Re: Announced: UConn to Hockey East
Thanks for the info. I'm gonna share it on the UMass board.
Speaking as a bandie-turned-season ticket holder (who's thus never missed a Rentschler game):
1) The sightlines are pretty good from anywhere in the stadium. I have tickets in section 209 in this map (basically over the visitor's tunnel), and I have a near-perfect view of everything. I've watched games from every corner, including in the blue chairbacks, and there really isn't a bad seat in the house. The stadium's still pretty new, so amenities are more or less up to date.
2) The concourse is, depending on your POV, either perfectly designed, or stupidly designed, for watching the game while not at your seat. The semi-urban legend around this is that one of the stadium designers stated he hated the idea of having to miss the action while standing in line for concessions, or try and watch it on an in-stadium TV. Accordingly, there's a solid 8 feet of difference between the upper and lower bowls (concourse is at ground level). If the weather isn't ideal, though, expect those concourse areas to be jammed full. On rainy days, you have the "empty seat, full concourse" anomaly in full effect.
3) In-stadium beer prices range from an arm to a leg. If you don't mind blowing 10 bucks on a Sam Adams or similar level of brew, there's a pretty good selection around the stadium, but...$10 a cup. In-stadium concessions are more reasonably priced than the beer, but they're still concession stand food. This leads me to (4).
4) The tailgating scene is quite good (or, at least MOST visiting fans will cop to, Boston College excepted*). There's no amenities near the stadium to speak of (in contrast to what you would expect at UMass, where the Amherst downtown is a short walk through campus from the stadium; it's not even on campus, but in a confluence of residential, commercial and industrial space in suburban Hartford), so the best advice is show up 3-4 hours before the game starts (gates only open 4 hours before game time), grill some meat and drink some beers.
4a) No charcoal grills allowed. Only propane and propane accessories.
4b) Be prepared for a decent walk. Some visiting fans swear by various off-field lots (which are typically a few bucks cheaper, albeit a longer walk to and from the stadium; Syracuse likes the Aero Club), but in all likelihood, you'll have to park in the red lots for game day, and depending on when you show, it can be a haul. Not as bad as it used to be when you used to park and tailgate only on the old runways, but my crew and I used to do something called the "two beer walk" from the Red lots. The reason it's "used to" is because we're one beer away from the stadium now.
5) Although it's not on campus, its accessibility can't be beat, as it's simple to get to the major Hartford highways (84, 91, Rt 2). That being said...get into the stadium early if you can. It's a Thursday night game, and you'll want to avoid having to deal with commuter traffic if at all possible, not to mention the crush of people who couldn't get off work but are still going to the game.
6) As you might expect from a late August game, it can still be quite hot. Sunscreen is a must if you're at all likely to burn, and the silver benches don't exactly dissipate heat or sunlight well either. I can also say...it hasn't failed to be sunny and cloudless in (essentially) ten years of home openers (even last year after the tropical storm).
*I expect one or more of them to stop by in short order and tell you to expect to have beer thrown at you and sworn at by drunken louts, as if that's what every UConn fan will do to you, based on the sum total of one game in 2003 (year included just in case the timing of such incidences wasn't at all clear), so I'm going to beat them to it. Except I don't agree that there'll be any incidences, much less that it will be inevitable.
Thanks for the info. I'm gonna share it on the UMass board.
