Hartford Arena Getting A Facelift?

I wonder how many more murals celebrating UCONN women's basketball they could have if this goes through. Last time I counted over 30. Everytime I've done a gig there. Coach Auriemma and some of the team show up and I'm pretty sure POTUS or visiting royalty would no get nearly the star treatment they get.

I hear the New York Islanders hockey team is being courted to move from Brooklyn to Hartford.

Actually the Islanders are getting kicked out of Brooklyn because nobody wants them. They will be refugees soon, not sure how that will all work out with the new president. Hopefully they move to Quebec City.

Humble

Does badger/humble run thederpzone.net?

The Islanders are NEVER coming to Hartford.

The Gov sent a letter to the new Isles owners (and all the local media!) right after it was disclosed that Barclays in Brooklyn might want them gone. I'm sure that the powers-that-be in Quebec City, Hamilton, Ontario, and prolly Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan sent letters expressing interest in the Isles moving to their locale...

The facts are that the Hartford Wolf Pack (NYR AHL team) is 26th of 30 teams in attendance in the AHL. They're drawing less than 4000 folks on average. The arena is outdated and badly in need of upgrading. There's little parking. There's no money to upgrade anything, especially since the city built a ballpark 2 blocks away that isn't gonna draw anyone, either. And downtown is DEAD.

Now, the rumors..

The NHL and the new owners both say they're committed to staying on LI.

The Isles owners are looking to build an arena in 2 places:

Adjacent to Citi Field (might make for problems if Isles are in playoffs in April-May-June, while Mets are home. Or Oct-Nov? If Mets are in Playoffs/World Series)

on the grounds of Belmont Park (way better: more room to build, plenty of parking, train station in place, no schedule conflicts).

This would mean that the Isles might need to stay in Brooklyn for another year after the 2 they are currently contractually allowed (or maybe a year in Nassau Col?!)

Add to that the Rumor that the Isles are gonna move THEIR AHL team out of Bridgeport to the newly renovated Nassau Col ( the new configuration dropped hockey capacity from 16,000 to 13,000) closer to the NHL team.

AND THEN....The NY Rangers would move the Wolf Pack out of Hartford and down to Bridgeport so they would be closer to NY.

So Hartford would end up with nada.....

Just MY opinion, I could be wrong....

Thoughts?

Hartford is too close to Bruins country. It would be a terrible move and agree the chances are slim to none. 

I went to the Sounds Tigers/Providence Bruins game last night in Bridgeport. An awesome game and what a deal (cost-wise) to see top notch hockey. But there couldn't have been more than 2,000 people, on a Saturday night no less. Kinda' sad. This area just doesn't identify with the Islanders and the fine folk of Long Island certainly don't make the trip. Why would they? I'd imagine the Rangers minor league team would fare better but by how much, tough to say.

CT is sandwiched between the two greatest sports cities in the country. There just isn't room to support it's own pro teams.

I still have an old Whalers sweatshirt around somewhere.

But no, this will never happen.

You guys know lots more about this than I. I just heard it was a possibility a couple of weeks ago and haven't paid attention at all. 

I know the Islanders ownership has a pretty poor record when it comes to good decisions. Clowns. Not much to be hopeful about with bad leadership.

I'm 2500 miles away in Salt Lake, with our own minor league team the Utah Grizzlies, who's crowds are also lacking. 

>>>the fine folk of Long Island certainly don't make the trip 

That's part of the problem with Brooklyn. Talked to my bro on L.I. when they moved and he said the location was problematic. Fans don't wanna go that far and it's not as safe as some would like.

The NY Islanders will be playing here on Long Island at the newly renovated Nassau Coliseum in 2019.

Good to hear. I'll hang on to my jersey.

Ct State Budget is a mess...the Gov. Talked the other day of monies requested (yet again) to add seats to hartford civic center (now the XL center) to bring capacity to 19,000 for hockey. No way thats happening. And no way the NHL is ever coming back to Hartford unless it has a brand new bldng. (Imo)

But, i disagree w Dans idea that the new baseball team will not draw. The stadium contract that has seen six or seven law suits stem from mismanagement, lack of work, wrong work completed, deadlines not met...on and on, has been a huge mess...but, the team drew well in New Britain, theres no reason any team wouldnt do same in Htfd. 

