parking lot is available for different sports. I don't know that they'd have to build a second garage, because there is adequate space to do ground level parking. The big issue is figuring out how to get traffic out of there relatively quickly. If you make Hillside one way, all the way up and through discovery Drive, that would probably help a lot.

 

[UCONNJACK]

View attachment 99125
On the upcoming April BOT agenda. Much needed improvements.

Enhancements approved by BOT.

UConn Replacing Gampel Videoboards, Making Other Venue Improvements - UConn Today

The centerpiece of the Basketball Capital of the World first opened its doors in 1990

today.uconn.edu

 

[SteelCT]

If they build fixed seats in the lower bowl they would be able to add some additional seating/boxes. Since the volleyball team is no longer playing in there it may be possible.

Hockey rink was a fiasco, original plans were for it to be bigger but construction costs skyrocketed post covid and forced a redesign that would still meet Hockey East criteria. Timeframe forced their hands.

 

[Scrutiner]

My recollection was the size got capped, and again I think it was 8500, because of a desire to prevent the university from scheduling major concert events there, which was perceived as being potentially injurious to the Civic Center and the New Haven Coliseum. But, that's from memory, so I could be wrong.

I'm pretty certain the original proposal was for somewhere around12,500 seats at an estimated cost of about $25-30 M. That was deemed too costly so UConn was told to redesign it and reduce the cost. The next iteration was for 10,000 or so seats but again, due to the time lag and rising costs, the cost was about the same as for the earlier design with 12,500 seats so UConn was told to redesign it yet again. Once again the size was reduced to save on cost and the design included 8241 seats for (again) about $25-30 M.

The real goal was to reduce capacity so the arena wouldn't compete with downtown Hartford and once that goal was reached with a capacity of 8241 seats the project was approved. Construction started in 1987 and we were there on January 27, 1990, to see UConn defeat St. John's in Dan Cyrulik's career game. Wow, we thought, he's going to be the best center we've ever had. Not the way it worked out, but he and Toraino Walker outplayed Mutombo and Mourning in the Big East Tournament semi-final that same year on the way to our first BE Tournament Championship.

Demand was so great seats were added around the entrances at the end of the 1995-96 season, increasing capacity to 10,027 seats. Two other small expansions increased capacity in 2002 to 10,167 and in 2023 to 10,299.