Add in all the publicity, (yes, even all negative about stadium) has done nothing but create interest and awareness that its even there. The Yardgoat shirt is among leaders in sales for all of minor lge ball, and they havent played a game in htfd yet. The new stadium is nice, and will have quite a few "talking points" including an outfield net hanging somewhere in right field because , yes, they forgot to build the outfield "depths" to AA, (or AAA) guidelines. Since the seats beyond the wall were already cemented in and built, they couldnt move them. (They probobly could have torn down whole outfield seating area, if they already hadnt missed about ten other deadlines, and had then reached a work stoppage as construction contracts were in court and about to be sold. Hit the net?...home run!...omg...you cant make this up...

Only in Htfd..lol..such a clusterfuck of a construction, let alone a 75 million dollar (original) budget , in a starving city, the whole story is a mess...but, point being, its been front page material for 3 years in this area....and that only helps to sell tix.

Ive spoken w a tonload of ppl that will be going, often, to see this team. Minor lge baseball is a great, cheap, family night out.

Support your Yardgoat

::I know the Islanders ownership has a pretty poor record when it comes to good decisions. Clowns. Not much to be hopeful about with bad leadership.::

New owners bought majority interest within the last year or so....not quite as clownish as when Wang was majority owner. Now if they'd just upgrade the GM, or put a good hockey guy above him as Pres of Hockey Ops (yet another rumored move....)

::The NY Islanders will be playing here on Long Island at the newly renovated Nassau Coliseum in 2019.::

problem is when they renovated, they DECREASED the capacity for hockey from 1,6000 to 13,000. The NHL wants bigger barns than that....Barclays also only holds about 14,000, and that was a major issue when the Isles moved...

And yes, jambone, the YardGoats will draw decently at first, being all new...

....but parking SUCKS around there. The New Britain stadium had plenty, that was one reason their attendance was decent.

And that right field issue....typical Hartford.....lol

Personally, I LOVE the Belmont Park idea. 

For 3-4,000 ppl...which is what yardgoats prob will average?...plenty of parking...considering all other lots in htfd will be empty..lol

And, i was wrong...if you hit the net...the ball is in play! ...wahooo.....no, this is a really nice stadium, (as it should be w $$ etc), again, i think they will consistantly draw

>problem is when they renovated, they DECREASED the capacity for hockey from 1,6000 to 13,000. The NHL wants bigger barns than that>

Problem with your problem is that the NHL attendance is down and way down for the NY Islanders home games. They will be back on LI in 2019. Perfect fit

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2016/01/20/Research-and-Ratings/NHL-EC.aspx

Yes, attendance is down, but the Isles are still averaging 12,949 this year, 29 th out of 30 teams, according to this...

http://www.espn.com/nhl/attendance

Odysseus, you referenced a report from Jan 2016....which was actually better than this year!

The NHL would prolly allow a temporary move back to Nassau, as long as they have a plan in place for a larger capacity arena.

Hi Dan. Thanks for ESPN info. link.

(((Whalers)))

Malloy's an asshat.  One side of his mouth -- 'the jobs cuts are still coming!'.  The other side of his mouth - 'lets spend 250 million on a building that we have no tenants for!'.  The state has already dumped way to much money into the Civic Center. 

Jambone --- the reasons that the Rockcats worked in New Britian are the same reasons why the downtown Hartford stadium won't work.   New Britian is easy to get in and out of, Hartford isn't. Parking was cheap and convenient; while parking in Hartford sucks and im sure any stadium parking will be double or triple what New Britian was. The Rockcats were a cheap family night out. Tix under $10, affordable food and drink.  Hartford would need to subsidize the cost of the stadium by increased tix prices and outrageous concession charges.  No ones going to pay $25 to see a minor league team play.    Another state job controlled by criminal general contractors.  

There's a beautiful baseball stadium in Norwich that nobody goes to. Total waste